Whether you’re talking business or personal style, standing out takes balls. And the ballsiest person I know is 88 year old Iris Apfel. Iris is outrageous, down to earth, and can count herself among the ranks of art geniuses.

Her medium?  Clothes.

Don’t laugh. Art museums around the country are showing her work, including NY’s Met and the Peabody Essex Museum. Last month we promoted her extraordinary exhibit on radio.

done

Now, meet Iris…

“Live it out!” Iris tells us. It’s true in life as well as business. The first question to ask is: Do you have the guts to be truly distinctive? All it takes is some balls and maybe a boa.

WORD

jive [jahyv] n. 1. swing music or early jazz 2. the jargon associated with swing music and early jazz 3. Slang. deceptive, exaggerated, or meaningless talk: Don’t give me any of that jive! ∞ v. 4. to play jive 5. to dance to jive; jitterbug 6. Slang. to engage in kidding, teasing, or exaggeration 7. Slang. to tease; fool; kid: Stop jiving me! ∞ adj. 8. Slang. insincere, pretentious, or deceptive

BIRTHDAY

Frank Calder (1877), Soichiro Honda (1906), Gordon Lightfoot (1938), Martin Scorsese (1942), Lauren Hutton (1943), Danny DeVito (1944), Lorne Michaels (1944), Gene Clark (1944), Stephen Root (1951), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (1958), Jeff Buckley (1966), Sophie Marceau (1966), Daisy Fuentes (1966), Kimya Dawson (1972)

STANDPOINT

Short and sweet today. I’m really quite annoyed with the all the goddamn Christmas ads, sales, etc. that are all ready all over the place.

Despite my misanthropic tendencies, I’m really kind of a softie in some ways. I like the holidays. I do.

But this time of year has been kind of tainted, for me, by all the commercialism. Even those of you out there who possess the unending optimism I enjoy frowning upon know this to be true.

For lack of a better, more definitive sentiment: BAH! HUMBUG!

QUOTATION

There are about five things to write songs about: I’m leaving you. You’re leaving me. I want you. You don’t want me. I believe in something. Five subjects, and twelve notes. For all that, we musicians do pretty well. → Elvis Costello

TUNE

I know. I’m beating this HTC commercial thing into the ground. I just like it. Really like it. More than I like most people. For those of you wondering what song is actually playing, it’s a remix of “Sinnerman” by Nina Simone. One of the comments on YouTube simply reads, “Futureproof.” Sums it up.

GALLIMAUFRY

→ Oprah Winfrey and Sarah Palin were on the same stage and no one thought to do the proper thing and plant explosives. Christ, people, do I have to think of everything?

→ In what’s becoming sadly commonplace, another celebrity has died young. Ken Ober, the host of the late-80s MTV game show “Remote Control,” passed away yesterday at the age of 52. As of yet, no one’s sure how.

→ All right, on a personal note, here’s a picture of my favorite piece of art – “Woman with a Water Jug” by Johannes Vermeer. It’s only 18 in. by 16 in. The detail is amazing. Best part is that the painting currently resides in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Cloisters “is the branch of the Metropolitan Museum devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe. Located on four acres overlooking the Hudson River in northern Manhattan’s Fort Tryon Park, the building incorporates elements from five medieval French cloisters—quadrangles enclosed by a roofed or vaulted passageway, or arcade—and from other monastic sites in southern France.” I got that quote from the website because I think they say it better than I can.

To sum it up, it was beautiful. My boyfriend and his sister were in town and we were all looking for a little tourist fun. We heard about the Cloisters and decided it would be worth the hour-long trek to get there. We took the A train into Harlem, the 2nd to last stop, and walked for about 15 minutes through the amazing Fall foliage to get to the museum. The best part was that I had just received an early Christmas present of a year membership to The Met…and since this museum is a branch of The Met, I got in for free!

Fall colors on our walk to The Cloisters

Non-flash photos were allowed, and while there were tons of things I took pictures of this one was one of my favorites. Polly Pocket from the 12th Century?

Polly Polly Polly Pocket

I just learned from this article on unclutterer.com that designer Eva Zeisel just turned 103!  I have a set of dishes that are a reproduction of Zeisel’s work.  They are lovely celery green, curving asymmetrical plates that we use for dinner almost every night.  Here are a few of Zeisel’s artworks from the Met and MoMA:

Inkwell, Eva Zeisel, 1929-30, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hallcraft Tomorrow's Classic Sauce Boat with Ladle by Eva Zeisel, c. 1949-50, MoMA

Folding Chair, Eva Zeisel, 1948-49, MoMA

After learning that Eugene had waited 10 long years for someone else to take enough interest in the Met to walk around it with him, Jen and I agreed to accompany him, because seriously, there’s not much more on the agenda these days. Plus, there were some cool special exhibits going on.

