CANTERBURY CHORAL SOCIETY GOSPEL CONCERT MAY 17

Dear Friends: IT'S DUKE ELLINGTON LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD BEFORE with The Canterbury Choral Society's GOSPEL CONCERT plus Works by Rollo Dilworth and Nicholas White on a Friday night, May 17th. 

      The FESTIVAL OF GOSPEL MUSIC is held in the glorious setting of the Church of the Heavenly Rest where we are joined by children, youth and gospel choirs, and brilliant soloists. Polly is singing in the chorus and will be delighted to greet you after the concert. 

THE TALE OF GENJI at the Metropolitan Museum: Review By Polly Guerin

The art of storytelling may well have its origins in THE TALE OF GENJI, a rich Japanese epic that one may conclude is the first and most historically romantic literature that captivated readers with spellbinding tales of romance and adventure. 
       Romantic writers today may well find great inspiration for although the stories date back to the early eleventh century, when they were written, they span over 54 chapters with a cast of some 500 characters in exquisitely illustrated and illuminated screens and scrolls. 
     The exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on view through June 16th also brings together more than 120 relics from twelve collections in Japan and the United States inspired by the book. The popular 54-chapter tale was written by the noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu was a mix of storytelling themes centering on romantic encounters, entertainment, social conjecture and even Buddhist philosophy. 

It was the quintessential romantic story and like women devotees of the romantic novel genre today, the first readers were obsessed with the stories. At the core of the story line are the misadventures of the Emperor's son who, excluded from the line of succession, seeks restitution through romantic encounters with a cast of over 500 female personalities. And, oh
what a tale it was but not just for the elite, Murasaki's classic was available in modern
translations, books, drawings and popular prints distributed to a wide and eager audience.
Colorful episodes pull the reader in with mesmerizing descriptions of the Heian period and introduce beautiful and intriguing female characters. The most fascinating object on view include calligraphy texts and paintings drawn from the Edo period. The works on view reflect the wealth of patrons who commissioned magnificent screens, scrolls as inspiration from the book. Fashion also took a fancy to the Genji stories and produced magnificent gold encrusted silk robes and just in case a reader wanted to fancy herself a heroine in a story she would wear an elaborately embroidered kimono. Even a deck of playing cards printed with characters from the stories might get you in the mood.     

The Story of Genji is a story of serial sensationalism which captivated audiences not only with the romantic aspect of the story but provided details of opulent, privileged lifestyle, definitive descriptions of court life, the fashions they wore, the way they ate, drank an made merry. The screens are delightful to look at and tell individual stories of remarkable imagination.
The exhibition concludes with original drawings by the contemporary manga artist Yamato Waki, from his updated adaptation "Asaki Uume Mishi" a testament to the sagas remarkable legacy.   
     Ta Ta Darlings!!!   I wonder if anyone will take up the gauntlet, so to speak, and try to write
a saga of such monumental proportions today.  Alas, I do hope to hear from you please email
pollytalknyc@gmail.com.  Visit Polly's Blogs at www.pollytalk.com.

THE TRAPHAGEN SCHOOL Fostering American Fashion: Review By Polly Guerin

Ethel Traphagen photographer unknown

To the world at large the name Traphagen may have very little significance, but to fashion insiders, historians and some fashionistas they remember that Ethel Traphagen, illustrator and fashion designer was founder with her husband, the artist William R. Leigh of the TRAPHAGEN SCHOOL OF DESIGN  where they both taught at the school and she served as director. The first fashion school of its kind, it opened in 1923 at 1680 Broadway. It is interesting to note that the school's founding predates The Fashion Institute of Technology which opened in 1944.  
      However, this story is not just about a fashion school it is about the meteoric rise of American fashion that would rival Paris couture that had held the title of Empress of Fashion since its founding by Charles Frederick Worth in 1800s. 
     The School of Graduate Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology presents an engaging and well documented tribute to THE TRAPHAGEN SCHOOL, Fostering American Fashion in an exhibit which runs through to March 31, 2019.. The exhibit in the Museum at FIT is open Tuesday through Friday noon to 8 p.m., Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. free admission
      1912, A PIVOTAL YEAR: When the New York Times announced the first ever American Fashion contest in collaboration with Ladies Home Journal editor, Edward Bok who had been promoting"AMERICAN FASHION FOR AMERICAN WOMEN "since 1910.  You must remember that at this time American designers were incognito so to speak. They labored under the influence of Parisian styles and merely adapted the silhouettes at various price points.  

