NEW YORK, NEW YORK, IS A CULTURE CURE TOWN(c) By Polly Guerin

Study for Homage to the Square, Josef Albers

Whether you’re day tripping in New York or staying put in town there’s more than meets the eye in entertainment venues, museums and galleries. I can’t blame you for wanting to improve your mind!!! Here’s the scoop!!!

JOSEF ALBERS IN AMERCIA: Painting on Paper You’ll be seeing squares of a different kind that will tempt your imagination and your usual take on color. At least if Josef Albers has his way. He repeatedly explored color relationships within a similar format of concentric squares. Much less familiar, however, are the painted studies on paper. Although expressively experimental, the works offer a revealing look at the artist’s lifelong investigation of color and form. The profound effect of Mexico’s colors and pre-Columbian architecture and sculpture upon Alber’s work is difficult to overestimate as these places would have a lasting influence upon his work. In 1936, he wrote, “Mexico is truly the promised land of abstract Art. At The Morgan Library & Museum, 225 Madison Avenue, at 36th Street. Trough October 14, 1012. General information: 212.685.0008.
SAINT-SAENS AND HIS WORK Hop on a bus or train for Annandale –the-Hudson, New York where the 23rd-annual Bard Music Festival focuses on Saint-Saens and his World, treating you to an in-depth auditory tour of Belle Époque France through 12 concerts of works by the composer and his contemporaries. The programs include masterpieces from all of the musician’s expansive oeuvre, from such well-known pieces as his “Carnival of Animals” and Organ Symphony” to his score for the 1908 film The Assassination of the Duke of Guise. There is also a concert performance of his rarely heard grand opera Henry VIII. August 10-29th at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. 845.758.7649.
TRIBUTE: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S Usonian House and Pavilion In 1953, six years befoe the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opened to the public, two of his structures—a pavilion and model Usonian house were built on the future site of the museum to house a temporary exhibition displaying the architect’s lifelong work. From July 27 to February 13, 1913, the Sackler Center for Arts Education at the Museum will present an exhibition comprised a rich selection of over thirty archival objects, including correspondence about planning, sketches, blueprints, and a plot models of the first Wright building erected in New York City. Newspaper and magazine clippings give a sense of the public reception of Wright’s buildings, and photographs range from documentation of construction---Frank L. Wright and David Henken reviewing architectural drawing or Taliesin apprentices on-site—to those taken at the opening. At the Guggenheim, 1071 Fifth Avenue.
CROSSING THE LINE Francophiles, this may interest you. Crossing the Line is a month-long festival devoted to the talents of avant-garde visual and performing artist based in France and New York City. The 2012 edition includes the participation of stage director Joris Lacoste, whose recent work has explored hypnosis as art, and performer, songwriter and radio artist Gerald Kurdian, whose varied projects range from “Je suis putain,” an audio-documentary about female prostitutes in Toulouse, to an “anti-pop solo band” called This is the hello monster! At various venues. Contact fiaf.org
Ta Ta Darlings!!! I went to Annandale to see Bard’s production of Moliere’s, Imaginary Invalid this weekend, which was rivetingly funny. The King in Spite of Himself, a classic comic opera is on the schedule from July 27 to August 5. Fan mail welcome: pollytalk@verizon.net. Polly’s blogs are best accessed at www.pollytalk.com...just click in the left hand column for a direct link to visionary men, amazing women, poetry or fashion.