New York City Page 3

September 2012

All Pages of This Report

Continued from page 2

The following day (Thursday), Frank brought us over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where we met Paul's cousins from Italy, Federico and Valentina. Freddi and Vale were on their honeymoon, which they split between New York City and Miami. Here is Federico, Valentina, Paul and Frank at the entrance to the Met. Frank wore his Italian soccer t-shirt in honor of the occasion.

Federico, Valentina, Paul, and Frank standing together on the steps outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art

No flash photography is allowed in the museum, so pictures are a little difficult. We have a handful of them, though. Here is Anne posing next to Balthus "The Mountain".

Anne standing beside Balthus's painting The Mountain at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

One of Paul's favorite paintings is "Mark" by Chuck Close. The painting is interesting because of its technique. It is a 'photorealistic painting'. It has a narrow plane of focus (the eyes, lips, cheeks) and then gradually gets out of focus as objects leave that plane (the nose, the ear, the shirt collar). When standing away from the painting - as I did when taking this photograph - this is not nearly as evident as when you have the opportunity to walk up closer to it. According to the interesting Wikipedia article, the painting took fourteen months to complete, and was constructed from a series of airbrushed layers that imitated CMYK color printing.

Paul standing beside Chuck Close's large photorealistic portrait Mark at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Another fun painting was "The Innocent Eye Test", by Mark Tansey. Note the Monet Hay Stack incorporated in to his painting. And there is a painting of Jenn with Beau-Beau. Probably our favorite room in the entire museum is the Studiolo, which is a fantastic wood inlay room with 3-d effects, from the late 1400s. Here is Valentina in the room.

Valentina inside the Studiolo, the ornate wood-inlay room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

And here is Federico in the Egyptian section.

Federico standing beside an Egyptian sculpture in the Egyptian galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

We spent a full day at the MMoA, of course only seeing a fraction of the items in the museum.

On Friday, Diane and Frank walked across Central Park with us, directly by the Shakespearean Theater, on the way to the Natural History Museum.

Paul, Diane, and Anne posing together on the sidewalk beside Central Park near East 89th Street

Paul dipping Anne playfully in front of the Romeo and Juliet statue by the Delacorte Theater in Central Park

(Juliet must have been very short.)

At the Natural History Museum, we saw some special exhibits as well as permanent exhibits with Diane. Here Diane is feeding an adorable (and very much not alive) tiger.

Anne and Diane posing with a taxidermied tiger at the American Museum of Natural History

We saw a planetarium a film on stars ('Journey to the Stars') an exhibit on bioluminescence - which was particularly interesting to us since we have seen examples of this when scuba diving, and an Imax film on ancient flying lizards. The Imax film was particularly well done, I think. We also spent a little time with the dinosaurs in their exhibit. Paul and I dashed off afterwards and took the subway down a ways. At the Natural History Museum subway exit, they have some fossil replicas on the walls, and some tiles representing different animals.

Stone floor tile in the subway station showing a fossil-like shell design

We were on our way to the Museum of Modern Art to meet Federico and Valentina, who both like modern art. Here is Paul and then Anne (me) in the lobby of the building.

Paul posing in the lobby of the Museum of Modern Art with his arms stretched out

Anne posing in the lobby of the Museum of Modern Art

And my own modern art, called "Smile".

Child sitting on the floor drawing a geometric painting in the Museum of Modern Art

There is a piece at the MoMA called Expansion in Four Directions by Max Bill. When I went in to this room, a mother was sitting on the ground with her young son, who is going to be a future artist. It was an adorable scene.

Mother and child sitting on the floor while the child draws the artwork

Child standing in front of the geometric painting while holding up his own matching drawing at the Museum of Modern Art

Paul clowning around w/ Henri Matisse.

Paul clowning around behind a bronze sculpture in the Museum of Modern Art

After a few hours there, we headed back to Diane & Frank's place.

Paul standing on the sidewalk with Federico and Valentina after leaving the Museum of Modern Art

Paul and Federico standing inside a city bus and smiling at the camera

They had a wonderful reception for us, before we went out for supper.

Diane, Paul, Federico, and Valentina gathered in Diane and Frank's living room before supper

Federico, Paul, and Valentina seated around the coffee table in Diane and Frank's living room

Our last full day in New York was Saturday. Unfortunately, Lizzie's father-in-law is gravely ill, and Frank was helping Lizzie out with some logistics. (This also meant that we were unable to see Liz this week.) But Diane, Paul, and Anne went to The Frick Collection. While this museum is substantially smaller than the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it has an absolutely superb assemblage of artwork. They do not allow photographs, though, even without a flash, so I can not show you pictures of us admiring the art work. I can show you the cute playground doors we passed on the way, near the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Decorative gate panel illustrating The Hare and the Tortoise on the way to the Frick Collection

Anne and Paul standing together on a tree-lined sidewalk near Central Park

The Frick Collection entrance sign set into the stone wall on East 70th Street

Sunlit sidewalk outside the Frick Collection with its stone wall, iron fence, and trees

We were going to have a late lunch at the Whitney Museum, but the line was literally out the door. So instead we went over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and had a nice lunch there. Paul and I stayed and looked around; there is so much to see there! Some paintings you just really need to see in person; a painting by Carracci from 1607, described as "exquisite", is one of them. The photo on the website does not do it justice. We got another photo of me next to the Goya painting; I have this in my redesigned sewing room.

Anne standing beside Goya's painting of Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

(If you want to check the progress of my hair style change, where I am growing out my bangs, you can see the same picture on last year's trip report. I have the same fanny pack, though.)

A couple links on older artwork that would fit right in at the Museum of Modern Art: "Christ's Descent into Hell" (1550) could easily be part of the surrealist movement from almost 400 years later. And "Young Woman with a Pink" (1490), with the stylized features, remind me of other more modern art work.

Speaking of foretelling the future, we were struck by this 1856 American statue of a young woman texting.

White marble statue in a Metropolitan Museum of Art gallery surrounded by framed landscape paintings

(Okay, she isn't really texting, but when we first saw it that is exactly what it looked like.)

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