School Days
So I was just about to get off the computer when a tweet came up in my Twitter timeline. It was posted by the New York Academy of Art, a superb art school where I am honored to work as a model and have mentioned many times on this blog. They’ve shared a terrific video by Life + Times which takes you into the school on a behind the scenes tour led by President David Kratz. It’s really excellent. Thought I’d pass it along here on Museworthy.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I am on babysitting duty tonight with my niece Olivia. I don’t know exactly what she has planned for us but I’m fairly certain that mayhem will ensue 
A Little Michelangelo, A Little Music
Helloo, hellooooo! Hope everyone had a good weekend. Here in NYC, the rains are a’comin. Right now it’s misty, gauzy, and soft, and I love how the birds don’t give a damn. They’re flying around outside my window, chirping, singing, have a grand old time. A loud, squawking blue jay is sitting on a branch acting like he’s all that, “Yeah, I’m colorful. What are ya gonna do about it, bitch?”
I thought I’d share two funny Michelangelo-related stories. 500 years after his death and he still inspires people, to an obsessive degree in some cases. A man in Abilene, Texas has caused a minor uproar by installing a replica of “David” on his front lawn, The neighbors are none too amused. Penises make people crazy 
Another guy, in the UK, has painted his home to recreate the Sistine Chapel. For some reason he used the face of British comedian Russell Brand for the image of Jesus. Is it just me or is that a little disturbing?
Let’s have a little music for “Music Monday” and start the week off right. This is a great track that I reblogged recently on my Tumblr. It’s Nina Simone singing “In The Dark” from the 1967 album Nina Simone Sings the Blues. Incredible vocals, and sexy lyrics – “In the dark, it’s just you and I . . .”
Pictures Over Politics
With all the major events going on the world lately I have been tempted to address some of them here on the blog. I even started writing a couple of posts in which I discuss issues and express my opinion. But those posts remain as unpublished drafts. This isn’t a political blog and people don’t visit Museworthy for that stuff. I am very well aware of that. I also just assume that no one really cares what my political views are! I am absolutely certain no one is losing a wink of sleep thinking, “I wonder what Claudia’s position is on abortion?”. I just want everyone to understand that I care deeply about the world and I follow the news closely. So please know that I DO have opinions. Some fairly strong ones too. And they fall variously across the entire spectrum. I’m an “independent”, for lack of a better word.
However, I would like to get just one thing off my chest that has really, really started to irritate me the past few months. Folks, this liberal PC speech police thing has to stop. Seriously. It’s gotten completely out of hand. You can’t just carelessly hurl the words “bigot”, “hate”, and “ignorant” at people who merely disagree with you. That’s just nuts. If you’ve ever known a true BIGOT, as I have, you would know that to call someone that is an extremely serious assault on that person’s character if it’s not accurate. Liberals claim to stand up for “tolerance” but then engage in these fascist, name-calling tactics toward dissenting views. I’m sorry, but if you’re intellectually incapable of making the distinction between reasoned, thoughtful opinions that differ from yours, and “hate”, then you really need to work on your critical thinking skills instead of reflexively frothing at the mouth like a paranoid bully whenever you hear something that doesn’t fall in line with your rigid agenda. I am in no way denying the existence of real hate and bigotry in the world. I’m merely saying that we should recognize it where it truly exists, not where we simply perceive it to exist as dictated by our politics and visceral responses.
I just can’t handle this sanctimonious, self-righteous liberal attitude anymore, especially since I have considered myself a liberal on several issues. But these days, every time I talk to a liberal, listen to a liberal commentator on TV, or read a blog or column written by a liberal journalist, I feel like I’m being lectured, or scolded, or arrogantly told that I need to “get educated”. To that I say: kindly go fuck yourself. I’m plenty educated, thank you very much. Stop trying to “correct” me or intimidate me or accuse me of being “phobic” or “ignorant”. I am NOT ignorant. That is a really uncalled for personal insult. And the only “phobia” I have is of small, confined, enclosed spaces. That gives me the creeps 
Ok, I’m done. Rant over. Let’s move on to the usual Museworthy business of art and pretty pictures. Just a few of my Metropolitan Museum photos that I’ve been meaning to post. Here are two of the Greek and Roman Gallery fountain with shiny, shimmery coins. I wonder if any of those wishes came true?