But, as with most of our outings, it took longer than anticipated to actually reach our intended goal. First, Eugene needed a drink, which we later had to smuggle into the museum. This segues nicely into the other snaffoo, in which a militant museum worker challenged Jen over a banana, and Jen refused to back down. She wasn’t hungry for a banana right then! So, naturally, she went outside and took it through the other security line and ate it inside the museum (beside the shark we weren’t supposed to take pictures of) out of spite.

Actually, thinking back, it seems that we were veritable miscreants at the museum today. I, of course, blame my cohorts who have reputations for that sort of thing. Whole Foods, nudge, nudge. Anyway, in the first special exhibit of black and white photographs from Robert Frank’s book The Americans, I managed to take a photo of one I liked before a very nice man with a subdued sense of authority suggested I not do that. How was I supposed to know that no photography was allowed? The sign beside me totally looked like you could take photos with no flash. Here, witness my shame/victory.

Next we hit the Samurai weapons exhibit, which got all of us pretty much sworded out. Wish there had been a bit more explanation about the samurai history along with all of the descriptions of blade-making and dynasties, but it was still pretty cool. We actually managed to get through that one without a single indiscretion, which I attribute to the glazed look hundreds of sword blades gives to a person…or maybe it was magical latent samurai power. We’ll never know.

On to the mischief, Eugene and I lost Jen for a while and moved on to the giant Great White shark suspended in a vat of formaldehyde in modern art. We used our special selective vision to obliviously take photos of the shark beside the No Photos sign, and I sincerely regret not taking the opportunity to stand in front of its gaping mouth. I sense a photoshop opportunity here. Over the course of the next few minutes I got called out for using my phone, and Jen ate the illicit fruit beside the shark. Shame.

The best thing about the Met is that you really don’t have to worry about seeing it all, because it’s impossible. It’s especially great if you live in NY, and you can in good conscience give a tiny donation at the door knowing that you’ll be back again soon. We wandered in the sculpture hall before stopping for a little tea and coffee in the new American Wing.

Later, sensing that it was 5:00 somewhere (namely the midwest), we conveniently classed it up before leaving by having drinks next to the orchestra playing in the mezzanine, which is a great reason to stay at the Met late on a weekend.

october 13th: texas state history museum

my department has in our budget two outings per year.  usually the department opts to go to lunch, this time we went to the bob bullock texas history museum and to the imax movie under the sea.

october 15th: hanson

october 15th began my weekend in new york with my sister!  thursday was spent traveling and catching up on some sleep.  it just so happened that after she asked if i wanted to go, hanson released their fall tour dates and were in new york that day.  so we went and had a great time.  no pictures from the actual concert because the nokia theatre is one of those dumb venues that won’t allow you to have a detachable lens.

time square!

the moving t-rex at the toys r us in times square

october 16th: day o’ adventure

what a day.  what a never ending day.  it started with seeing maurice sendak’s original drafts and drawings for where the wild things are at the morgan library.  it was a small exhibit, but super amazing to see.  especially to when you realize how much work he put into this book with so few actual lines of text.  there were also drafts of drawings that didn’t make it into the book.  the library itself was insane.  it’s was beautiful and old and awesome.  i also saw a small collection of puccini including drafts of la boheme.

and then onto the natural history museum where i spent the rest of the day.  i saw a movie about space and a space machine that looked alot like wall-e and a meteorite and  lots and lots of bones of crazy looking creatures and stuffed versions of animals from all over the world.  and then i had an overpriced salad and soda at one of the cafes.  because that’s what you do.  it was amazing.  i could spend days there.

things that will haunt your dreams.

and then it was off to the show!

mama mia was wonderful!  i didn’t see the movie and while the plot line was obviously a little weak, it was definitely a fun filled show.  plus i was at a broadway show with my sister, so it really just doesn’t get much better.

we skipped dinner to hang out with these guys for awhile, you know, chatting on the phone and catching bad guys.  then it was off to starbucks for a quick hug to the employees.  a black and white cookie for a snack and off to bed!

october 17th: wild thing.

