Category: Manhattan

Manhattan: Looking, Dining & Reading

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WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART

The Whitney Biennial is held every two years and brings together the works of contemporary painters, sculptors, video artists and the like.  This year there are 70 artists represented and the works can be abstract, challenging, and occasionally accessible.  I find the experience of viewing this exhibit interesting and yet somewhat off-putting.  But I feel it’s a good exercise to be exposed to art I don’t necessarily like or understand.   Here are several works from the Biennial. Luger’s inverted tipi echoes his Native American heritage while stating that the world is upside down.

from Future Ancestral Technologies by C. H. Luger

Philadelphia artist Karyn Olivier uses found objects as reference points for the past or loss. Anyone who’s spent time in Maine will recognize these lobster trappings.

How Many Ways Can You Disappear, 2021

We also spent time in a gallery of works from the Whitney’s permanent collection.  Here are two pieces that spoke to me, one visually appealing, the other disturbing and powerful. I like the vibrancy and beauty of the Gullah woman in Dry Clean.

Dry Clean, Eldzier Cortor, c.1945-46

Norman Lewis’ stark black and white oil painting is chilling with its masks, skulls, and echoes of Klansmen and would easily have fit in the Biennial exhibit.

American Totem, Norman Lewis, 1960

DINING AROUND—THAI STREET FOOD 

Up Thai (Upper East Side)

We had walked by Up Thai in the past, but never eaten here before.  I read a recommendation for it and decided to book. It’s a very popular place and while an attractive space, it’s jammed packed with tables and there is very little space for the wait staff to navigate.  Granted, we were here on a Friday night, but it was crowded with families with children as well as 30 and 40 somethings.  

Our waitress was smilingly pleasant and efficient, and we loved what we ordered!  UP spring rolls with shrimp and crabmeat with plum sauce to start. 

UP spring rolls

Then a medium spicy green curry with chicken, string beans, bamboo shoots, bell pepper, and basil leaves, along with pad krapraw, an entrée of Thai chili, onion, peppers, shitake mushrooms, more basil leaves, and pork.  Both dishes came with white rice. 

On a return visit, we sampled the curry puffs and a vermicelli dish with shrimp.  The vermicelli with ginger and other spices was especially good. In addition, we ordered pad krapraw, this time with chicken. We had more than enough to share.  It was all so good that we will be regulars here!

GUT WRENCHING & HEARTRENDING NOVEL

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

Author Winn (theguardian.com)

In her first published novel, Alice Winn depicts the mostly unspoken love between two young men, schoolboys together, and then soldiers in the front lines in France. Ellwood (Elly or Sidney) and Gaunt (Henry) are classmates at an upper-class English boarding school.  When Britain enters the World War, they and most of their classmates enthuse about joining up as soon as they are old enough.  Their view of war is one of glory and excitement on the battlefield.  Little do they envision the carnage and the gruesomeness they will experience in the trenches at Ypres, Loos, and the Somme.  

The novel alternates in time and space between Ellwood and Gaunt and their experiences together and separately (Henry becomes a German prisoner of war) and those of their closest friends and classmates.  Besides this group, Gaunt’s sister Maud is the other principal character.  She serves as a nurse during the war years, giving her some perspective on what these young men have suffered. The years covered are 1913 to 1919.

The battle scenes are extremely graphic and some of the most gut wrenching I’ve ever read.  Bodies are blasted apart and pile up.  These scenes are contrasted with and redeemed by tenderness and shared forbidden love.  Despite all the deaths that litter these pages, the reader is left with a sense of hope in the years after the war.

Inspired by war remembrances in the historical archives of her own college and enriched by extensive research, Winn has crafted a powerful, moving, and ultimately beautiful work of art.  Highly recommended! (~JWFarrington)

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.) Header photo is Deep Calls to Deep by Maja Ruznic at the Whitney Biennial.

