Museums: The Frick Collection

What do you get when you mix steel-making, union-busting, a healthy ego and a taste for fine European art?

The answer:  The Frick Collection.

The Frick Collection:

Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919) used some of his fortune to collect masterpieces of European artists--from Rembrandt to van Dyck to Turner.  (Frick's fortune, if translated into current dollars, would place him in the top 10 of the Forbes Billionaires List.  Of course, in current times, Mr. Frick would have to use some of his fortune to stay out of jail and avoid Congressional subpoenas.  The ethics of the Gilded Age are different from today's.)

Not only did Frick collect masterpieces, he housed them in a NYC mansion on Fifth Avenue so he and his family, his friends and guests and his rivals could admire them.  In fact, he intended for his collection and mansion to remain in place long after he had moved on.  Since his death, the artwork and mansion have been held in trust, and following his wife's death two decades later, a public museum was established in the mansion.  Known as the Frick Collection, the museum is a fine portfolio of mostly European masters, with a Stuart and some Whistlers thrown in for good measure.  

Recently, we visited the Frick Collection, located at Fifth Avenue and 70th Street, not too far from our building.  The mansion, completed in 1914, is as impressive as the artwork.  The original structure must have been a nice place to live.  The mansion was significantly expanded when it was converted into a museum.  Where a carriage way once ran, there are now an enclosed garden courtyard and large galleries for displaying owned and borrowed artworks.  

The Frick House, shortly after completion in 1914

The Frick Collection:  The Garden Court, where a carriage way once ran

Viewing art at the Frisk is a pleasure.  If MoMA and Met galleries are minimalist and austere, Frick galleries are congenial, if not a bit stuffy.  Plus, original furniture and decorative pieces help remind viewers that the museum was once a home, a luxurious and very large home.  The exterior and interior gardens add to the beauty of the museum.   For a virtual tour of the largest gallery, the former ballroom, click here.

Apart from photos in the enclosed garden, interior photos are prohibited.  Below is a mix of original and linked photos.

The Frick Collection:  George Washington, Gilbert Stuart (1795-96)

The Frick Collection:  Henry Clay Frick, John C. Johansen (1943) (a gift from Mr. Frick's daughter)

The Frick Collection, The Lake, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1861) (possibly an early step toward the Impressionist movement)

Currently, the Firck Collection is hosting an exhibition surveying Anthony van Dyck's portraiture, with paintings and drawings from the Frick's permanent collection and from museums around the globe.

The Frick Collection:  James Stanley, Lord Strange, Later Seventh Earl of Derby, with His Wife, Charlotte, and Their Daughter, Anthony van Dyck (1636)

Friend Barbara Peters and some random hottie departing the Frick Collection.  They are ready to live in the house.

Plays in NYC

NYC is a town for seeing plays.  A LOT of plays.  And we have seen our fair share since arriving 7 months ago.   

The plays staged in New York run the gamut from the classics to the avant garde.  Our tastes tend toward the middle of the spectrum, since we prefer a good story well told.  The traditional works, unless they are adapted, tend to lack the pace and innovation that modern theater brings.  The avant garde works are sometimes so obscure that they defy understanding. 

Not far from our building on East 59th Street is the off-broadway 59E59 Theaters.  So far, we have seen four plays there and all were good and some were very good.  The most recent play we attended was Ideation, a play by Aaron Loeb about four management consultants with overactive imaginations fueled by extreme paranoia.  The subject of the consulting assignment is as serious as can be (no spoilers here).  Once the consultants start applying their intelligence and their analytical tools to the problem, the conference room setting transforms into a lunatic asylum.

A teaser for the play sets the scene:  "Aaron Loeb brings a dark comic edge to this psychological suspense thriller, in which a group of corporate consultants work together on a mysterious and ethically ambiguous project. As the lines between right and wrong are blurred, these characters must navigate the cognitive dissonances and moral dilemmas to decide for themselves if everything is as it really seems."  (Query:  Do consultants ever worry about ethical ambiguity?)

We enjoyed the play and especially recommend it to consultants, conspiracy theorists and germaphobes.

Another theater we discovered recently is in the East Village in Alphabet City.  The Metropolitan Playhouse,m located near the Lower East Side, is committed to plays about the Lower East Side, both its history and life today.  The theater is off-off-broadway and quite small (photo below).  Of course, size does not really matter when it comes to theater.  The four one-act plays we recently saw prove that point.  From the draft riots in 1863 to activist women in the early 20th century to a spiritual tale to a hilarious, poignant story of warring neighbors, life in the Lower East Side is vividly portrayed. 

