LIVE OUT LOUD'S 2017 Young Trailblazers Gala June 5 at TIMESCENTER

What does it take to be sweet sixteen and bring to the fore a nonprofit organization that empowers LGBTQ youth to live authentic lives? Just ask Leo Preziosi, Jr., Founder and Executive Director of Live Out Loud. He has has been spearheading this organization from the beginning and announces this year's honorees including the Soaring Spirit Award being presented by Mary-Louis Parker to BRUCE COHEN, an Academy Award-winning director of film, television and theater (pictured left). He is executive producer of "When We Rise," an eight-hour miniseries on the LGBTQ rights movement from 1971 to today.  The film is an epic event and as it chronicles the real-life personal and political struggles, setbacks and triumphs of a diverse family of LGBTQ people who helped pioneer one of the last legs of the U.S. equality movement from it turbulent infancy in the 20th Century to today.
      WHO ATTENDS? The Young Trailblazers benefit gala draws more than 400 influencers and community leaders from the worlds of business, arts, politics, fashion, and recognizes individuals and companies who have made a positive impact among the LGBTQ youth community.
      If you're like me and you want to support this organization you, too, can become part of this sweet sixteen anniversary. Live Out Loud celebrates at the YOUNG TRAILBLAZERS GALA, Monday, June 5th, at the TIMESCENTER, 242 West 41st Street, New York, N.Y.  For tickets call 212.378.4095 / email leo@liveoutloud.info. Tickets start at $250 and sponsorship opportunities are still available. Proceeds from the gala event will benefit Live Out Loud's educational school programming for LGBTQ youth.
      Red carpet arrivals start at 5:30 pm, Award presentation from 6:30 to 7:30 pm, Reception and Silent Auction from 7:39 - 9:30 pm.  The Gold Sponsor for this year's event is GILEAD.
      Raphael Miranda, Meteorologist for NBC 4 New York will Emcee and Mary-Louis Parker who presents the Soaring Spirit ward to Bruce Cohen is appropriately designated as she plays lesbian feminist activist Roma Guy, a co-founder of The San Francisco Women's building, a women-led arts and education community center and non-profit organization. The Educator of the Year will be presented to Annabell Louis, Linden High School.
   Why Does LIVE OUT LOUD MATTER? This nonprofit organization guides and empowers LGBTQ youth not only to live authentic lives but connects them to positive role models, and affirmative experiences in the LGBTQ community. Every week, the Live Out Loud High School Program is out in high schools and communities bringing  together students and role models. 
      Then too,  Live Out Loud's Homecoming Project, invites the LGBTQ community nationwide to return to their hometown high schools to share their personal stories with the next generation  Live Out Loud's Behind the Scenes program partners with corporate LGBTQ affinity groups to connect with professionals who can provide career advice and personal guidance. 
      The Young Trailblazers Scholarship Fund---Every year, three LGBTQ high school seniors are recognized and awarded scholarships for $10,000 at the Annual Young Trailblazers Gala for their outstanding leadership and community activism. For more information, go to http://www.liveoutloud.info.
Ta Ta Darlings!!! As the audience at the Young Trailblazers Gala at the TimesCenter reaches a high pitch of unbridled enthusiasm PollyTalk will be there cheering on the LGBTQ youth. Be there, it's an enriching experience.  Fan mail to pollytalknyc@gmail.com. Visit Polly's other Blogs at www.pollytalk.com.

A WORLD OF EMOTIONS at Onassis Cultural Center: Review By Polly Guerin

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POSTERS and PATRIOTISM at MCNY: Review By Polly Guerin

 As Memorial Day approaches, it is fitting to pause to remember those who served and made great sacrifices in all the wars to keep our nation free and safe.  
    Then too, it is interesting to look into the annals of war propaganda and to note that although New York City is located some 4,000 miles from Europe's bloodiest battlefields during World War I,  it played an important role in the conflict, particularly as a producer of all types of war propaganda.
     The Museum of the City of New York's "POSTERS and PATRIOTISM: Selling World War I in New York" displays sixty original illustrations to sell the war to Americans, on view through October 9, 2017.
    Why does this exhibition matter? Just the magnitude of the outpouring of Posters, Patriotism, and the Power of advertising, the persuasive method that was used to promote patriotic responses during World War I captures our collective interest.  
      In order to unite

Americans in the war effort, a formidable propaganda machine was set up in New York. Three hundred illustrators and admen were recruited with producing posters leaflets, magazine covers and sheet music covers.                  During the 20 months of American engagement in the war, 2,500 illustrations were designed , reproduced and posted over all 50 states. However, at first their image of the war was innocent and romantic; often portrayed as a glorious and exotic adventure. 
    To mobilize the home front New York became a theater of war. Vibrantly colored illustrations covered newsstands, subway stations and billboard all over the city and department stores dressed their windows simultaneously to reflect the propaganda.  Few people thought that the war would drag on but it did and as news of the fallen victims reached the citizens. the reality of the war set in and the vibrant message was darkened.     

