Culture

Brunch at the Metropolitan Opera’s Grand Tier Restaurant
By Ruth J. Katz Quintessential New York: Christmas. The ormolu-dotted Grand Tier of the Metropolitan Opera House, chandeliers gleaming. The sky gently bruised a soft gray. Twinkling snowflakes landing silently in the Lincoln Center Plaza. In the distance across Broadway, a Christmas tree glimmering with seasonal cheer. In this cinematic

The New Old House
By Everett Potter One of the joys of living the travel life is the chance to experience reborn buildings, be they hotels or homes, especially in this age of allegiance to Air BnB and VRBO. As someone who is fairly addicted to contemporary architecture, I’m thrilled to report that

Marsden Hartley’s Maine
By Everett Potter Since the early 1960’s, I have spent part — usually the better part — of my summers in Western Maine. The distinctive mountains, pine trees, granite outcroppings and deep blue lakes that I know so well were all subject matter for the Maine painter Marsden Hartley (1877-1943).

Safe Harbors: Turner’s Port Paintings
By Bobbie Leigh The English writer Stevie Smith liked to write about characters who disappeared into the objects of their gaze. In one of her stories an office girl goes to the National Gallery during her lunch break and studies Turner seascapes until “the spray reached out and sucked her

Klimt and the Women of Vienna’s Golden Age, 1900-1918
By Bobbie Leigh “All art is erotic,” Viennese painter Gustav Klimt famously said. Klimt loved many women, fathered some 14 children, and never married. Women as well as his art patrons and collectors apparently adored him. Although he is said to have had many affairs, his true love, who may

Jerusalem 1000-1400 at the Met
By Bobbie Leigh The three Abrahamic faiths that define Jerusalem have fought, protected, cherished, and preserved this ancient and mile-square city, each in its own way. Jerusalem 1000-1400: Every People Under Heaven, The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s blockbuster new exhibition, presents some 200 objects —reliquaries, ceramics, glass, lamps and lanterns,

Miniature Books at Yale Center for British Art: Not for Reading Only
By Bobbie Leigh Have you ever heard of a collector commissioning a work of art saying: “Do what you want and I will love it.” Neale Albert is that rarity. He is a collector who commissions artists to create miniature bookbindings and asks only that they give him their best

A Dublin Literary Pub Crawl
By Richard West “He hinted of pubs where life can drink its fill.” (Patrick Kavanagh) I propose a change in exercise routines, from jumping to conclusions, skipping bail, and prematurely crossing bridges. Instead a literary pub crawl that combines aerobics, limbering up the intellect, and weight lifting glassware. And where

Van Dyck: Portrait Painter Par Excellence
By Bobbie Leigh Art critic and painter Roger de Piles said it best: “Excepting Titian only, van Dyck surpasses all the painters that went before him, or have come after him, in portraits.” That was in 1706. Still true? You can decide after seeing the phenomenal exhibition, “Van Dyck: The

Asia Week New York
By Bobbie Leigh For the in-the-know or the inexperienced, Asia Week New York is a marvel: five auction houses and 45 international Asian art galleries transform Manhattan into a once-a-year- showcase for museum-quality exhibitions. “Asia Week New York, now celebrating its seventh anniversary, is more exciting than ever,” says Lark