The stage of the Metropolitan Playhouse located in the Cornelia Connelly Center on East 4th, NYC.

Other plays we recommend include:

• H2O, "Jane Martin"
• The Royale, Marco Ramirez
• Sylvia, A.R. Gurney
• I and You, Lauren Gunderson
• The Humans, Stephen Karam
• A Class Act, Norman Shabel

On the do not even think about it list are:

• China Doll, David Mamet (We don't care that Mamet wrote it and Al Pacino acted in it, it was still atrocious.)
• Wide Awake Hearts, Brendan Gall (A self-indulgent, sleep-inducing play reworking overworked plot lines . . . badly.  What gall the playwright had.)   

H2O, by "Jane Martin"

The Royale, by Marco Ramirez

Sylvia, by. A.R. Gurney

I and You, by Lauren Gunderson

The Humans, by Stephen Karam

 

A Class Act:  A one-act showcase in an off-off-broadway theater near times Square, with strong writing, directing and acting.  The play tells the story of lawyers battling over a class action it has a lot more to say about the world we live in.

Recent Visitors

New York City is a great place to live and to visit.  We are so happy that family members and friends have visited us here in Gotham.

Recent visitors include Greg's former Wyndham colleagues Donna and Mike.  It was great lunching with Donna and her two amazing daughters Megan and Allison at a cafe in Hell's Kitchen.  Likewise, it was great catching up with Mike during his recent business trip.  

At Marseille in Hell's Kitchen (now "Clinton"), Greg and Susan with Donna Spencer and daughters Allison and Megan

Mike Hug with some random hottie

A reminder.  Only 4 months remain in Year 1 of the The 10 Year Plan.  So, we encourage you to visit us before we depart the Big Apple.

A Day in New York

April 17 was our 17th wedding anniversary.  Aside from the date coincidence--17th on the 17th--the surprising thing is Susan has put up with Greg for the past 17 years.  

The day was a nice day in New York.  The weather was fantastic--a clear blue sky, Spring temperatures in the high 70's and a light breeze.  We actually needed sun screen.  

After morning, we ventured to the West Side to an open house.  The apartment was very nice, plus it's on the West Side, currently one of the hot places in Manhattan.  Susan posed for a photo in front of the building (below).

Next, we strolled through the GreenFlea Market on West 76th Street.  The market has been on our "should do" list since we arrived in NYC.  We were not disappointed.  With the warm weather, the market was nearly full.  If you are rounding out your wardrobe, decorating an apartment or collecting all sorts of things, the GreenFlea Market deserves a visit.  Greg had to remind Susan that we rent and are departing in four short months.  Sadly, we left empty-handed.

Then, we ventured through a busting-at-the-seams Central Park.  People, dogs, flowers, greening trees were everywhere.  Plus, sun worshipers were out in force, soaking up the rays.  

Later in the afternoon, Susan went to another open house, this time in our building.  The unit is spacious and overlooks both the Queensboro Bridge AND Bloomingdale's.  (Apparently, Susan's innate desire to own real estate has risen to the surface.  Two open houses in one day.  It makes one think . . . and worry.)

In the evening, to celebrate our anniversary, we had a lovely dinner at East Side French bistro La Mangeoire.  After multiple courses, including cheese and dessert courses, we waddled back to our apartment.  Special thanks to family friend Sara who told us about La Mangeoire.  If you are looking for an authentic French country bistro experience, La Mangeiore is the place. 

It was a fine day in New York.

Susan outside an Upper West Side building after attending an open house

GreenFlea Market on West 76th Street

GreenFlea Market, every Sunday rain or shine in a schoolyard

La Mangeoire is the real McCoy

Random Things, #9

Still more random things.

Guerrilla Art:  A doorway in the West Village

The Greek Parade celebrating 195 years of Greek independence (Fifth Avenue at 65th Street, 4/10/2016)

Photo of Third Avenue looking norrthward from 53rd Street.  We saw this large photo and wanted to share it because our building appears in it.  In the right foreground is the "Lipstick Building" made famous by the infamous Bernie Madoff.   His offices were once located there (885 Third Avenue).  The name denotes the shape of the building.  In the upper center of the photo is our building with the window with no shades and a double floor window that is unshaded.

Museums: Neue Galerie

What happens when you mix Nazi's, lawyers, cosmetics and art?

Based on history, usually nothing good results.  However, there are exceptions, as told in the 2015 film Woman in Gold.  The film tells the story of Maria Altmann and her long legal battle to recover a family treasure, a portrait of her Aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer, painted by Austrian Gustav Klimt.  Like the possessions of many Jewish Austrian families, the Klimt painting was wrongfully taken in 1936 and ended up in a Vienna museum where it remained for 6 decades as a beloved national treasure of Austria. 