A fountain of a different sort, this is The Nymph of Danpierre, by Louis-Claude Vasse. Marble, dated 1763:
Visitors to the Met, in their excitement to see the famous paintings and sculpture, tend to blow off the artifacts and pottery displays. Or just give them a cursory look. But this plate really caught my eye. The colors and the detail of the battle scene are very impressive:
Yes I did take this picture of this sculpture at this angle on purpose Nothing like a guy with a nice ass, even if he is made of stone:
And finally, one of my favorite spots in the Met to photograph, the staircase which leads down to main lobby:
Paradise Lost
I was doing a set of quick poses at Spring Studio a few weeks ago and Minerva Durham, the director of Spring, was sitting in with the group doing some sketching of her own, which she will do from time to time if she’s not busy with other tasks. I concluded my set of gestures with a standing pose. On the break Minerva bestowed generous high praise for my last pose and declared it her favorite of the group. This fascinated me. I had done other poses which I thought were more creative, and I was curious as to why Minerva was so impressed with the last one most of all. So I asked her why and she said that it reminded her of Rodin’s famous work of Eve’s expulsion from paradise. I recalled the Rodin piece Minerva referenced and I realized instantly that she had a great point. Yes! Minerva was right, as she usually is about all things art.
Here’s my pose, sketched by Minerva in charcoal:
And here’s Rodin’s Eve:
Definitely some similarities – the hunched back, the one stepping leg. Although now I wish I had brought my arms closer to my face instead of keeping them down on the lower torso. I’ll remember next time 
Adam and Eve’s banishment from the Garden of Eden is one of the great Biblical parables, the narrative which provides the moral foundation for the concept of “original sin” and the subsequent “fall of man”. Artists have depicted this pivotal story with appropriate drama. Its main players, Adam and Eve, are often given physical gestures and facial expressions that communicate profound shame and remorse.
This is The Expulsion of Adam and Eve From the Garden of Paradise, by the 19th century French painter Alexandre Cabanel. Adam and Eve are shown cowering in disgrace as God looms over them, angered at their disobedience:
This is what happens when you misbehave and succumb to temptation – you get kicked out of an earthly paradise AND are forced to cover up your private parts. That’s the real indignity in all this as far as I’m concerned; having to wear a fig leaf. Let this be a lesson to all of you
Here’s the brilliant Rodin again, this time his marble sculpture of both Adam and Eve cast out from paradise. To great effect, Rodin placed Adam’s hand to cover his face in a gesture of humiliation. What a magnificent sculpture:
It is purely out of obligation that I post this next image. It is, of course, Michelangelo’s depiction of Adam and Eve’s expulsion which appears in the Sistine Chapel. It bears the Michelangelo trademark of depicting the female Eve as a manly butch. But the dramatic impact is great, and that sword coming in at Adam’s neck is pretty freaking scary:
American artist Benjamin West succeeded in capturing the tragedy of the fall in this work The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise from 1791. Again we see the hand covering the face gesture, and the atmosphere of God’s wrath:
Since this post was inspired by Minerva’s sketch of my pose I’ve limited it to the expulsion aspect of Adam and Eve. I’ll do another post on the “pre-fall” existence of Adam and Eve and the events which led to that harrowing event – the initial innocence, then the “temptation” that led to Adam and Eve’s bad behavior. More great artwork will take us through that story, so prepare for nudity, snakes and tasty fruit
Fauré’s Pavane
Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend. I worked, as usual, and worked again today. An art model’s duties are ongoing. Tomorrow I have a much needed day off and I’ll be spending it doing my taxes. What a delight.