Return to Manhattan & a Mystery

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SECOND SPRING

In May, we typically spend the month in Manhattan.  It’s a round robin of visits to great art museums, dining at favorite restaurants, sampling new eateries, people watching in the parks, discovering new titles from beloved bookstores, and spending lots of time with our delightful granddaughters—without being a drag on their busy schedules.  

We have always enjoyed seeing tulips in bloom in Central Park, in the Jefferson Market Garden, and along Park Avenue.  This year, we reveled in early spring in North Carolina—delicate redbud trees, daffodils, yellow snapdragons, and then the azaleas bursting out.  We arrived here mid-week past the peak of the tulips, but there are still enough hanging on to attract our attention:  robustly red ones, rosy pink blooms, and in Central Park, dark purple tulips verging on black against a backdrop of white azalea petals. 

We’ve been here about three days and haven’t yet done much except walk, dine, and enjoy our granddaughters.  Our new life in North Carolina is filled with so much activity that I believe we are in recovery mode, a winddown from our recent move and all the energy that required.  Soon we will get back to touring the exhibits at the MoMA, the Met, and the Whitney. In the meantime, there are even “flowers” on 5th Avenue–thank you, Van Cleef & Arpels!

FUN HISTORICAL MYSTERY

The Lace Widow by Mollie Ann Cox

Eliza Hamilton, wife and then widow of Alexander Hamilton, was a formidable woman.  Strong, smart, resilient, and determined to make a difference in the world, she outlived Alexander by 50 years.  

In The Lace Widow, author Cox turns Eliza, or Mrs. General Hamilton as she is politely addressed, into a detective.  It is a fact that Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.  And it is true that some of Hamilton’s political enemies falsely accused him of misusing U.S. Treasury funds.  After Hamilton’s untimely and unseemly death, Eliza desperately seeks to see Burr punished, but he has disappeared.  She is also motivated to continue to protect Hamilton’s reputation and that of herself and her children.   

When several of Hamilton’s close friends also die in suspicious circumstances, and her oldest son is fingered as a suspect, she begins her search for the culprits.  In the process, secret societies and strange alliances are uncovered midst several false leads.  

While the events here depicted after Hamilton’s death, including the several murders, are fiction, Cox crafts a good story and highlights the role of lace in a woman’s wardrobe and the skill and nimble hands required to make it.  A fast read that believably combines fact and fiction!

I foresee a future Eliza Hamilton mystery. In the meantime, for an absorbing take on Eliza’s multi-faceted life, read My Dear Hamilton:  A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie.  

NORTH CAROLINA DINING

This entry is for my new cadre of local readers.

Peck & Plume (The Mayton)

The Mayton, Cary’s boutique inn a few doors from the downtown park, houses not only attractive rooms for overnight guests, but a welcoming and tasty restaurant.  Peck & Plume is open for all three meals, and besides its inside dining room, boasts a lovely terrace.  With fans and heaters, the terrace is comfortable most any time of year. 

The Chief Penguin and I enjoyed lunch there recently.  He had the sashimi tuna preparation along with a small Caesar salad.  I took advantage of the soup sip (a demitasse cup of the daily soup for $2) and tucked into a Caesar salad with salmon.  The salad greens were fresh and crisp, and the salmon was perfectly done.  

We also sampled the specialty cocktails.  I liked the sound of the lavender mule with ginger and lemon but found it overly perfumed.  Service here can be a bit slow, but if you have the time, the food is worth the more leisurely pace!

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Christmas Greetings from Manhattan

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AROUND TOWN

Lighted tree on Park Avenue

The Christmas trees on Park Avenue glow golden as the afternoon darkens, pedestrians are bundled up tightly against the chill wind, and there is a bustle and much anticipation as folks prepare for Christmas Day.   

Holiday berries

At our son’s place, presents galore are piled underneath the perfectly shaped tree.  Younger granddaughter F has sussed out all her gifts, even counted them, examined each and everyone, and made guesses at the contents.  