do you get the feeling i was excited about this movie coming out?

i spent a little while at the new york public library’s children’s library getting my picture taken with a wild thing.  i look ridiculous in the photo though, so the world may never see it.  i took the subway to the upper east side to have lunch with my sister at luke’s

think i looked silly riding the subway like this?  that’s one very cold wild thing.

and then it was off to the met!  i really didn’t realize just how huge this place is.  it would take me weeks to make it through the whole thing.  especially in the unbroken in boots that i decided to wear.  so i got my ticket, checked my coat, sat down with the map of the exhibits and made a plan.  i feel like i saw everything that i wanted to see most.

first stop was egypt and a tomb inside of the museum.

after egypt i decided to invest in a headset tour guide.  my sister suggested it.  she was so right.  death of socrates.

degas the little fourteen year old dancer that i am in love with.  she bronze with pink tinted shoes, a cotton skirt and a silk bow in her hair.  i never knew degas did anything but paint.  i was very impressed.

for peter, some of degas horse sculptures.

more dancers.

picasso’s the blind man’s meal

van gogh’s wheat field with cypresses.  van gogh was nuts.

and andy warhol!

i also saw a real shark in a glass case of formaldehyde/emotion (also called the physical impossiblity of death in the mind of someone living.  pictures weren’t allowed so this is not my picture.)  and some an amazing exhibit of robert frank’s the americans (if you don’t click on any other link, click on that one, trust me.)

after that i decided that my feet hurt too badly to funtion any longer so i decided to head back to the subway.

upper east side is so fancy.

after that was west side story.  which was pretty amazing.  i think it may have been one of the first musicals i saw that i really loved.  and then my sister was in it and so i had an even bigger reason to love it.

yay sisters!

and my favorite picture.  overall, what an amazing, awesome trip.  i have the world’s best sister.

MET / New-York / Metropolitan Museum of Art

Depuis son ouverture en 1872, le « MET » est l’un des plus grands musées d’art du monde, situé sur la bordure Est de Central Park, au n°681 de la 5th Avenue, et à hauteur de la 82e rue de l’île de Manhattan. Les collections du MET comptent plus de 2 millions d’œuvres d’art en provenance du monde entier, allant de l‘antiquité grecque aux grands peintres européens (Velasquez, Monet, Cézanne, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh…), de sculptures, de photos, d’art médiéval et, évidemment, des collections d’art américain. Il expose aussi des collections d’armes et armures, d’instruments de musique, du vêtement (avec tous les grands couturiers), d’intérieurs (cela va d’une chambre romaine de l’antiquité jusqu’à un intérieur de Franck Lloyd Wright ; des galeries consacrées à tous les arts de tous les continents… 1800 salariés et 900 bénévoles travaillent pour le MET…

CLIQUEZ POUR LIRE LA SUITE DE CE GUIDE DE VOYAGE COMPLET :

MET NEW-YORK, METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

This is one of my favorite contemporary artists. I first saw his work about 2 years ago when he came and did a lecture at The University of Vermont, later I saw his work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His last two series are both brilliant and yet so simple. Take a look at his work. Matt Siber

I’m sad to admit Ryan’s text was more than a little over my head, but I refuse to take all of the blame for being confused. The author teaches us how to read her own academic narrative in the introduction, explaining her terminology to describe certain studies of narrative and media synergy. Then she seems to abandon her narrative map early on in the text: using “narrative” and “narratology” interchangably. Still, there was one quote in Chapter 3 on “Drawing and Transgressing Fictional Boundaries” that piqued my interest:

“Whereas truly fictional texts create their own world and constitute the only mode of access to it, nonfictional texts refer to a world that forms the potential target of many texts, because this world possesses a extratextual existence. Fictional worlds are automatically true of their reference world, but nonfiction texts must establish their truth in competition with other texts that describe the same world.”

…hence all the rivalries in academia over the depiction of history.

The most recent argument for context in historical narratives I could think of was the current war of words in the art world over Vermeer’s The Milkmaid. The painting’s exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City sparked a controversy when the written introduction accompanying Vermeer’s second most famous piece extensively covered several sexual implications in the painting’s various details (Ex: the open mouth of the milk jug, the footwarmer in the corner, the dangling bird and chicken impaled on a spit).

