SEEING ART AND FASHION IN A NEW WAY (c) By Polly Guerin

Pollytalkfromnewyork.blogspot

Old Masters in New Quarters

It’s time to see European Paintings in a new way, it’s time to be inspired by fashion influenced by history and it’s time to partake in the best of New York’s cultural scene and breathtaking venues to fuel your creativity. Here’s the scoop!!!

OLD MASTERS IN NEW QUARTERS European Painting Revisited: The reinstalled, renovated and expanded European paintings galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens with a spectacular presentation of more than 700 paintings in 45 galleries. So challenging is the presentation that you will need to make many more visits to view the collection in a new way. The representation of Rembrandt's, Rubens, Vermeer, Goya and other great masters is breathtaking array of favorite master paintings and other great works not seen for awhile from the permanent collection. Everything has been cleaned, restored, revitalized and brought back to life, some in new period frames. There is portraiture, landscape, genre painting, still life, ceramics and sculpture. With seven suggested visits to capture the full import of the collections an informative, illustrated walking guide includes concise and lucid historical texts and floor plans to help you navigate through the galleries.

RetroSpective at The Museum at FIT The repository of great historical fashions digs deep into its archives. The new exhibition RetroSpective examines the relationship between fashion and its own history illustrating through garments on displayed on mannequins how designers draw on the past as a fundamental part of their design process. They adapt, interpret, and attempt to modernize historical silhouettes and details that are as disparate as cage crinolines, flapper dress, and grunge. The exhibition begins with examples of fashion inspired by historical periods prior to the 18th century including a 1981 gold lame ensemble by Zhandra Rhodes and a 1999 painted silk chiffon gown by Alexander McQueen for Givenchy Couture. One result of a craze for Victorian in the 1930’s was the reprisal of 19th-century cage crinolines and bustles. Let me also mention, that art also influences fashion. Just recently in Women’s Wear Daily it was reported that impressionist paintings, mostly landscapes by Manet and Monet, were the inspiration behind Tory Burch’s resort collection. Admission is FREE and open to the public through November, 2013.

ILLUMINATING FAITH The Eucharist in Medieval Life and Art Leave it to the Morgan Museum and Library to explore how artists depicted the celebration of the sacrament and its powerful hold on society in more than sixty-five exquisitely illuminated manuscripts drawn from the Museum’s renowned collections. Illuminating Faith also offers glimpses into medieval culture and presents some of the Morgan’s finest works, including the Hours of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, one of the greats of all Books of Hours, a private prayer book commissioned by Anne de Bretagne, queen of France for her son the dauphin, Charles-Orland; and a number of rarely-exhibited Missals. At 225 Madison Ave. through Sept. 2, 2013.

HANNAH ARENDT – Her Ideas Changed the World – Polly’s Movie Pick of the Week is Margarethe von Trotta’s highly dramatic and incredibly timely film, HANNAH ARENDT. The sublime Barbara Sukowa commands the screen in a brilliant new biopic of the influential German-Jewish philosopher and political theorist, Arendt’s reporting of the 1961 trial of ex-Nazi Adolf Eichmann in the New York—controversial both for her portrayal of Eichmann and the Jewish council—including her now-famous concept of the “Banality of Evil.” At the Film Forum on Houston Street.

Ta Ta Darlings!!! I may get lost in the galleries at the Met’s Old Masters in New Quarters. Fan mail welcome at pollytalk@verizon.net. Visit Polly’ Blogs at www.pollytalk.com and click on the links in the left-hand column of the page.