The Arts in New York City

The critically acclaimed “The Frick Collection” located on the Upper East Side, is a beautifully preserved site and a magnificent building, filled with many impressive pieces of art. Henry Clay Frick, the former owner and resident of the estate, and his family had an undying passion for fine art and therefore laid the foundation for a sumptous collection in their home that would later be modified into a museum in the years of 1913 to 1914. Among these awe-inspiring paintings and sculptures were Joseph Mallord William Turner’s “The Harbor of Dieppe” and “Cologne: The Arrival of Packet Boat: Evening” hung on opposite sides of the West Gallery, because of their tremendous detail and endowment to inspire the observer to see and feel the movement in these paintings themselves. Jeans Barbet’s sculpture “Angel”, held entirely in black and located in the garden, which is an artistic, spiritual site in itself, caught my attention the most because of the defined features and striking pose of the angel. Though, the artistic value and beauty of all the pieces displayed in “The Frick Collection” is undeniable, I got the impression that most of the pieces didn’t seem to get the full appreciation they deserved. While the building has all potential to be an enjoyable, sophisticated museum, many of the galleries felt crammed and the arrangement of the pieces was rather imperfect. Even though I took advantage of the Art Phone Audio Guide, provided for no extra fee, I was not fully able to immerse in the depth and focus these pieces required of me as the observer. “The Frick Collection” is a museum that requires one to have preparation, maybe even do research, before hand, I believe, to fully appreciate every piece of art and in order for one to know what to look for in the numerous galleries.

I am sure everyone here has been to the MET sometime in the passed years. I remember going to the MET almost every year for my school trips. Since I have been there so many times and basically seen the same exact exhibits over and over, I thought my visit to the MET would be another boring one. But there was an unexpected turnout. I went to the Robert Lehman Collection tour last Friday. I had never been on a tour before inside the MET. It was a new experience for me. The tour guide Carmeta Barone, was very informative. But since there was a time limit on the tour, she had to get through a lot of painting in a short amount of time. I would rather have her spend more time on a few specific paintings. The tour consisted of paintings from Renaissance to Impressionism. That is a lot to cover in an one hour tour. It would have been better if the tour focused on only the Renaissance paintings. I knew some of the Renaissance paintings from before but the information about the other paintings were hard to follow. I think this tour is mainly for people who are already familiar with the paintings in the Robert Lehman Collection.

Due to renovations, the Robert Lehman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was moved to an underground gallery next to the cafeteria. After finishing the tedious tour, nothing beats sitting down and grabbing a bite right outside the gallery. Only a small portion of the artworks was brought down, according to Carmeta Barone, the tour guide. The tour, lasting an hour long consisted of only several artworks ranging from Early Renaissance to Post-Impressionism. Probably one of the most famous artworks displayed was “A Goldsmith in His Shop” by Petrus Christus. Upon seeing this painting in a concave section of the wall, I was surprised to learn that this painting existed within the Metropolitan. Previously I have had the luxury of seeing this painting in a textbook. Ms. Barone gave a lecture about this painting, which was quite dull to the ears because she was lecturing uninteresting facts. Personally, I was glad to have learned about this painting because it allowed me to look for specific aspects of the painting that Ms. Barone does not mention. The impression that I got from this tour was that Ms. Barone was rushing to get to as many of the paintings as possible within the hour. Currently I would not recommend the tour of the Robert Lehman Collection to anyone whom has no prior knowledge of the artworks. Without any prior knowledge, it would be hard to grasp the true intentions of the painters as well as appreciate the artwork within the four minutes allotted to each.

The Paley Center for media is an exhibit in Manhattan that lets its visitors watch old clips from TV and radio shows that they consider to be classics. Indeed some of the more modern clips that they showed, like Mr. Bean and The Simpson’s I did find rather interesting. However since I am not an avid television and radio show viewer most of the shows seemed unnecessary to me. I felt that I could have seen the same thing if I turned on the history channel or watched old reruns late night on TV. I would recommend this museum to anyone who enjoys watching old shows or who just wants to reconnect with a time that now survives through these very shows and people’s memories.