Walter Liedtke, the curator of the exhibition and author of the article cited historical perceptions from Vermeer’s home country of milkmaids and other female laborers as being “sexually available” to credit his analysis of the seventeenth-century painting. Other art historians like Victor Wiener, argued that Liedtke’s radical new reading of the painting was part of a sales ploy to drum up more visits for the Met. Opposing scholars have argued that Vermeer’s Milkmaid is a subject with a more innocent intent: according to E.H. Gombrich, she is “a simple figure employed in a simple task.”

The argument here is between two significantly different narratives stemming from the same source material without the benefit of the artist to clarify his original intent in composing the work. The subject of the painting is both fictional and historical and therefore held to a standard that doesn’t exist in the literary world apart from that of the literary novel or historical fiction. Ryan herself describes historical fictions as interpretations of the common world and interpretations of history as artificial as the fictions themselves. I’m inclined to believe this is true: that all visual art is a form of historical narrative and that any interpretations of the artist’s intent are fiction written by perceptions of both scholars and non-scholars.

At the same time, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I don’t take Camille Paglia’s interpretation of Donatello’s David as a factual depiction of the artist’s appetites and intent in creating the piece. But like any other fictional narrative, it’s fun for me to imagine it.

Art used to be complex. If you loved it, you were fancy. I’d spend time in front of a portrait, clueless to what the brush strokes were or what the colours were or how revolutionary the painting itself was. I was clueless. Until 3 years ago, when I hit The National Gallery and took an art tour on a whim, I thought visiting museums to look at paintings was pointless. Until 3 years ago, no painting other than Mona Lisa at the Louvre interested me. Until 3 years ago, Monet was just a random name.

On a cold windy New York day, with not much to do outdoors, I set out to the MET. “Its one of the best museums I have ever been too!” Far too many people had told me. And as I climbed up the beautiful stairs, I knew why. The museum is enormous. It houses paintings, sculptures. Well, I should stop. Most of you know that the MET is huge and what all it has..

Rewind 3 years. I was alone in London. It was valentine’s day and I didn’t give a shit about the red all around or the love that was in the air. So I went into the National Gallery and took a few guided tours. It was here that I fell in love with knowing the story behind each painting. The era they were painted in, how subtly the artist left a mark of their perception on the image they painted, and of course, I realised that I do indeed enjoy seeing museums. Suddenly, walking down long corridors halting every minute to take in a painting became fun.

Fast forward: back to 20th October 2009. I entered the MET and grabbed a schedule sheet. The first tour I would take was American paintings, followed by an interesting tour: fashion through art and then there was an impressionist tour before I headed out to meet a friend at Columbia University. I wanted to take the modern art tour as well, but then I already liked the sound of my day!

Copley, Homer, Trumbaults were followed by a painting that took my breath away and tickled my curiosity. I stopped in front of it, waiting for the rest of the group to settle. Before the guide told me its story, I knew I was in love with the painting: Madame X.

A woman with a pallid white skin tone dons a black gown that highlights her figure. Her hand rests rather uncomfortably on a table as she looks in an awkward direction. Her longish nose, which might look ugly on anyone else, looks elegant and there’s an air of sophistication, pride and immense amount of attitude about the woman in the painting. Her dress is held by two straps and one strap is noticeably different from the other. She looked gorgeous, and the painter must have been taken by her beauty to depict her the way she looked (beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, and this beholder thought this woman was gorgeous, you could just tell!)

“The painting is that of a well-known Parisian socialite Madame Gautreau. She was born in America and went to Paris in search of a wealthy husband. Known for her glamour and style, Madame was a flamboyant woman. John Singer Sargent’s painting led to a lot of controversy resulting in the fall of Madame. Although her name was nowhere on it, people knew it was her. Now in those days…”

She went on to explain that it was a bit too shocking in the day and age. Today, far lesser than that is worn and yet called classy, but Madame’s outfit, her pose and the fallen strap in the original painting, caused quite an uproar. Didn’t she know she was posing in an outrageous pose then? Why did Sargent paint her the way he did? Who was Amelie Gatreau?   Wikipedia wasn’t going to be enough and hence I got myself Strapless, a novel by Deborah Davis. It’s a well-researched account of Gautreau’s and Sargent’s lives leading upto the painting of Madame X and what happens after the painting.

