Fun in the City, Part 1

Ah, New York City! Despite growing up close to the city, what I know of it is largely the result of my travels there for work over the last however-many years. And I love it. But, I never get to play! Often my trips are very quick (single day, or mid-week overnights) or, if I do manage to get there at the end of a week, I end up leaving the city in order to visit family in Connecticut. Not that I don't want to see family, but I miss not having the chance to play in the city. So this trip was a welcome one!

My work on this trip was DURING the weekend. That's right, I was seeing and working the museum's Children's Festival. So I decided to take advantage of the opportunity. I was going to walk and see things. I was going to museum. I was going to make some dinner reservations at places I'd been wanting to try. I was going to meet up with friends. I might catch a show. The world was open.....

I arrived Friday late morning, and was promptly whisked away from meeting with my group and into a meeting with a delegation visiting from Russia. While it was great, it was two hours I wasn't expecting to spend in that way, and forced me to juggle some other museum plans. Ah well, that's the way it works some days.

But Friday is a late museum day in NYC, and it had been AGES since I'd been to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, so that's where I went once I finally left the building. I've been fascinated with the Met since I was a kid and read the Newberry-medal winning book by E.L. Konigsburg, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Really, there's something for everyone at this metropolis, and it never ceases to amaze me. They stay open until nine on Friday nights, so I had three hours to enjoy myself. I decided to catch all the special exhibitions, and see what I wandered through on my way.


First stop for me, arms and armor. This wasn't a special exhibition, but I just love these galleries, and so set my path to go through them. They have a lovely exhibition of Japanese warrior armor.


Then, there is the European armor, including some spectacular horse armor. We had a great exhibition in Washington last year from the Royal Armory in Spain, which I then saw -- complete with the holes from the pieces on exhibition in DC -- while I was in Madrid last October.



Yes, Henry VIII's armor. Rather an imposing figure, no?


Lovely Tiffany windows. Below, the Temple of Dendur. It's a gorgeous space, ideal for contemplation, whether you're looking for a little tranquility or pondering the complexity of cultural repatriation requests.



I don't think I'd ever wandered the Oceania halls before, somehow. This is an incredible Kwoma ceiling from the Washkuk Hills in Papua New Guinea, commissioned during the 1970s from 24 artists of the Mariwai village. AMAZING.


One of the exhibitions I was headed towards was Contemporary Aboriginal Painting from Australia. It was a small show, in a hallway, but stunning.


Above, a piece representing the skin of the saltwater crocodile by Tiwi artist Jean Baptiste Apuatimi. Below, yam dreaming by the Warlpira artist Lorna Fencer Napurrula. I seem to have an interest in the yam dreamings, as the paintings I bought in Cairns last summer were also yam dreamings.



Above, I love this water dreaming piece by Loritja artist Long Jack Phillipus Tjakamarra, where the circles represent watering holes and the tracks represent wallabies. Below, an environmental piece, showing the landscape which is usually sand dunes, covered with blooming spinifex during the rainy series, by Pintupi artist Elizabeth Nyumi Nungurrayi. Beautiful!


Next, I headed to the roof. The Met does occasional summer installations on the roof. This proved also to be a gathering spot, not only for the stunning views of Central Park and the city, but also for the bar.


Doug + Mike Starn: Big Bambú. This uses bamboo and climbing ties, creates platforms (yes, they are open and accessible during tours), and will continue to be built over the course of the summer. It really was remarkable.



And it is stunning up here! Lovely views of the Park and the city, from every side. It was warm and hazy, but still a treat.



Here you get a good sense of the ties and the platform steps, as well as the supply corner!


The last exhibition I caught was the main one, Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met came to collecting Picassos very late, and much of the collection was donated to the museum in a series of gifts. However, the collection is neither unimportant nor insignificant (more than 300 pieces!). I'm not a huge fan of Picasso, but it was well organized and quite wonderful to see.


This piece reminded me of one of my favorite artists, similar time period, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.


This little piece was from a series of 11 portraits he'd done. I can't remember now who the people were, sadly, but there was a special link to his life that tied them all together.


I thought this was fun. If you look carefully, the piece on the right, while it has its own scene and things happening, is the outline of the piece on the left, turned 90° counter-clockwise.

Once the Met closed and kicked me out at 9p, I headed back to the hotel. I was up at 82nd, and my hotel was over on 57th. It was a beautiful evening, and the Park was right there.... So I just stayed on Fifth and walked along the Park. I wasn't particularly hungry, but did stop for a light snack near the hotel. It was a wonderful day!