Anyway, I’m a little tired but it’s still Monday, which means I can still offer a post for “Music Monday”. Lately I’ve been really getting into the music of Gabriel Fauré. I’ve always been a huge fan of the French composers. Love them all equally I’d say. But hearing Fauré’s famous “Pavane in F-sharp minor” on classical radio the other day reminded me just how amazing he is. I think I prefer it to Maurice Ravel’s “Pavane for a Dead Princess”. A pavane is slow dance, which was popular in Europe during the Renaissance.
This video features Fauré’s Pavane with beautiful, haunting images of sculpture. I think they compliment the music very well. Enjoy, and I’ll see you soon
Kiss My Sarcophagus
One of the great things about working at the National Academy is the proximity to the Metropolitan Museum. If you’re finished early enough, you can enjoy a lovely five block stroll down Fifth Avenue and take in the Met’s countless, inspiring treasures. Today I modeled only for the morning session. So at 12:00, to the Met I went!
My primary reason for going to the museum was to see the Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand photography exhibition (which was INCREDIBLE, by the way!), but I always find myself wandering into the Greek and Roman Galleries whenever I’m there. The atmosphere is rarified and bright, and unlike some of the dimly lit galleries upstairs, the Greek and Roman is an ideal place to take pictures.
A sarcophagus is basically a stone coffin. The ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians all used sarcophagi to inter their dead. Since they were meant to remain above-ground sarcophagi were often ornately designed, with mythological figures and stories carved into the stone. So what you have are amazing relief sculptures that are as impressive and elaborate as anything you’ll see. Marble, limestone, alabaster, and metals were all used for sarcophagi. A sarcophagus could have either stood alone freestanding or been part of a larger tomb construction. When the Christian practice of burying the dead in the ground became widespread, sarcophagus use gradually disappeared. King Tut’s tomb held an enormous sarcophagus – nine feet long and nine feet high- which contained the famous solid gold coffin that held the mummified remains of the King. Actually I think it was a coffin inside another coffin inside another coffin, in the sarcophagus, in the tomb. I’m not sure 
There are three significant sarcophagi in the Greek and Roman Galleries. I photographed all of them at varying spots and angles. Click to enlarge for up close detail and dimension.
You find many players in these scene depictions: cherubs on chariots, bears, lions, horses, minotaurs, garlands of flowers, grapes, and pomegranates, the Greek hero Theseus and the princess Ariadne, Dionysus, Endymion, the whole gang.
Sealed inside an intricately sculpted sarcophagus is a grand way to spend eternity. A bit more stylish than a pine box! You gotta hand it to those Greeks and Romans – they went all out!
Making Guitars With Pablo
My mind has been a little distracted lately. I’m steeped in a state of jumbled contemplation over some personal and professional issues. Nothing to worry about, as I’ve done plenty of issue-wrangling in my life. I’m a pro! But it’s affecting my mental focus these days, and my blogging too. I can’t seem to get into my “groove”. So it was quite fortunate that a topic for “Music Monday” fell into my lap today, courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art. Thank you MoMA!
Their new exhibit is called “Picasso Guitars, 1912-1914″, and the exhibition website is fascinating reading and very easy to navigate. You can view rare images of Picasso’s studio, up close details of his experimental guitar project work, and read informative text. It is an amazing glimpse into the creative process which began one day in 1912 when Picasso, with his artistic imagination in high gear, like a young child in kindergarten art class, cobbled together a guitar using only common materials of cardboard, string, paper, wire, and a little glue. In that rudimentary sculpture piece, Picasso saw something. He then created another guitar, this time with sheet metal. Then came drawings, collages, photographs, and eventually, paintings. Picasso was playing with the apparatus for Cubism but searching for a new direction. And it all started with a crudely assembled cardboard guitar he made in his Paris studio one day in 1912.