Once the Armistice of November 11, 1918 was signed, New York entered the Jazz Age. Spared by the destruction of battle New York City transformed, admen and artists cast aside propaganda for the Dada art movement and Harlem became a mecca of new clubs inspired by African-American soldiers.  It was the roaring 20s and the city was the epicenter of freedom and frivolity.   

 It is interesting to note, that John W. Campbell, the railroad executive most well-known today for his gilded age office in Grand Central Terminal, lastly as the bar, Campbell Apartment (now closed) made substantial donations from his private collection of propaganda posters.
    Something to ponder: Would such a propaganda campaign work in today's society? 
    Ta Ta darlings!!! Let's remember the men and women who so gallantly served and revere their memory this Memorial Day, and lay a wreath at a statue in their memory or throw a wreath into the water for those lost at sea. Fan mail always welcome at pollytalknyc@gmail.com.  Visit Polly's Blogs at www.pollytalk.com and in the left
hand column click on the Blog that resonates with your interest on visionary men, women determined to succeed, the fashion historian or poetry.
    

NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S Center for Women's History: Review By Polly Guerin

Soaring Glass Grand Staircase by Norman S. Benzaquen 

Dazzling like sparkling colored gemstones, the custom-designed glass gallery of 100 illuminated Tiffany lamps displays works of artistic creation, many made by the "Tiffany Girls," who at last get their 15 minutes of fame in the groundbreaking new, CENTER FOR WOMEN'S HISTORY. The first of its kind I am told, in a major U.S. museum, the the fourth floor of THE NEW-YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY has been transformed into a space that tells women's stories and the impact women have made on American history.
     As the centerpiece on the fourth floor, the museum offers a rare opportunity to view a custom-designed glass gallery showcasing the Museum's preeminent collection of Tiffany lamps re-imagined in a permanent installation and displayed within a dramatically lit jewel-like space with its soaring glass Norman S. Benzaquen Grand staircase. 
      Quite true, the museum did have an earlier Tiffany exhibition but that was around 2005, and now the full scope of the museum's Tiffany lamp collection is on view in glorious drama, and to say the least, it is quite stunning, and tugs at one's mind to remember that many these faceted creations were designed and assembled by women.  

The fully renovated fourth floor reveals the often overlooked stories of women who had made an impact on American history.  Then too, the exhibition was inspired by the New-York Historical's discovery of the unknown story of Clara Driscoll, and her Women's Glass Cutting Department, who designed and created iconic Tiffany lampshades at the turn of the 20th century. It is interesting to note that Louis Comfort Tiffany so valued his
leading lady that he paid her the same salary as his employees in the men's glass cutting department.  Image right: The installation includes  multiple examples of the Dragonfly shade, a unique Dogwood floor lamp, a Wisteria Table Lamp, and a rare, elaborate Cobweb shades, among many others.
     With state-of-the-art interactive media, the visitor experience includes a hands-on "Design-a-Lamp" experience in the Tiffany gallery and a diorama that illustrates the rise of electrification. Putting it quite succinctly Dr. Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of the New-York Historical Society said, "The reopening of our Henry Luce III Center on the fourth floor of our landmark building marks a new and dramatic phase in the museum's history. Many of the objects we now are able to have never been seen by the public before, others had not been seen for generations."  
     

Interactive Dolley Madison dining table invites visitors 

Of course, the The Women's Center, fourth floor, offers much more than the magnificent Tiffany gallery. SAVING WASHINGTON, for example, showcases the contributions of Dolley Madison and her female contemporaries to the fledgling democracy in early America. Image left: An interactive recreation of Dolley Madison's dining table invites visitors to practice their diplomacy skills. All photos by Corrado Serra.
     In the North Gallery the striking space presents treasures from the museum's holdings in 15 themes relating to the port of New York, Hudson River School artists, slavery in New York, and 9/11, among other objects on view. Highlights of early American silver include a display of silver and jewelry from the New York retailer Tiffany & Co.
    Ta Ta Darlings!!!  Here's to the women who made America great!!!  Visit the new Center for Women's History, where women take pride and place in American history.  Fan mail welcome at pollytalknyc@gmail.com. Visit Polly's Blogs at www.pollytalk.com and click in the left hand column on the links to visionary men, fashion, women determined to succeed or poetry.