The little blue and red bowl on the coffee table has been filled and refilled with candy cane kisses.  Three bags’ full, they have consumed, she excitedly proclaims.  She and her older sister have made gifts for all the family and done elaborate wrapping and labeling of them, even adding decorative elements to the gift paper.

Tree in Bristol Plaza lobby

HOLIDAY CONCERT

On Thursday, I was one of the lucky grandparents at the middle school winter concert, presented primarily by the 5th and 6th grade classes.  There was a handbell group, two pieces played on recorder, and many songs.  E sang with her classmates, and they sang with the men’s chorus on selected numbers.  The men’s chorus, made up of the girls’ fathers, is a long tradition at Brearley, and one everyone enjoys.  

Playing at home

Also of note, the middle school orchestra (5th through 8th graders) played the Jupiter section from Holst’s The Planets.  E is one of a handful of French horn players in the ensemble.  All very impressive!

(The lower school also had a winter concert, but the hall was just large enough for the girls’ parents.)

MAGIC OF THE SEASON

Even if you don’t get to view the tree at Rockefeller Center or admire midtown’s festive facades, there is magic to be found. For two decades, residents of 73rd Street between Second and Third Avenues have draped their street trees in soft lights from Thanksgiving through January. It’s truly a wonderland to behold!

Merry, merry Christmas!!

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.). Header photo is lighted trees on E. 73rd St.

Manhattan Moments: Art at MoMA

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Entrancing Video Art

One of the most compelling reasons to visit the Museum of Modern Art this season is the floor to ceiling video piece on the main lobby wall.  Created by Refik Anadol, Unsupervised, is an ever-changing mesmerizing mass of colors and shapes that at times flows beyond the boundaries of the screen. It is abstract in form, dark and mysterious sometimes and, at other moments, a riot of intense color.

Just one snippet of Unsupervised

Anadol used artificial intelligence and applied it to a database of the complete works in MoMA’s collection.  This area of the museum was the most populated with people of all ages the two times we visited.

Crowd at MoMA watching video

A Dynamic Collection, 1970s-Present

The Chief Penguin and I spent the remainder of this visit on the second level looking at and liking and not liking some of the stranger pieces of recent art, sculpture, and video. 

It’s the centennial of Ellsworth Kelly’s birth and two works of his dominated the first gallery.  I especially liked his aluminum paneled work with some colored panels, Sculpture for a Large Wall, which he created in 1957 for the Transportation Building in Philadelphia.  

Sculpture by E. Kelly

I also liked the brilliance of Spectrum IV which begins and ends with colorful strips of yellow and gold.  

Kelly’s Spectrum IV 1967

Indian artist Shambhavi is represented by a most intriguing metal work, a tree made of scythes saluting the farmer’s work.

Reaper’s Melody, 2011/2018

To See Takes Time

On our second MoMA visit, we delighted in To See Takes Time, a collection of watercolors, charcoal, and pastels by Georgia O’Keeffe.  In several instances, one sees the evolution of a work from early stages to a final version or to a version that is simply presented in a different color palette.  These are smaller works showing the diversity of O’Keefe’s interests and reflecting her travels (Maine, New Mexico) and her ongoing fascination with nature.

On the River, 1964
Canna Lily 1918-20 (O’Keeffe)
House with Tree-Green

One surprise is the realistic portrait of fellow artist Delaney.

Beaufort Delaney, 1943

Bar Food

Buena Onda

Since Cinco de Mayo was this week, it seems appropriate to mention the new Mexican place we tried.  (We avoided a crowd by not going on the 5th!)  Buena Onda on 1st Avenue is more a bar than a restaurant, with a few tables up front and several booths in the back.  It was recommended to us for its tacos by the waiter at Canyon Road, its sister restaurant up the street.  

We began with guacamole and margaritas, both very good, and then sampled some gorditas filled with chorizo and peppers and two of their tacos, beef and chicken.  Everything was very tasty and fresh so we will definitely return.

Note: Header photo is Pink and Green Mountains No. IV, 1917 by Georgia O’Keeffe.