Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
Today was a typical winter day, chilly but clear. Weāre only two days from March which can be a very tricky month weather wise and Iām hoping we wonāt see any more snow but you never know. Iāve certainly enjoyed the milder days weāve had this winter, canāt remember when there were so many days in the 50ās.
I walked up to the Met this morning to see the second rotation of the Japanese exhibit and it was very enjoyable. New scrolls and screens had been added and best of all, there were six wood block prints by Hiroshige that hadnāt been in the first rotation, Six Tamagawa Rivers from Various Provinces (Shokoku Mu Tamagawa). The Met website hasnāt been updated as it shows these as not on view and only one is illustrated.
http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/53449 Of the scrolls I particularly liked the Musk Cat
http://tinyurl.com/hhzuq36 and Beauty of the Kanbun era
http://tinyurl.com/ntng7qt And finally, this beautiful screen, Flowers and Grasses of the Four Seasons
http://tinyurl.com/jhrlywx All very delicate and beautiful.
Before I left my house this morning I made a point of looking at the subway advisories as Iāve been surprised a few times by the C train not running downtown at the 79th Street station. I thought my subway nightmares were behind me when I stopped going out to Queens to visit my ancient Aunt but the fun continues. The advisory told me the C wasnāt running again downtown so when I left the Met I walked over to Lexington Avenue and took the 6 train. And got to 51st street and discovered the E wasnāt running downtown either. I was furious. The conductor on the 6 hadnāt said anything. I saw the signs about the E right away but kept walking assuming I could take the M, which runs down Sixth Avenue, and walk over from Sixth. No downtown trains at all. And thereās no escape from the station there either, the turnstiles donāt allow egress. Went back to the 6 planning to take it to 42nd Street and then either take the shuttle, the crosstown bus or walk. When I originally entered the station at 77th Street I heard an announcement saying the train was arriving and I was glad I caught it as the sign said the next one would be in 9 minutes. So when I walked back to continue on the 6 to 42nd Street I was surprised that the next train was 8 minutes away. I hadnāt been gone long enough to miss the one directly behind me. I waited a few minutes and noticed that the sign hadnāt changed. Then a few minutes later an announcement over the loudspeaker said it was 8 minutes away. A few minutes later I looked up and the sign said delayed. So I left the station and walked back to the Port Authority from 51st and Lex. Angry. I see I will have to check an alphabet of letters each week if I want to come home uneventfully. And not angry.
Last Saturday though was a wonderful day from top to bottom for my trip into the City with my good friend. The weather really made up for the snowstorm and postponement of our original date. It was mild and I was able to go out wearing only my heavy flannel shirt. She arrived at 11AM, we took the bus into the City and our first stop was the Museum of the City of New York where we saw a very moving exhibition of Jacob Riis photographs as well as a short video reproducing one of his lectures. Jacob Riis was a photographer at the turn of the Century and he lectured on the poor and economic inequality, a timely topic. He wrote a book entitled How the Other Half Lives which chronicled the men, women and children who effectively lived on the streets and scrounged for food. The pictures of small children in factories or worse, huddled together asleep at night in alleys are heartbreaking. His lectures went a long way toward the enactment of the child labor laws as well as getting them off the streets and into homes. This link shows Street Arabs in Sleeping Quarters.
http://collections.mcny.org/Collection/Street%20Arabs%20in%20sleeping%20quarters.-2F3XC5U9KLT5.htmlThis link brings you to a page of the other photos in the exhibit.