When thinking of Egypt, thoughts of Mummies, Pyramids and Pharaohs quickly come to mind. It seems as if all of us in the modern world marvel at the ingenuity of this civilization that dates back thousands of years. But what we, as a modern culture, tend to overlook is the artistic nature of the Egyptian people. Now, for all of us that are looking for our fill of Egyptian art, culture and history, we have to look no further than the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Ancient Egyptian Art exhibit. The exhibit displays the various forms of art created during the different ages of the Ancient Egyptians’ dominance, including: various and beautifully crafted hieroglyphics that adorned the temples of the past kings of Egypt as well as true to life sculptures that paid homage to deities and great Pharaohs. The exhibit displays various forms of household art displayed on various jewelry, funerary objects, and household implements that gave an insight into Egyptian daily life. Also on display, for those who have a passion for mummies, are a wide range of sarcophagi that are emblazoned with some of the best and most illustrative Ancient Egyptian art. One cool part about this exhibit is as soon as you enter, there is a reconstruction of the Tomb of Perneb, a palace administrator late in Dynasty 5, which you can walk into and see the paintings that line the walls and in the meantime, get an idea of the inside structure of the tomb. This was a very interesting exhibit because the exhibit distances itself from the stereotypical ideas of Egypt (mummies, pharaohs, and gods) and focuses more on their artistic achievements, which gives another perception and insight of their culture.

I settled myself in Union Square Park among the many white collar workers taking a short lunch from the insipid routines of life as employed adults. From my stone seat, my feet dangled half a foot from the ground, and the statue of George Washington on a horse loomed overhead. The first things I noticed were the animal’s strong flared nostrils, strained veins on its cheek, and its blank grey eyes. Washington sat firmly in the saddle with a powerful sword sheathed on his left flank. His gaze was fixed forward and his right arm reached, his fingers searching. For what, who knows? Perhaps he was reaching for something unreachable or feeling the cool breeze between his fingers on that hot sunny day. Maybe he was commanding his army of squirrels that resided in the garden or demanding the strange dancer before him to cease his jig. As I started to leave, I took a final glance at the frozen man and his pet and came to the conclusion that the steed was a stallion and not a mare, if you know what I mean o_O

After visiting the Museum of Jewish Heritage which is located in downtown Manhattan at Battery place, I was left feeling very weary and somber. The museum itself stands as a memorial dedicated to those died in the Holocaust even though not everything found in the museum’s exhibitions deals with that period of history. I am not Jewish, however I am from Poland which was where most of the Holocaust concentration camps were located. This museum has details and information about the Holocaust which cannot be learned simply by reading a textbook. There are hundreds of pictures as well as many voice recordings in the exhibitions which are really effective in understanding the impact of this tragedy. Also, several items which were recovered such as personal belongings, diaries, and letters are featured in the museum. One of the most interesting and important items in my opinion, was a large book which contains the names of most of the victims who were killed in the concentration camps. It took a long time for this book to be put together and it is really worthwhile just to glance through the pages and really feel the impact in seeing the endless list of people. I also think that the museum’s exhibitions are put together beautifully in a way that really flows and makes sense to visitors. The first section focuses on early Jewish history, the middle section on the Holocaust, and the third section focused on the Jewish renewal or the modern Jewish culture. I would strongly recommend visiting this museum to others, in order to understand the Holocaust from the Jewish point of view, and to get a unique look at Jewish culture and lifestyle.

The Paley Center for Media is a museum that contains 5 floors, as well as a concourse level, filled with theaters, screening rooms, galleries, and a radio listening room that contain a variety of shows that occurred throughout the twentienth century.  Even though my first expectation of the museum was to see the world’s oldest radio and other things, seeing shows and commercials of other generations was classic as one could experience the change of the world around us throughout the years.  Radio shows were very interesting since one could pick whatever they wanted to listen to from the museum’s large collection.  According to me, the most interesting section of the museum was the Edward and Patricia McLaughlin Library where one could browse through over 120,000 programs and commercials that appeared in television as well as radio.  Whoever is interested in a lost generation, this museum is strongly recommended.

Different kinds of art can be found everywhere, from museums to galleries to parks to your own home. It can even be found at coffee shops. At Joe’s Coffee Shop, you can experience latte art. Gabrielle Rubenstein, a co-founder of Joe’s says, “the whole thing behind latte art is that it ensures all the elements come together and are correct.” It is really the art of science; the right amount of milk, expresso, foam, and timing is needed to make latte art. Joe’s latte art comes in forms of hearts, leaves, monkeys, and many other things. Not only does it look good but it tastes great too.

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The Paley Center for Media, formerly known as the Museum of Television & Radio, is located at 25 West 52nd Street. The interior design is spanking new.  It has a main theater and a couple of screening rooms.  Although the theater and screening rooms are spacious and comfortable, but I prefer to sit at the individual console in which I could select and watch the television shows.  The museum has a wide-ranging collection of television programs and radio programs.  According to the docent, the library has over 100,000 television shows and commercials and radio programs.   Those programs are deemed as artistic work that should be preserved. Some of television program date back to 1948 and some of radio programs date back to the 1920s. It is quite worthwhile to spend time at this museum.