The Winner, Dress Design inspired by ART

THE WINNER:Thirty-year-old Ethel Traphagen of Brooklyn, New York was was one such designer, unremarkable and obscure until she won the coveted first place evening dress award in the New York Times contest. At six feet tall the red-haired, blue-eyed Ethel would become a dynamic pioneer in American fashion
ORIGINAL AMERICAN DESIGN: Ethel believed that American design could be achieved by the study of art and fashion history as a source of inspiration and that would become the mantra of instruction when the school was established. Ethel's winning dress design was based on the painting Nocturne Blue and Gold, Old Battersea Bridge by Abbott McNeil Whistler. 
      When Ethel established Traphagen School it was built on the fundamental American design movement: Design by Adaptation was its core philosophy. The Traphagen School was known for its study collections. artifacts that included books and historic fashion plates made available to students to use hands-on for inspiration. Such a tenet was also adapted by the Hewitt Sisters, particularly Eleanor, who made their artifacts and collections available to students for research and interpretation. As far as designer recognition goes, very few rose to the heights of our present day superstars. However, in the 1940's Lord and Taylor was the firsr department store to
elevate American Designers to stardom, featuring them in window displays and bring to the fore
such luminaries as Bonnie Cashin and later Anne Klein. THE BATTLE OF VERSAILLES: Worth mentioning here this event's intent was to raise money for the restoration of the French palace. It pitted American ready-to-wear designers and the Parisian haute couturiers. 
       

Traphagen Archive Illustration

Bravo! The American designers presented modern, cutting-edge fashions, which made the French couture seem outdated and in consequential. THE TRAPHAGEN SCHOOL MAY HAVE BEEN THE STANDARD BEARER OF ILLUSTRATION AND DESIGN, BUT THE FASHION BEAT GOES ON EVER TO HEIGHTS OF UNPRECEDENTED ACCLAIM AT THE FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. Traphagen closed is doors in 1991 and FIT opened in 1945 beating the path to
international fashion history.
    Ta Ta Darlings!!!! Polly was a professor in the fashion merchandising department at FIT for over 25 years and conducted  a summer study tour in Europe for 20 young women students through the fashion capitals of London, Paris, Milan and St. Tropez visiting haute couture and not so haute designers as well as factories and retail stores. Visit Polly's Blogs at www.pollytalk.com.
Fan mail welcome at pollytalknyc@gmail.com.
     

The Traphagen School: Fostering American Fashion at FIT;

HUDSON RISING: 200 YEARS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: Review By Polly Guerin

William Wade, Panorama, 1847

The lore and legends of the mighty Hudson River served as inspiration for legions of artists including Thomas Cole, and writers who captured the river in paintings, drawings, literature and photographs, and surveyors and scientists have mapped and measured its every parcel, forever romancing its legendary history.
       But the Hudson River is much more than a body of
water. It has been home, not only for people, but hundreds of species of fish, birds, and plants, a landscape so rich when first discovered they came to plunder and then came enlightenment and conservation. Today, the movement to protect nature is called "environmentalism." Image: William Wade, Panorama of the Hudson Rive from New York to Waterford, ca. 1847. New York Historical Society Library.
      This spring, The New York Historical Society presents HUDSON RISING, a unique exhibition that explores 200 years of ecological change and environmental activism along "the most interesting river in America" through artifacts and the celebrated Hudson River School of paintings.  
       On view through August 4, 2019, HUDSON RISING  we learn that the Hudson River flows from the Adirondack Mountains 315 miles south to the bay between New York City and New Jersey, where it meets the Atlantic ocean. Five paintings by Thomas Cole at the entrance to the exhibit, tell a story about the rise and fall of the mighty Hudson empire.       

JOURNEYS UP RIVER: The river was lush, it was brimming with oysters and in its heyday oysters were shipped worldwide and in abundance in New York's Fulton Fish Market. With the  explosion of New York's population at the turn of the century and its commercial activities, including severe overfishing, the areas in and around New York were now highly polluted. Yields from the oyster beds atrophied, and questions arose about the safety of shellfish.    