Here is one of Picasso’s guitar constructions, sheet metal and wire:
“Picasso Guitars” is on view through June 6th. Enjoy the MoMA exhibition site I linked to above, it’s really fascinating. Lots to see and explore. Also check out this article and gallery slideshow on The Daily Beast. I’m going to get my head straightened out. See you soon, friends
Spiritual Body
Hi everyone!! Sorry I missed a Monday post – no music :sob: I got rather busy yesterday with errands, an appointment, and work, and didn’t get home until after 10. So I had no good chunk of blogging time. But I’m here now. Yay!
Last spring, I found myself in what I called a “sloppy computer” phase, and it seems I’ve managed once again to achieve the computer desktop equivalent of that TV show “Hoarders”. I bookmark a ridiculous amount of stuff and forget to file things properly. It’s happened to my photos too. I published a post the first time called Buried Treasure in which I shared some of my forgotten photos, and I found another one that I think is really cool and interesting.
I took this picture at The Cloisters over the summer. This piece is fascinating in person:
The wall text description reads as follows:
Torso of Christ
Poplar, gesso, paint, and gilding
France, Auvergne, late 12th century
Said to be from the abbey at LavaudieuThe inclination of the body and the alignment of the collar-bones suggest
that this sculpture was once part of a group depicting the Descent from the Cross. The naturalism of the anatomy, evident in the forward push of the abdomen, is remarkable for a sculpture of the twelfth century.
With those materials, that’s a true “mixed media” piece, and those paint colors are very unusual. They compliment the natural texture and tone of the wood. When viewed in the room, this sculpture has a very solemn and enigmatic presence. It’s eerie and strange, but also very arresting. It absolutely demands to be photographed, so I did!
Buried Treasure
In recent posts I’ve been boring you all about the massive spring house cleaning I’m doing. What I didn’t realize was that my computer is also in dire need of a cleanup. Does anyone else fall into that “sloppy computer” phase, or is it just me? Too many files, too many bookmarks, too many downloads, things I forgot to label and classify. I got careless and sloppy with everything from documents, images, music, etc, and now I don’t know what the hell is going on. It’s chaos I tell ya! Time to start dragging stuff into the trash I think.
But the good part about getting organized is that you find things you really want to keep, and can now archive them properly. In my iPhoto for example, I found some pictures I took at the Met that I probably intended to put on the blog or on Flickr and never got around to it. Some of them are worth sharing, so here we go.
Marble sculpture of Sappho by Comte Prosper D’Epinay, who worked in both France and Italy. This piece is from around 1895:
The favorite sculptor of my dear friend Bruce Williams is Aristide Maillol, so this one’s for him. It’s Maillol’s bronze masterpiece Night from 1909. A fascinating work, it is reminiscent of Rodin and his sensuality and naturalism but also of Brancusi and his abstract Modernism. I have done this closed, withdrawn pose many times, as have most artist’s models I’m sure. It’s relatively easy to hold for long lengths of time and looks great in both male and female figures. Artistically, it conveys a contemplative, almost world-weary mood along with a compact shape and voluminous forms:
Look at what else I found in my computer disarray; Orpheus! Man am I an idiot. I could have used this baby for my Orpheus post last week. I knew I had it! Damn. Anyway, this is Italian from the early 17th century:
At the age of 41, I still hold onto the fantasy that I will meet the man of my dreams, my knight in shining armor, at the Met. But actually he’s there every single day! The problem is he’s a little standoffish and never asks for my number
I always stop by this painting when I go to the museum. Lovely, charming, and very beautiful in person, it’s Roman Girl at a Fountain by Leon Bonnat. I love the feet.
That’s about it for now. I have others but I’m going to keep them on reserve, properly catalogued, for use in future posts. Hope you enjoyed this little treasure hunt with me. Ciao darlings!!
Weekend Soupçon
:yawn: Hey. The drowsy girl is here for a short and sweet blog post. I’m afraid it’s all I can muster in my mysteriously comatose state. How many freaking energy bars am I supposed to consume? Anyway, I have a few goodies to share and I will try to type them here with my sluggish fingers.
