Paper and Threads

Getting ready for Christmas and celebrating with friends and family meant that I had almost no time to do a Santa painting for 2018 in my sketchbook.  One morning my 10 year old grand daughter and I, when she was the only one here with me, painted.  Some of our grandchildren love to draw and paint and head for the art supply drawer as soon as they arrive at our apartment.  After discussion with the 4 youngest, we decided to upgrade their art supplies for their Christmas present from us. I put everything in an ArtBin carrier from Dick Blick to keep everything together and they loved it.

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In March 2015, during Asia Week in NYC, I discovered Modern Indian paintings at Sothebys and the first painting I copied was by M.F. Husain.  Since then I have seen many more paintings by the "modern" artists at Sotheby's and Christies.  Last week I saw a wonderful, big, historical exhibit at the Asia Society here in Manhattan - The Progressive Revolution: Modern Art for a New India. From the exhibit "On August 15, 1947 India threw off the shackles of British rule and in the ensuing period of transition, turmoil, and hope, six young firebrands came together in Bombay, now known as Mumbai."  Their group was called the Progressive Artists Group and they became known as the Moderns.  M.F. Husain (1918-2011) was one of those six artists.  Here is my copy from the exhibit, inspired by M.F. Husain's Village Woman (1954).  

Brochure from the Asia Society: Exhibit through Jan 20, 2019.  See website for hours, including periods when entry is free. 

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There is a wonderful exhibit at Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University.  Black models depicted in drawings, paintings, and sculpture by major artists are included in the exhibit.  I enjoy sketching sculptures, and loved African Venus by Charles Henri-Joseph Cordier (1851).

Here is the exhibit information which doesn't close until February 10th.  The Gallery is in a building at 615 E. 129th Street, and is part of the newest campus for Columbia University.  It is worth the trip uptown.

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My friends Pat and Eunice met me last week to see the Macke-Marc exhibit at Neue Galerie in Manhattan.  This exhibit focuses on paintings and their lives between 1909 and 1914.  Both artists died in WWI - Macke in 1914 and Marc in 1916.  Between 1909 and 1914 they were friends, traveling and showing their works together, and they definitely influenced each others paintings.  I love German expressionism and this exhibit was wonderful - the color alone was inspiring.  I walked through the exhibit with my sketchbook open, and quickly drew shapes and figures as I went.  The two page spread was painted at home.

I saw the woman below in a previous exhibit at MoMA and sketched her and painted her then.  I even made long magnetic bookmarks from prints I made from that painting.  And I still love her!

The exhibit closes January 21, 2019.  The Klimt paintings, including Lady in Gold, are permanently on display and the small second floor gallery has wonderful drawings, hung 3 deep on 4 walls, by Klimt and Schiele. 

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We have tickets this week to 3 Juilliard Performances:  Juilliard Jazz, Juilliard Orchestra with Itzhak Perlman conducting, and Juilliard Drama performing Sondheim's musical "Into the Woods."   Our oldest grandson joined us for the Jazz concert, and two of our youngest grandchildren will go with us to see Into the Woods.  These concerts are very reasonably priced and one of our favorite activities in NYC.  

Juilliard Jazz with vocalist Carla Cook, a very experienced vocalist who sang "Billie Holiday Songs in a Swing Tradition":  She practiced with the musicians for a week and couldn't have complimented them more.  I managed to sketch 4 of the 6 on-stage performers in the first half of the concert. 

Photo of Juliett Jazz musicians from the concert program.  There were different musicians for the second half of the concert.  I wanted to include this photo because Zoe Obadia, who is pictured here, is one of our favorites.  We actually wondered if we would see her this season, or would she have completed her degree program. 

Last night we went back to Juilliard to watch Itzhak Perlman conduct the Juilliard Orchestra in a Dvorak Cello Concerto and Elgar's Enigma Variations.  We were sitting in Row M Center, so I didn't bring my sketchbook.  But then I found out Row M was 6 rows from the stage and I did have a pen and one of my small sheets of copy paper.  After seeing the documentary "Itzhak" this summer I can't get enough of this giant of music.  I wanted some sketchbook documentation that I saw him again - the first time was in a rehearsal of him playing a violin concerto with the NY Philharmonic.

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