Robert Havell, Jr.'s 'View from Hudson River

In the 1800's mighty Hudson was like a magnet luring steamboat and armchair travelers from New York City pointing out the landscape's natural wonders, Hudson Valley industries, notable individuals, and Revolutionary War sites along the way. Hudson River School art on display include Image: Robert Havell Jr.'s 'View from Hudson River from near Sing, Sing, New York, ca. 1850, oil on canvas. Purchase: Watson Fund. 1971.
THE ADIRONDACKS: 1870s-1890s examines the creation ofAdirondack Park, established to save the source of the river and combat deforestation in order to protect the viability of the entire Hudson watershed. Then, too, Seneca Ray Stoddard'a photograph images of deforestation made a strong case for forest conversation and protection of the Adirondack wilderness. THE PALISADES: 1890s-1950s In the late 1800s, the Palisades cliffs were being blasted to bit by road builders, Citizen activists, such as the New Jersey chapter of the General Federation of Women's Clubs and the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, fought back and helped create Palisades park in 1909. The throngs arrived and outdid themselves in 1920 when over two million people visited the park. This is a breathtaking exhibition and includes THE HUDSON HIGHLANDS and the final section A RISING TIDE: TODAY discusses the process of reimagining and reclaiming the Hudson River in the 21st century with conservation and environmentalism at its core.  Image: George Henry Boughton (1883-1905) Hudson Valley from Fort Putnam, West Point 1855. Oil on Canvas. New York Historical Society. Gift of John V. Irwin and William F Irwin.   

Boughton's Hudson Valley 1855

PROGRAMMING;  Several events include May 22, Douglas Brinkley, New York Historical's presidential historian, explores how presidents like Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt championed the protection of the nation's natural treasures.  For program details an family activities visit www.nyhistory.org. 
                 Ta Ta Darlings!!!  I'm overwhelmed by the lore and legends of the majestic Hudson River and count the many times I have traveled on Metro North cruising along as the train passes the sights at a speed of historical significance.  Fan mail welcome pollytalknyc@gmail.com. Visit Polly's other Blogs at www.pollytalk.com.


     
       

        

MORONI: RICHES OF RENAISSANCE PORTRAITURE: Review By Polly Guerin

Isotta Brembati, ca. 1555-56

The visual world that Giovanni Battista Moroni recorded, embellished and transformed the genre of portraiture in spectacular ways. This spring The Frick Collection, presents the first major
exhibition in North America devoted to his work in an exhibition through June 2, 2019.
        Bringing together nearly two dozen of Moroni's most arresting and best known portraits introduces his masterful illusion of recording reality. Instead Moroni captured the realistic image of the sitter with no attempt to glorify or improve upon the figure. 
       The arrogant men, the subdued obedient women peer out with innocent eyes devoid of any emotion. A masterful realist, Moroni may never have achieved the fame of other artists working at the time, however, his recognition for realism stands as a testament to his genius.
     Although less familiar to audiences outside of Italy, Moroni is celebrated as an essential figure in the Northern Italian tradition of naturalistic painting that includes Leonardo da Vinci and Carracci.  Known for his naturalism Moroni presents wealthy citizens of Bergamo in their elegant attire alongside a selection of complimentary objects, including Renaissance jewelry, textiles, arms and armor, and other luxury items.  Image: Isotta Brembati. oil on canvas, ca. 1555-56, Fondazione Museo de Palazzo Moroni, Bergano, Lucretia Moroni Collection.
        Moroni's naturalism was sometimes criticized, yet the historian, Roberto Longhi, for example in 1953 praised Moroni's "documents" of society and placing the artist at the head of a tradition of Lombardy naturalism that anticipated Caravaggio. 
     

The Knight with the Wounded Foot

MORONI  was born in Albino, a small city less than ten mills from Bergamo and during the sixteenth century, Bergamo was geographically---and, in some ways , culturally---closer to the Duchy of Milan.  Thus, Moroni encountered sitters, fashions, and luxury goods from both Milan and Venice. The opulent attire of his sitters in rich silks, brocades, trapunto embroideries and gold bullion, jewel encrusted crosses and other luxury accessories reflect the lifestyle of wealth and position in society. Image: Faustino Avogadro, called Il Cavaliere dal Plede Ferito (The Knight with the Wounded Foot) ca. 1555-60, Oil on canvas, The National Gallery, London.
      Moroni achieved his characteristic naturalism through exacting attention to detail, psychologically potent and vivid expressions, with a 'warts and all" approach that at times, resulted in seemingly unidealized portrayals. His realistic portrayal of Lucrezia Agliardi Vertova conveys with emphatic clarity his elderly sitter's goiter, her sagging neck, wrinkled skin.  At the same time, she is dignified.
      Moroni's most famous painting, The Tailor, is unusual for its portrayal of a tradesman at work, albeit probably a wealthy one. It has impressed viewers for centuries with its life likeness
and suspended action. 
      In 1660, Marco Boschini, in his celebrated poem about Venetian painting, La carta del navegar pittoresco, proclaims Moroni's Tailor is so lifelike that it seems able to speak "more eloquently than a lawyer." Paintings like The Tailor were ahead of their time and anticipated the narrative portraits for which Rembrandt would be celebrated the following century. Nearly by the portrait of The Tailor, viewers can see in a separate glass case, large metal scissors the tool of the tailor's trade, similar to the one in the portrait.      