Thanks to Kathi and Ron for sending me this crazy story about a “nude” snowlady in New Jersey that apparently offended the sensibilities of an anonymous neighbor who lodged a “complaint” with the local police. It would be funny if it wasn’t so absurd and stupid.
Much more sensible is this article/slide show from The New York Times. It’s about a special gallery exhibit showcasing artwork created by the guards of the Metropolitan Museum. Great that they’re getting the recognition for their own talent and creativity.
A little reminder to my New York readers that the Whitney Biennial is underway. I’m going to check it out at some point. It runs through May 30th so we have plenty of time. But what I’m really looking forward to is the upcoming Picasso show at the Met. No way I will miss that!
Last but not least, I ask everyone to cross their fingers and hope that last year’s outstanding film The Cove wins the Oscar Sunday night for Best Feature Documentary. It’s favored to win the category, but the Oscars have been known to make some egregious award blunders in the past. If The Cove doesn’t win it will be a travesty, and I might just kick in my TV screen! (just kidding)
I'm too lethargic to even upload an image . . . . :yawn: . . . just doing all those links was exhausting! Grrr . . what’s wrong with me? 
But I'll see you all back here for "Music Monday". Post will go up in the afternoon.
Until then . . . zzzzzz . . .
Up In Arms
I am keenly aware when I’m modeling that I have posing “tendencies”. I don’t try to fight it or anything. I just know that I make certain moves, gestures, and physical motions on a fairly regular basis. We all move uniquely. We all have mannerisms. Our bodies strike positions that come naturally to us and that we employ, unconsciously in some instances, to express ourselves and our physicality. A crowded dance floor is a good place to observe this phenomenon. An art model stand is even better.
Like most models, I have a couple of signature moves in my “repertoire” that recur often when I pose. One of them is raising both arms to my head. Then I either grab my hair and interlace it in my fingers, or just clasp at the wrists and rest them on my head. I tend to do this especially when doing standing poses, such as in this watercolor by Jordan Mejias. Now there are a few reasons for this. One is that it elongates the torso, and that action reveals the anatomy a little more, specifically the rib cage. Another reason is that standing poses generally don’t offer much in the way of negative space. If the arms are up near the head with elbows bent, it creates little triangles of negative space which artists enjoy. The last reason – and definitely the least thoughtful – is that I have a tendency to do it. It’s as simple as that. My body just has a predilection for it. I do it. It happens. And since I’m the model I guess that’s as good a reason as any
This painting by the Swiss artist and printmaker Felix Vallotton is an excellent example of the “arms raised to the head” move. It looks great. From 1906, Nude Woman Looking Into A Psyche:
Gustave Courbet’s Woman in the Waves:
I’m glad to know I’m not the only model who plays with her hair, although this lady’s silky mane is much longer than mine, and probably more manageable! William Adolphe-Bouguereau’s Bather from 1870:
Lifting the arms clearly adds interest to a vertical torso shape. But the gesture can also bring a lot to a reclined pose. I did it (with just one arm) in the photo that is posted on my About page. It looks equally interesting in this painting, Ariadne by John William Waterhouse. See how it makes the pose a touch more “active”? Your eye goes right to those arms:
Female Nude Reclining On a Divan, by Eugene Delacroix:
The “arms raised to the head” move is particularly well-suited to figurative sculpture, bringing more angles, jutting forms, and protrusions to this mesmerizing three-dimensional art form. (Always walk around a sculpture to take in its full breadth and depth). I took this picture of Rodin’s Awakening on my trip to the Philadelphia museums last month:
And this is . . . guess who? Yes it’s me, doing the “arms raised to the head” move, photographed by my great friend and collaborator Fred Hatt:
Daytripper
Hellooo, helloooooo!! To those who commented on my previous post, I apologize for my lack of responses. What has it been, like 48 hours? Ah, but I have a good excuse. I was in Philadelphia all day yesterday and was a little tired when I got home. I didn’t even go online, I just crashed in front of the TV. Anyway, my Mom and I went down to see the Gorky exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and we had a totally lovely and enjoyable mother/daughter art outing.
