DAZZLING ART and FASHION DIVERSITY in the BIG APPLE(c) By Polly Guerin

Art and fashion in spellbinding proliferation adds sparkle to New York City this week with openings to dazzle your intelligence and entertain your muse. Here’s the scoop!!!
SOFA NEW YORK 2012 Grab your walking shoes and head out to the not-to-be-missed destination---the 4-day sculpture objects and functional art fair, a pageant of art jewelry to dazzle the eye with objects crafted by a roster of internationally recognized artists. The Annual Sculpture Objects and Functional Art Fair celebrating its 15th anniversary opens Friday, April 20 through Monday, April 23, at the Park Avenue Armory, 67th Street and Park Avenue. Lola Brooks and the Sienna Gallery in Lenox, Mass. creates playful heart-shaped pastiches that delicately combine steel, gold and semi precious and precious stones. Sally Rosen of Dallas’s Nexxt20 spotlights jewelry by renowned Belgian sculptor Poi Bury and London’s Flow gallery presents award-winning Scottish goldsmith Andrew Lamb. Much, much more wonders to view. For info: www.softaexpo.com or 800.563.7632.
GUSTAVE KLIMT 150th Anniversary Celebration: The month of May’s birthday party celebrating Klimt’s birthday, at the Neue Galerie, showcases major paintings as well as a number of rare and never-before-seen photographs of the artist and his close companion, fashion designer Emile Floge. Café Sabarsky will feature its special Klimt cake and the Design shop will offer gold and silver cufflinks designed by Joseph Hoffmann for Gustav Klimt; the Book Store will offer two newly published studies that feature Klimt’s portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer on the cover. The exhibition Henrich Kuehn and His American Circle: Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen, on view April 26-Aug. 27 offers a rich survey of these artist’s work and the international development of photography. Neue Galerie New York at 1048 Fifth Ave., 86th Street & Fifth Avenue. www.neuegalerie.org.
FRANCESCA WOODMAN’s Retrospective on view at the Guggenheim is the most comprehensive exhibition of the artist’s work since her untimely death in 1981 at the age of 22. Spanning the breadth of her production, the exhibition includes more than 120 vintage photographs, artist books, and a selection of recently discovered and rarely seen short videos, presenting a historical reconsideration of Woodman’s brief but extra ordinary career. Woodman’s favorite subject was herself. From the very first time she picked up a camera, she used it to thoroughly plumb the genre of self-portraiture. The presentation covers work from her earliest student experiments at RISD, her time in Rome, and her forays in New York. Thru June 13th. At 89th St. & Fifth Ave. www.guggenheimmusum.org.
FASHION ON THE AGENDA: Mark your calendar. Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada are to be the focus of the Spring 2012 Costume Institute Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art May 10 to Aug. 19. A full report coming up in one of the next PollyTalk. www.metmuseum.org. The MUSEUM at FIT continues its tony exploration of modern and contemporary design with FASHION, A-Z: Highlights from the collection of part two, the second of two consecutive exhibitions that showcase selections from the museum, which is dedicated solely to the art of fashion. FREE Info: www.fitnyc.edu/museum.
Ta darlings!!! I’m heading out for the SOFA show…to dazzle my eyes on the rich pageant of art jewelry. Fan mail: pollytalk@verizon.net. Or go to www.pollytalk.com and just click in the left hand column on direct links to my Blogs like thefashionhistorian to read about PIXIE HAIRDOS and PEPLUM FASHION, or click poetryfromtheheart for my latest poem Nature’s Rainbow.