The book had me hooked. The lives of women in high society, the fickleness of their marriages (it was normal to have affairs as long as they were discreet, huh?) the ways of the world of art, the business angle of art, men and their muses, friendships that were ways of getting ahead in the society. Not much has changed today. The women might not need to find a rich husband, women are allowed to paint (back in the day, women did not get admitted to art school), but we still make friends to make better contacts, we cheat discreetly and the big change: less and less of us seem to believe in marriage.  To be as gorgeous and glamorous as Amelie and to be stuck in a loveless marriage would be a disaster. But what amuses me even more is that after being painted in that fashion, Amelie lost all she had worked for, whereas Sargent gained repute and went on to become a celebrated painter who rubbed shoulders with the high and mighty in England and America.

It’s a story of art but more than anything, it’s the story of a search, the endless pursuit of youth, glamour and fame. In the end, it’s a hollow existence but that hollow existence stands immortalized on a canvas in the MET, looking at thousands of visitors that pass by, thinking, how the times have changed and yet, so many things remain unchanged…

This morning in an interview with Diane Sawyer , pop star and fashion icon Rhianna opened up about her experiences after her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown beat her up unmercilessly.

“That’s embarrassing that that’s the type of person that I fell in love with,” Rihanna said on Good Morning America. “So far in love. So unconditional that I went back. It’s humiliating to say this happened…” warning other women facing domestic violence to not let themselves become blinded by love.

ABC will air more chunks of the interview on Friday’s “Good Morning America” and then Friday evening on the news magazine “20/20.” Brown also will recount his perspective in an interview to air Friday on MTV.

Rhianna is speaking out in an effort to help other young women who may be trapped in a violent relationship.Many women are victims of domestic violence.

In the interview Diane Sawyer pointed out that , on an average, a woman will take a beating seven times before leaving. The 21-year-old star’s chilling response: “Eight or nine, actually.”

Hmmmm, sounds like she is speaking from experience, which would be chilling, given that Chris Brown  has gone on record to say that he did not have any conscience recollection of what transpired while beating Rhianna that evening.

Is is possible that he ”blacked-out” so often, as to not realize that he is a serial abuser?

Remember what we are talking about...

If that is the case,and with the severity on the injuries he inflicted on Rhianna, I think that he may need to be screened for a brain tumor, or something.It sounds like he is not in control of his actions,…or he is a liar.

The bruises on Rhianna were real, and his actions were deplorable.I don’t think his celebrity will make him impregnable to any form retaliation from the men in her family,and I frankly do not think that they or any of us should care if he happens to be famous or not. Sounds like to me,he needs an extreme wake up call of some sort.

Speaking out was difficult for Rihanna, however, “There are a lot of women who’ve experienced what I did, but not in the public. So it made it really difficult. I just felt like, ‘Oh my God, here it goes, my little bit of privacy.”

In Thursday’s interview, Rihanna said, “I am strong. This happened to me. I didn’t cause this. I didn’t do it. This can happen to me and it can happen to anybody.”

Rihanna’s interview coincides with the debut of her new single, “Russian Roulette,” from her upcoming album, “Rated R.” It’s her first CD since 2007’s multiplatinum “Good Girl Gone Bad.” The timing is perfect for her to come out and to speak about all of this. With the release of her new album, the media’s attention will be focused on several aspects of her life,as it should.

Those that follow my blog already understand that I support Rhianna, and for full disclosure, I am a fan.If she were my daughter,my reactions would not have been very positive, so I commend her for her professionalism,and I have no problem with the way she has handled such an extreme circumstance.

This is a lot for any woman of any age to have to deal with in such a public way.

It does not mean I am hating on Chris Brown, but I just have no respect for any of his actions. I hope there is a possibility for him to redeem himself, and I would like that to happen for him, but the…”I was in shock and do not remember what happened”… excuse is cowardly, and his friends and family need to be the one’s to tell him so. At this point, he is pretty much a failure as a man, and is an embarrassment to his family.

Maybe all that fame went to his head.

Here is a clip of the interview, and I encourage all the young women of the world to share this clip with each other, and most of all, love yourself.No one should ever put their hands on you,period.

Several gorgeous dresses and fabulous hats from the House of Balenciaga are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.  Here are a few…visit their website for more amazing garments and accessories.

Good Evening Folks!

Had a nice day today. In total, I walked 6 miles. Also, I have been wrongly estimating the distance of my walks to/from Mina’s school. It’s only 2.6-3 miles, not 3.5. Here’s a map of my route:
View Larger Map
Oh well, still a pretty good stint to take with the gams. Fall weather is the best for roaming around in, particularly in Central Park. I took my usual 2.6 mile walk to fetch Mina from school and saw some awe-inspiring things while strolling:

I Hear That Place Has Good Art or Something

A Crunchy Fall Walk, The Best.