Excellent show, but very “heavy”, given Gorky’s troubled psychology, personal demons, and the historical context of the Armenian genocide. My mother and I, in agreement, reached the conclusion that Gorky was far superior as a surrealist than a cubist, and Mom specifically noted that he was much better when he loosened up his line, which is evidenced in his later, more mature works.
The Philadelphia Museum has the same policy toward photographs as the Met; no pictures of special exhibitions, only the permanent collections. So unfortunately I have no photos of the Gorky show.
Now I realize that I just wrote about Rodin like two blog posts ago. But since we were just a few blocks away, Mom and I walked down to the Rodin Museum, and friends, let me tell you, it was spectacular! What an experience. Absolutely amazing, glorious place. With all due respect to Gorky, I think I enjoyed the Rodin Museum more.
So as not to overwhelm Museworthy with so much Rodin so close together (I didn’t plan ahead!), I uploaded all my photos from the Rodin Museum on my Flickr page. I hope you all check them out there. I’m pretty pleased with how some of them came out.
I’m going to get to those comments now. Thanks everyone! See you soon
Martyrdom
Happy All Saints Day, everyone!!!!!!
:silence:
Ahem. I SAID . . . Happy All Saints Day, everyone!!
:sigh:
Hello? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
Okay, so I forgot to post something for Halloween and now I’m trying to compensate by drumming up excitement for All Saints Day. After all, today is November 1st, a sacred and spiritual day in western Christian tradition that most people overlook. Probably because there’s no candy involved.
But you know what? I don’t care. I’m gonna go ahead and acknowledge All Saints Day. Fuck Halloween. <— that's right, I said it. Halloween is nothing more than an opportunity for the neighborhood kids to throw eggs and shaving cream at peoples' houses and steal pumpkins off front stoops. The latter actually happened to me, can you believe it? I came home from work yesterday around 6:00 to discover that my big beautiful pumpkin had been snatched. Juvenile delinquents all of them
Religion, especially Christianity, has inspired an enormous amount of great art. Too much to even comprehend. The canon of saints in particular has provided some truly stunning works, much of it created, not surprisingly, between the 15th and 17th centuries, when the Bible and religion was the dominant subject matter of many painters. I’ve selected just a few to showcase here but there are literally hundreds.
Saint Peter was one of Jesus’s earliest disciples and a major figure in Christian history. From the Greek painter El Greco, this is The Tears of Saint Peter from 1607:
Saint Cecilia was the patron saint of musicians and church music. The female artist Artemisia Gentileschi painted a few versions of her. This one is titled St Cecilia Playing a Lute, 1616:
Even a non-devout person like myself has a “favorite” saint. Oh yes indeed. St. Francis of Assisi is my man because he was the patron saint of animals and spoke out for kindness and respect toward all our nonhuman friends on earth. His notable quote on the subject reads as follows:
If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.
My kind of guy And based on this painting, he was pretty cute too! This excellent 1658 work is by Francisco Zurbarán:
In a couple of weeks, on November 25th, Catholic churches will observe the Feast of Saint Catherine. A nice addition to the rituals and services of that day would be the inclusion of this magnificent painting by the great Caravaggio. Incredible values and composition, this is Saint Catherine:
Paolo Veronese depicts a very intense scene here, one that really communicates the agony and suffering of a saint’s life. Year 1553, this is The Temptation of St Anthony:
Auguste Rodin explored sainthood as well with his scuplture Saint John the Baptist Preaching:
I warmly invite my Catholic readers to comment and share the significance of the saints, a topic I’m certain you can all discuss much more articulately than me, as theology is not my strongest subject.
All Saints by Fra Angelico:
Peace and love to all . . . of all faiths and non-faiths.