FLORINE STETTHEIMER; Painting Poetry: at The Jewish Museum: Review By Polly Guerin

Picnic at Bedford Hills 1918

Jazz Age Manhattan's influential American painter, designer and poet, Florine Stettheimer's sharp satirical wit, places her centrally in the modern dialogue of  high and mass culture. Her whimsicality and pictorial depiction of society gives us pause to be enchanted, and why not, her work continues to provoke comment and curiosity. Florine gives us a peak through the magnifier at a life well lived and well loved. She was an astute commentator on her social milieu and the American scene, including icons of New York City.
     Then, too, the leading lights of the artistic vanguard were attracted to her.  One dandy, in particular, Marcel Duchamp, the flamboyant epicurean was an intimate friend, and frequent visitor, but her circle also included Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keefe, Elie Nadelman, Gaston Lachaise, and many others. Image Left: Picnic at Bedford Hills, 1918, oil on canvas. Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Gift of Ettie Stettheimer, 1950.
     

Asbury Park 1920

By 1918,  Florine had articulated her unique style, typified in the painting Picnic at Bedford Hills. The figures are painted in a miniaturized, self-consciously naive manner that seemingly draws from folk art.  In other paintings she chronicled urban life---beauty contests, parties, the revelries of celebrities, gatherings, skyscrapers, Wall Street and consumer culture. Ahead of her time she anticipated many of the interests that would later animate Pop Art. Even Andy Warhol loved her art. Her oeuvre became a source of inspiration for some of the most fascinating artists working today.  At the height of her creative powers, the Manhattan salon she hosted with her sisters Carrie and Ettie,  attracted the best of the cognoscenti in society and the art world.
       Enchanting and  engaging your unique sensitivities deserve to view and first major U.S. exhibition in over 20 years focuses on Florine Stettheimer (1871-1944) at THE JEWISH MUSEUM, May 5, 2017 and remains on view through September 24, 2017. FLORINE STETTHEIMER: PAINTING POETRY showcases over 50 paintings and drawings in addition to costume and theater designs, photographs, and ephemera. Image Right: Stettheimer's satirical wit shines in Asbury Park South 1920. Against a golden background the lively movement of black and white beach goers intermingle on the New Jersey beach, when in reality, Asbury Park was a segregated beach. Here, Stettheimer depicts members of her inner circle including Duchamp in a pink suit, leading the actress Favia Marinoff. Carl Van Vechten is in the stand above it all, quietly examining the view of people, flirting, playing and promenading in their finest. Look deeper, Florine stands near the center of the archway, under a green umbrella. Oil on canvas. Collection of halley k harrisburg and Michael Rosenfeld, New York.     

     

Florine;s Unrealized Ballet 

In addition to her work as a painter, She was active as a and set designer and her vision for a ballet of her own. The exhibition includes many of Stettheimer's sketches, maquettes and sculptures of the designed for her unrealized ballet, Orpheus of the Four Acts. 

       Image Left: Procession Orpheus "Orphee of the Quat-z-ars, 1912, oil, fabric, and beads on canvas. Museum of Modern At, New York, Gift of Miss Ettie Stettheimer. Art Resources, New York.      A poet, too; at one time she offered an explanation of her strange, intoxicating, beguiling works in a poem, published after her death. She wrote: "For a long time, I gave myself, To the arrested moment, To the moment of quiet expectation, I painted the trance moment, The promise moment, The moment in the balance, In mellow golden tones, Then I saw, Time, Noise, Color, outside me, around me, knocking me, Jarring me, Hurling me, Rousing me, Sailing, singing, Forcing me in joy to paint them."
      Ta Ta Darlings!!! I can still visualize Florine in one of her stylish silk pajamas entering through the cellophane curtains in her studio high above Bryant Park. Take in the view and make a date to see Painting Poetry and awaken your child-like wonder.  Fan mail welcome at
pollytalknyc@gmail.com. Visit Polly's Web Site: www.pollytalk.com and in the left-hand column click on the Blog that resonates with your interest for a direct link to visionary men, women determined to succeed, poetryfromtheheart, and the fashion  historian.