I've Acquired So Many Memories in Front of You, Bethesda. If That Angel Statue Could talk!

Marathon Leftovers

Two Years, And I Will Hopefully Cross Through That Thing

Anyway, while at work, I snacked on this to keep me going until my late dinner (I had to work an hour later than usual tonight):

Yerbe Mate, Green Apple, 1 Ounce Roasted, Salted Mixed Nuts

I may or may not have had a small fistful of french fries while the kids ate dinner. After feeding the kids, ensuring homework was completed, and dancing with a 20-month-old to the “Flashdance” soundtrack (hey, it probably burned off a few french fries), I headed home to make this dinner:

Geroge Forman Grilled Salmon Burger, Topped with Dijon Mustard (I'm a Condiment Weirdo) With Side of Steamed Spinach

Plus, leftover Halloween garbage candy for dessert:

"I Don't Want to Grow Up, I'm a Sour Patch Kid"

So, a fairly ravenous day. Apparently strength training, walking 6 miles, and 40 minutes of abusing cardio machines at the gym will do that to a gal.

Goodnight friends!

Let’s have a good look at what we are talking about…by sharing some of the best vantage points to survey these cities. The obvious; in Paris – the Eiffel Tower, in New York – the Empire State Building, of course they give you that panoramic bird’s eye view of your surroundings, though at heights that obscure the finer details. As magnificent as they are, I find many other sites in both cities provide perspectives that are just as breath taking.

The historical restrictions on the height of buildings in central Paris lends itself to having a small number of extraordinary locations, while in New York the availability of so many office towers provides endless opportunities for less common but still striking views assuming you know someone with access to them.

In Paris, you must often climb many steps to be rewarded with such vistas. You can hike up inside the towers of Notre Dame and while communing with the spirit of Quasimodo, gaze down the Seine.  A winding tour of the Pantheon, the final resting place of France’s great men and women, leads you up to a balcony that surrounds its dome. At the top of the Champs-Élysées, in the center of the world’s greatest traffic circle, the Arc de Triomphe will share its majestic view with you. Trek up the famous steps leading to Sacre Coeur where you will be able to take in a grand view overlooking all of Paris. From the Palais de Chaillots looking back across the Seine provides one of the most spectacular views of the Eiffel Tower.

The Galleries Lafayette can lend itself to skyline gazing on its rooftop terrace and the outdoor terraces in the Pompidou and D’Orsay museums offer more modest but still lovely views. The roof top sculpture garden at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY provides a delightful view of its Central Park surroundings.

A boat ride along the Seine offers a comfortable way of obtaining a sea level perspective of the heart of Paris from the Eiffel Tower to Notre Dame.  In New York the Statue of Liberty provides great views of NY harbor and the downtown financial district, which can also be experienced by taking the free Staten Island Ferry. From Rockefeller Park by the Battery the harbor continues to beckon and is especially captivating at sunset. There are boat tours which circumnavigate the island of Manhattan giving a complete water borne perspective of the island.

In NY driving offers opportunities not readily available by other means. The numerous major bridges surrounding Manhattan each provide dramatic views, especially recommended are the Brooklyn and 59^th street bridges heading into the city. The Brooklyn Queens expressway passing over the Kosciusko Bridge looks out at the entire length of Manhattan.

In both the City of Lights and the City that Never Sleeps try to visit as many of these places after dusk as possible. But the real thrill in exploring these cities will be when you come across an unexpected scene of such beauty that it will stop you in your tracks and leave a big smile of wonder on your face.

American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765-1915 is on at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, until 24 January 2010.  The final section of the exhibition, Cosmopolitan and Candid Stories, 1877–1915, includes stunning works by the Ashcan artists, American realist painters who depicted life in New York. One of my favorite artists from this group is John Sloan (1871-1951).