http://collections.mcny.org/Explore/Featured/Jacob%20A.%20Riis/ From there we walked down to the Met where we saw the Elisabeth Louise VigĆ©e Le Brun exhibit of portraits. Le Brun was an 18th Century French artist. This was truly a blockbuster, room after room of wonderful paintings. My brother told me I would love it and he was correct. I will certainly go back for at least one more visit, I think itās on a par with the Sargent portrait show which I raved about last year. This is a link to the New York Times review of the show.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/arts/design/review-vigee-le-brun-metropolitan-museum.html and hereās a review from the Financial Times.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/f2020de0-d628-11e5-829b-8564e7528e54.html My friend was quite taken by the two paintings of the artistās daughter Julie which hung side by side and I had to agree that they were special. This one of Julie looking in a mirror was very sweet and sentimental
http://tinyurl.com/z5pe2ab while this one of her as a bather is the image of innocence
http://tinyurl.com/zuumcbq You can see how much Elisabeth loved her daughter. Like the Dutch artists and Ingres her depiction of fabric in the dresses and menās outfits as well as the table and floor coverings is truly marvelous. Like this portrait of Stanislaw August Poniatowski, formerly King of Poland in his brilliant red cloak with what looks to be a white ermine lining.
http://tinyurl.com/hlnjb6k And this portrait of Marie Antoinette in her court regalia, this ridiculously ornate dress
http://tinyurl.com/grdsw4t All of the women have abundant hair which she paints flowing this way and that and the jewelry, the necklaces, the earrings and bracelets are all shown to their advantage like in this painting of The Comtesse de Clermont-Tonnerre as a Sultana
http://tinyurl.com/zzlwtbk. It really was an enormous exhibit and we both enjoyed it very much. This is a link to all the objects in the exhibit.
http://tinyurl.com/j9b5qzt Afterwards I took her to the American Wing and we went through The Gilded Age, the show of furniture Iāve written about, which she very much enjoyed. We also took in the circular painting of the Palace of Versailles which was truly remarkable. Somehow I missed it when I was at the exhibit the last time. Itās a large oval room with the painting circling it in its entirety except for the entrance and exit. You really canāt imagine itās forcefulness from the web but this is a link to the site.
http://tinyurl.com/h2fuq6l From there we took the elevator up to the Asian wing and walked through the Japanese exhibit which Iāve described above. From the Japanese wing I took her into the Chinese to see the three wonderful scrolls, the visitors who find the enchanted mountain and the Emperorās inspection tour. From there we went to the drawing corridor and took in the Power of Prints. Iāve written about all of these as well.
The subway got me again last week as well; on the number 6 up to the Museum we got to 96th Street and were told it wouldnāt stop at 103rd Street so we got off and walked. Having my friend with me was a real bonus when we left the subway because I said I was counting on her to tell me which direction uptown was. We got upstairs to the corner of 96th Street and I asked if she could see the street sign a block away and she immediately said 95th. All I could see was that there was a street sign. On the way home, when we got on the C train it was crowded and I saw a seat in the corner and told my friend to sit down and immediately the guy sitting next to her got up and offered me his seat. That white hair works really well and I thanked him for his courtesy.
We got to the Port Authority and walked over to 44th Street to the Westway diner for dinner then back to my place where we had my sour cream cake. We both had a really splendid time. She is a trouper, my pedometer says we walked six miles. Itās really great having a companion for some of my museum visits and I look forward to more in the future, weāve agreed to go again in April for the Christieās Old Masters auction previews.
Well I think I certainly made up for my terseness last week. Probably TMI for many but for them we finally come to the Flickrs.
Andy G.
me in the snowflake dress with allie bear. (Hi Samantha, cute dress.)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sissysamantharebecca/25077926596/little monkey on the armchair ...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/katvarina/23423159160/ Untitled
https://www.flickr.com/photos/27401732%40N05/22672001927/ transvestite
https://www.flickr.com/photos/111227158%40N03/22728107267/ pkling29
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sissyprincessamber/1773695794/ sissy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/135272431%40N05/21507951568/ light pink
https://www.flickr.com/photos/adrii06/24846825712/ Pvc Playtime at Sams
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahbright45/23954152984/ 20160122_153358
https://www.flickr.com/photos/136703881%40N08/24434516382/ I always love to be cute and dolly
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cutiemei11/24475956425/ 081g1smeri
https://www.flickr.com/photos/meritats/24498082002/ IMG_9080
https://www.flickr.com/photos/10792226%40N00/24636485722/ 
Betty's Pub 20.1
Topic: Despite the Spring like weather I guess it's now time for the Winter Flickr (Read 24512 times)