The Tailor

Scholars have debated the precise meaning of The Tailor, prompting consideration of the social status of Moroni's clientele: does the painting simply present a tailor carrying out his daily tasks, or is it allegorical portrayal of the unidentified man's family name (such as Tagliapanni, meaning
"cloth-cutter.") Based on the sitter's clothing---fashionable and costly (though made of wool rather than the more expensive silk) the painting most likely depicts a well-to-do tailor. LUXURY ITEMS in the exhibit includ, Isotta Brembati's fan, pendant cross of rubies, emerald and pearls, and marten fur which are rare surviving objects in the exhibition. Though marten furs were highly popular among elite women during the Italian Renaissance, very few have survived.  The extraordinary example on display is the only one with a gold marten head with precious stones and enamel underscores the opulence of the accessory as well as its duality, being at one time beautiful yet grotesque. Website: www.frickfuture.org. For additional information 212-288-0700.
       Ta Ta Darlings!!! Moroni's paintings and objects bring to life a Renaissance society 
and its opulent lifestyle. Fan mail welcome at pollytalknyc@gmail.com.  
       Fan mail always welcome just go to www.pollytalk.com and click and link in the left hand column to Blogs on fashion, visionary men, women determined to succeed and poetry.
       
   

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ONE BASQUIAT: Celebrating Black History Month: Review By Polly Guerin

BLACK HISTORY MONTH, which ends February 28th, reminds us to renew acquaintances with the tormented and talented, but short-lived life of Brooklyn-born artist JEAN-MICHAEL BASQUIAT. (1960-1988). Known for his raw gestural style of painting with graffiti-like images and scrawled text, once said. "I am not a black artist. I am an artist!" 
       The exhibition ONE BASQUIAT at the Brooklyn Museum last year, was the latest link between the artist, JEAN MICHAEL BASQUIAT, and Brooklyn--- from his birth at Brooklyn Hospital to childhood visits to the Brooklyn Museum, where his mother enrolled him as a Junior Member when he was six years old. 
       Basquiat's mother was an American of Puerto Rican descent who early on encouraged Basquiat's interest in art, taking him to new York City's great art museums. Troubled by his early childhood, when his mother was hospitalized, he dropped out of high school and left home at age 17. 
BECOMING BASQUIAT With no source of backing he lived on the streets, with friends, or in abandoned buildings and began a graffiti campaign with graffiti artists Al Diaz and Shannon Dawson. They created the persona Samo(c) on walls and around Soho and the East Village and on the D. train of the New York City subway system. He began to receive notice and emerged in the above ground New York art scene at age 20.        

At that time a resurgence of Expressionist painting was at its zenith and he participated in his first formal exhibition in "The Times Square  Show" (1980). From there his career skyrocketed, and until his death in 1988, he was a celebrity represented in major blue-chip galleries in New York and Germany.       

Yet lacking any formal training, Basquiat created highly expressionistic work that mixed graffiti and signs with the gestural and intuitive approach to Abstract Expressionist painting. Although much of his work addressed his personal angst in high stylized self-portraits, he also alluded to African American historical figures including jazz musicians, sports personalities, and writers. He appropriated and freely mixed motifs from African, Caribbean, Aztec, and Hispanic cultures and mixed "high art" references with images of popular culture, especially cartoons.        

FRIENDS WITH WARHOL In 1983 the young artist was befriended by the Pop artist, Andy Warhol and they began to collaborate occasionally.  Ever on the brink of unprecedented success, Basquiat appeared on the cover of the weekly New York Times Magazine in 1983 as a representative of the contemporary art-marketing trend. Sadly,

his life was short-lived.  Three years later, at age 27, he was found dead in his loft from an overdoes of heroin. The artist and director, Julian Schnabel made Basquiat and his meteoric rise in the art world the subject of his first film. BASQUIAT (1996).   

       Ta Ta Darlings!!!  Sad to note that the artist, so young, so full of promise ended without

trumpet or praise.  Fan mail welcome at pollytalknyc@gmail.com. Visit Polly's Blogs on

www.pollytalk.com.