Sloan’s Chinese Restaurant (1909) depicts a woman feeding a cat in a New York Chinese eatery as her indifferent companion and two men at another table look on with amusement. The first thing I noticed in this painting was the pale-fleshed woman with the bright red feather in her hat, and then her and the other diners’ downward gazes, which create diagonal lines that draw the viewer’s eye to the cat seated on the floor. There is a strong connection between the woman and the cat, who gazes upwards. Sloan uses a small number of colors and simple shapes in this work, with  great effect. The woman, men, and cat are all depicted in black, white, and shades of  gray, and are thus  similarly clothed. This technique seems to unite human and feline, making the latter very much a member of the dining group. The diners are offset by the warm reddish hues of the restaurant’s interior panels, while the cat is lit by the pale beige tiled floor.  Touches of blue can be seen in one man’s tie, and in the Chinese soup bowls. The movement in the room is visible; the solid  square and rectangular shapes of the walls, windows, and curtains seem to highlight the relaxed figures of the diners eating and smoking. The restaurant perhaps provides a warm retreat from a cold, dark night (suggested by the blackened windows), which makes the cat’s presence all the more enjoyable. Inside, we can almost hear the clink of bowls, soup and noodles being slurped up, and the odd bit of laughter. Later, the woman might rise from her seat and embrace the furry cat, though this may be dangerous when wearing black velvet. A good Chinese meal and a cat to talk to—the perfect end to the day.

John Sloan's Chinese Restaurant (1909)

Le mot “Halloween” est une altération du vieil anglais “Hall Hallow Even“, qui signifie “Le soir de tous les saints du paradis“, et désigne la veille de la Toussaint.

Cette fête est principalement célébrée dans le pays anglo-saxons, mais reste peu  implantée en France (considérée principalement comme un évènement commercial). Il s’agit de s’amuser en se faisant peur (ou pas). C’est l’occasion de se travestir en toute liberté et pour ma part je serai  lors d’une petite soirée samedi soir, vêtue d’un kimono et aussi charmante qu’une Geisha … (enfin, je l’espère!).

Frank Eugene, La baronne Von P. en kimono, vers 1900, MET, NY

C’est aussi l’occasion d’inaugurer et de découvrir une nouvelle série de clichés.

Le thème: le spiritisme. L’époque: le XIXe siècle.

Le spiritisme, importé d’Angleterre dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle, trouve en France et surtout à Paris un public particulièrement réceptif et friand de surnaturel…

Les photographies de fantômes (ou premiers trucages photographiques!) abondent et connaissent un réel succès. Les médiums (au nm très souvent mystérieux et exotique) parcourent les foires, les hôtesses les plus sélectes organisent des soirées de spiritisme avec des tables tournantes, etc.

Scéance avec le medium Eusapia Palladino, vers 1907-1908: les hommes sont assis autour d'une table qui se soulève (du fait des esprits?)

So dear friends,Trick or Treat !?

This year marks the 400th anniversary of the day when the Dutch explorer Henry Hudson turned right at Mannahatta Island and was floored to discover a river named after him. To celebrate that boat trip, the curators of the Met — having already rejected the idea of an exhibit of plaster garden statues of the little Dutch boy and little Dutch girl kissing — asked the curators of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam if they could borrow Vermeer’s famous painting The Milkmaid for a couple of months.

Next thing you know, there I am standing “on line” (as they say in the East) waiting to get into an entire exhibit built around the display of this one painting. Don’t let the photo above mislead you as to the actual size of The Milkmaid. Pointy Hand A indicates the kind of wall-sized enlargement so beloved of exhibit designers. Making the unwashed public feel tiny seems to be as much a goal of museum directors as it is a delight to us, the hoi polloi. Give us an enlarged molecule to stand in, or a capillary to slide through, and we’ll call it a day well-spent. The actual painting is only about 13 inches wide.

As Pointy Hand B tells us, though, no picture-taking was vouchsafed the herd. We had only to drink in the Dutch beneficence in gratitude and shuffle off to the next silk-screened wall-ful of explanatory text in 2-inch type. The Met had turned one painting into a four-gallery affair by bunging in four of their own Vermeers (one was left upstairs for good luck) and other flotsam by contempory painters which we all ignored.

At the show’s entrance, the curators had very cleverly covered a vast wall with repros of all 36 known Vermeers in more-or-less chronological order. I counted the ones I’ve seen in Washington, at the Frick, at Norton Simon, and here at the Met and was surprised to learn I’d seen 13 of the entire bunch. Mrs NiceWork told me of an acquaintance who had made it her life’s goal to see every Vermeer. She planned her vacations accordingly. I thought –I even made that “hmm” sound signifying thought — Vermeer trekking wasn’t such a bad idea, and noted the locations of the other 23.

Also, considering the rapid, ongoing Islamification of the Europe and the fate of the Bamiyan Buddhas under Muslim rule, I wondered if maybe I ought to push the schedule forward a bit.