Claudia
xo
Bicycle Abuse
I have some priceless words of wisdom to share with my readers. Are you all sitting down? Do I have your undivided attention? Are you prepared the take notes? Ok, here goes; riding a bicycle with a flat tire is not a good idea. Wow!! A revelation!
Yes, I speak from firsthand experience. Just today I endured the “riding a flat tired and rattling gears” bike experience, and I have the sore hamstrings (and butt) to show for it. I love my bike, and yet I treat it shabbily Lately it’s been in need of some serious TLC. So when I took it out for a ride over the Labor Day weekend and noticed the flat front tire, I concluded “Okay. Maintenance time!”.
The bike shop is about a mile away from my house. I decided to ride it over there and I must say it was rather unpleasant. The tire was so flat I was basically riding on the rim, made even worse because the route is full of right turns then left turns, uphill then downhill. Northeast Queens is not a flat area topographically. So I rode along, with my iPod turned up loud, forcing the gears, getting no leverage, beating the crap out of the poor thing. I evaded some potential collisions with pedestrians on Northern Boulevard, and then, in some kind of karmic retribution, almost got cut off by a skateboarder! I swerved, I weaved, and then my house keys fell out of my pocket. So I had to stop and pick them up. Generally, the whole escapade was perilous and ill-advised. I really should be locked up. I’m a menace to society
But I made it to the bike shop alive and uninjured. My bike is now in the trusty hands of the repair guys on 235th Street. They assured me it will be in tuned-up, tip top shape by the weekend. Yay!
Bicycle Wheel by Marcel Duchamp, 1951:
Magnificent Splendor
Art and friends. Is there a better formula for lovely times? I think not. Works splendidly for me, since art and friends are two major components of my life. Last Saturday was an occasion of loveliness. Lunch at the Met with my mom, and our friends Damian, Kathi, and Susan. Fabulous day, delightful conversation, and a post-lunch stroll through the museum galleries to top off a perfect afternoon.
At Kathi’s encouragement, we went to the the Charles Engelhard Court to view a work of art that inspires her. It was Harriet Whitney Frishmuth’s sculpture, “The Vine”, and boy was it worth it. Good call, Kathi! This 1924 bronze piece dances, bends, and undulates in the center of the gallery, a spectacular marriage of artistic grace and athleticism. Flaunting the mother of all backbends, the Vine sculpture commands that room. Feminism at its finest Here she is, the gorgeous star of the museum’s American WIng:
I copied the text description because it was an excellent read and provides a brief history of sculptor/dancer collaboration in the 20th century:
In the early twentieth century, sculptures of dancing women were produced in great numbers, inspired in part by the popularity of Isadora Duncan, Loie Fuller, and Anna Pavlova. Frishmuth often turned to dancers for her sculptural themes and employed them to pose for her with musical accompaniment. Shown stretching upward and outward in imitation of a living vine, this lyrical nude balances on tiptoe in the ecstasy of performance, a grapevine suspended in her hands. The first version of the work, a statuette eleven and a quarter inches high, was enormously popular, cast in an edition of 396. In 1923, Frishmuth enlarged the sculpture to monumental scale, using Desha Delteil of the Fokine Ballet as her model.
The Vine girl from the other side:
Desha Delteil was an amazing dancer and model, famous for her work with Frishmuth and her ability to hold unbelievably challenging poses. But I had to break away to offer humble reverence to the great, GREAT muse just a few feet away. The one and only, New York’s own Audrey Munson, hanging on the wall, carved into the Melvin Memorial. Rock on, Audrey:
Still in the American Wing, more dazzling splendor, in the form of glass mosaic by Louis Comfort Tiffany. I took three pictures of this display, left side, center, right side:
The Metropolitan Museum ensures that you are surrounded with beauty at every moment. That includes the lobby, where fresh flower arrangements are displayed every day to greet you when you enter and bid you farewell when you leave. We had sunflowers on Saturday! Somewhere in heaven, Vincent Van Gogh was smiling:
