CULTURAL VENUES WARM UP THE CHILL OF WINTER (c) By Polly Guerin

New York serves up a bounty of cultural venues to warm the chill of winter. Step inside and visit museum treasures and exhibitions to stir your imagination and cultivate your muse. Here’s the scoop!!!
GEORGE BELLOWS Here’s one for the men!!! Regarded in his day as one of America’s greatest artists, George Bellows (1882-1925) is remembered for his powerful depictions of boxing matches and New York City tenement life. He also painted seascapes, war scenes and portraits and his lithographs and illustrations addressed social, political and cultural issues. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is featuring some 120 works from his extensive oeuvre and invites the viewer to experience the dynamic and challenging decades of the early 20th century through the eyes of a this brilliant observer. His candid portrayals of Maine’s rugged coast, boxers in the ring, the atrocities of World War I, friends and family, and other distinctive themes are on view through February 18th.
CIRCUS and the CITY: NEW YORK, 1730-2010 Explores how the vibrant urban landscape of New York City contributed to the emergence of the circus as a popular form of entertainment and the unique contribution of the Big Apple to the circus becoming a leading cultural phenomenon in the United States. The circus arrived in New York City through the tunnels and streets intermingling with urban life. It left an indelible mark in the memories of the city dwellers. More than 200 works on loan from thirty-one collections evoke the wonder and spectacle of the circus and demonstrate why it has captivated audiences for more than two centuries. The lecture Jan 10th: A History of Circus Clowning explores the reciprocal relationships between clowns and their culture. AT Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design, History at 18 West 86th St. Trough Feb. 3.
INVENTING ABSTRATION: 1910-1925 MoMA explores the advent of abstraction as both a historical idea and an emergent artistic practice with an exhibition of more than 350 artworks in a broad range of mediums—including paintings, drawings, prints, book, photographs, recordings and dance pieces—that represent a radical moment when the ruses of art making were fundamentally transformed. A key premise of the exhibition is abstraction’s role as a cross-media practice from the start. This notion is illustrated through an exploration of the productive relationships between artist, composers, dancers, and poets in establishing a new modern language for the arts. Trough April 15 at The Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53 St.
FANTASY and INVENTION: Rosso Fiorentino. The emergence of Mannerism in Florentine Renaissance art, as exemplified by the brilliant painter Rosso Fiorentino, is the subject of a new exhibition which runs through February 3 at the Morgan. The show includes the artist’s extraordinary painting, Holy Family with the Young Saint John the Baptist, as well as a selection of drawings printed books, letters and manuscripts by other Florentine masters. Using the Holy Family as a starting point, Fantasy and Invention traces the Florentine iteration of Mannerism through some 20 drawings from the Museum’s collection: five autograph documents and letters from leading artists of the day, including Michelangelo. At Madison Avenue, between 36 and 37th streets.
Ta Ta Darlings!!! There are so many rich cultural choices this week! Fan mail welcome at pollytalk@verizon.net. Polly’s Blogs are best accessed at her website pollytalk.com. Just click on the link in the left-hand column for visonarymen, womendeterminedtosucceed, poetry or fashion.