 |
| On the way to the Met |
Sometimes, art is worth schlepping in the rain to see. I walk and walk and walk to the Metropolitan Museum of You-Know-What. By the time I arrive, I'm sopping wet, despite my raincoat and umbrella. In NYC, I've lost my ability to keep dry in the rain. Sherman Oaks rain is much gentler. NYC rain is a little pushy. I get in line outside the museum and get wetter. I go inside and fight my way through crowds so I can consume art: The Schiaperelli-Prada exhibit. I see a Prada dress decorated with crushed bottle caps. I see crazy shoes and hats. I offer commentary to total strangers who don't speak English. They look at me funny. I'm having a very bad hair day. I'd laugh at me too. I move on to gobble art that Gertrude Stein and her brother collected, before Picasso and Matisse commanded the big bucks. Smart Jews. I'm so impressed with their smartness, I take forbidden photos till a guard snaps, "Hey! SJG! No freakin' photos!" "Oopsie," I say.
 |
| Picasso: The Blue Period |
 |
| Matisse. Pretty, pretty Matisse. |
Now I need a nosh. I stand in another line for 40 minutes just to get a salad. To pass the time, I talk to total strangers. "Can you believe this line?" The couple in front of me look at me funny. They don't speak English. I eat a salad not worth 40 minutes of waiting. I share my table with two ladies who do speak English. We bond. We say goodbye. I see more art. Then I spend 10 minutes trying to figure out how to leave. I ask the guards. "How do I get out of here?" "Look for the exit signs." Helpful, as always. On the long walk back to the hotel, in the rain, I decide it's time to guilt a certain family member who made promises he can't keep. "Hi, Daddy. It's raining." "I'm boiling an egg." "Did you hear the part about it's raining?" "Can you call back?" "Sure. Don't worry about me. I'll just keep trudging through the downpour." A half hour later, I call him again. "Hi, Daddy. Done with the eggs?" "Just cleaning up. Sorry about the rain." "That's okay. I don't blame you for it. I blame you for other things."
 |
| "One Man, Two Guvnors" |
The day ends with no rain -- guilt! a magical thing! -- and a screamingly hilarious British farce. I'm a happy, no longer soggy SJG. Today I will do my hair and hope for the best.
Posts
So glad you enjoyed the smash British import to Broadway "One Man, Two Guvnors"! **
ReplyDelete**(SJG fans please note that someone who needs constant acknowledgement suggested that she see this show). Okay it's me.
Thank you for the suggestion. I owe everything to ... hang on... drawing a blank... wait, it's coming to me... YOU!
ReplyDeleteDear ,
ReplyDeletethey are right looking for the historic truth about Gertrude Stein in this however wonderfull exhibition,"The Steins Collect;Matisse,Picasso,Cezanne and the Parisian Avant Garde" in NewYork at the Metropolitan Museum of Art .
Because what a pleasure to see the portrait of Gertrude Stein by Riba-Rovira .Who was as Picasso an antifascist and antinazi artist .Persecuted by Franco and the Nazis .
But who is in this exhibition ,thanks to Rebecca Rabinow and Edward Burns, perhaps
the only one artist would fought them weapons in his hands .
Whose father was in jail after the spanish civil war .So Riba-Rovira is beside Tchelitchew and Balthus and Francis Rose near Picabia and Picasso in the last room of this exhibition with Cézanne, Matisse .
And you have an interesting article in Appollo London Revew about him .And also in Artes Magazine from San Francisco where the exhibition was before .
But the main document as a revelation is with the mention beside the picture with the Preface Gertrude Stein wrote for first Riba-Rovira's exhibition in the Galerie Roquepine in Paris on 1945 .
Where we can read Gertrude Stein writing Riba-Rovira "will go farther than Cezanne...will succeed in where Picasso failed...I am fascinated " by Riba-Rovira Gertrude Stein tells us .
And you are you also fascinated indeed as Gertrude Stein by Riba-Rovira ?
Me I am when I see « L’Arlequin » on the free access website of « Galeria Muro ».
But Gertrude Stein spoke also in this same document about Matisse and Juan Gris .
Riba-Rovira went each week in Gertrude Stein's saloon rue Christine with Masson ,Hemingway and others. By Edward Burns and Carl Van Vechten we can know Riba-Rovira did others portraits of Gertrude Stein .
But we do not know where they are ;and you do you know perhaps ?
With this wonderful portrait we do not forget it is the last time Gertrude Stein sat for an artist who is Riba-Rovira .
This exhibition presents us a world success with this last painting portrait before she died .And her last Gertrude Stein's Art Retrospective before dead .
It illuminates the tone as an esthetic light over that exhibition now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York thanks to Curator Rebecca Rabinow .
Coming from San Francisco "Seeing five stories" in the Jewish museum to Washington in National Portrait Gallery .And now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York for our pleasure .
And the must is to see for the first time in the same place portraits by Picasso, Picabia, Riba-Rovira, Rose ,Tall-Coat, Valloton .Never before it was .
You have the translate of Gertrude Stein's Riba-Rovira Preface on english Gertrude Stein's page on Wikipedia and in the catalog of this Roquepine exhibition you can see in first place the mention of this portrait .And also other pictures Gertrude Stein bought to Riba-Rovira .
There is another place where you can see now Riba-Rovira's works in an exhibition in Valencia in Spain "Homenage a Gertrude Stein" by Riba-Rovira in Galleria Muro ,if you like art ...
But we do not missed today that all over Europe a very bad wind is blowing again bringing the worth in front of us .And we must know that at least were two antinazis and antifascists in this exhibition but the only one fighting weapons in hands would be Riba-Rovira who did one of the first three « affiches » supporting Republicans in the beguining Spanish civil war .
Seeing Potrait of Gertrude Stein by Riba-Rovira in the Metropolitain Museum of New York with Picasso ,Cézanne ,Matisse we feel a recreation of spirit .
Wowza. Thanks for the historical perspective. I could've used you at the museum yesterday.
ReplyDeleteWhew! For a moment I was worried your father had lost his magic.
ReplyDeleteHey Carol!
ReplyDeleteDidn't know it was time for your trip to NYC already! Before Barry and I went to NYC last fall we actually watched a 24-episode lecture series on the Met Museum of Art! Then we figured out exactly what we wanted to see, Barry studied the museum map for weeks and we did a self-guided (self-constructed) tour of the place in 2 visits -- 5 hours total! But that was really the way to go because we didn't spin our wheels at all - no looking at stuff we didn't like or understand (pre-Columbian art comes to mind).
You're pretty adventurous -- just walking into that huge place and conquering! ('Course you've probably been there a bunch of times...)
Enjoy yourself! Hope to see you Sunday at Doug's...
Nadine