[Spoiler warning.]  Fast forward half a century.  The decade long legal battle ended in 2006 with the painting being awarded to Maria Altmann.  After receiving the painting, Ms. Altmann sold the painting for $135M to billionaire Ronald Lauder (younger son of Estee Lauder) for the Neue Galerie New York.

The Neue Galerie New York:  The museum, established in 2001 and located along Museum Mile in NYC, is dedicated to Austrian and German art.  Ronald Lauder is the museum's co-founder and principal patron.  (Neue is pronounced like Goya.)

Neue Galerie New York (exterior), corner of Fifth Avenue and 86th Street (a former home of a member of the Vanderbilt family)

 

  

Putting aside the genuine controversy surrounding the painting, Klimt's painting is a masterpiece.  Viewing it in person was a wonderful experience.  Photography cannot capture the color, warmth, texture and depth of the painting.  It was worth waiting in a long line, in the rain, to view it.

Adele Bloch-Bauer I, aka The Woman in Gold, Gustav Klimt (1907)

There is more Klimt artwork elsewhere in NYC.

Adele Bloch-Bauer II, Gustav Klimt (1912) (on display at MoMA) (recovered with Adele Bloch-Bauer I)

Serena Pulitzer Lederer, Gustav Klimt (1899) (on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Mada Primavesi, Gustav Klimt (1912)

P.S.  The Neue Galerie is currently hosting an Edvard Munch exhibition.  It's an absolute Scream.

The Scream, Edvard Munch (1895) (one of four originals)

Volunteer Tax Preparation--UPDATE

With the end of tax season, we completed volunteering at the tax preparation clinic in East Harlem.  Together, we prepared more than 60 returns.  We enjoyed the experience, despite the challenges.

The last day went smoothly.  The team was happy that tax season was nearly ended.  The returns were straightforward with no big surprises.  

Then, the last client walked in.  That last return won the award for complexity and completion time.  Most clients of the clinic file a federal return claiming the standard deduction with no schedules attached, plus a NYS state return.  The last return was very different:

      Federal Return:

• Form 1040
• Schedule A-charitable contributions and medical expenses
• Schedule B-interest
• Schedule C-one business with varied expenses
• Schedule C-another business with no income but significant expenses
• Schedule D-capital loss carryforward

      NY Return

• IT201
• IT204
• IT208
• IT112

      NJ Return

That's right.  The client worked in NJ part of the year.  So, we also prepared a NJ return. 

Needless to say, preparation and review took a few hours, with multiple team members pitching in.  Greg was the "lucky" volunteer who happened to get this complicated final client!  The client was an interesting person, to say the least.  Greg might base a character on the client some day, altering some key facts to protect the client's identity.   

We are looking forward to finding other New York Cares volunteer opportunities now that tax season is past.  Greg is still considering dog-walking.  Believe it or not, dog-walking is so popular that it is hard to find an available slot.  Who knew?

What do the Cooper Union, Astor Place, Grace Church and a Chelsea pier have in common? (Part 2 of 2)

Continuing the Titanic tour:  From Astor Place and the Wanamaker building, we walked to nearby Grace Church.  In the church is a memorial for one of the Titanic passengers, Miss Edith Corse Evans.  As the Titanic was sinking, Edith Evans and fellow passenger Mrs. Caroline Brown were searching for a lifeboat.  They found one with one seat left, and Edith told Caroline to board the lifeboat since Caroline had children at home.  Edith went to look for another lifeboat, but there were no more.  Her body was never found.  She was a New Yorker, 38 years old and one of only four first class female passengers who did not survive.  The memorial plaque reads:  "In gratitude to God for the memory of Edith Corse Evans who in the midst of life gave herself for others".

Grace Church:  Door leading to the Edith Corse Evans memorial

As we moved from the East Village to the West Village, we stopped at old St. Vincent's Hospital, where some Titanic passengers were brought.  One suffering passenger from steerage, Sarah Roth, was traveling to New York City to marry her fiance.  The hospital staff and the public learned of her plight and donated funds to arrange a wedding ceremony in the hospital.  A dress was purchased to replace the homemade wedding dress lost with the Titanic.  A makeshift chapel was created in the hospital, complete with a temporary altar.  It was a happy ending with bride and groomed reunited and then wed.  They lived happily ever after.

Old St. Vincent's Hospital where Titanic Sarah Roth married while recovering from her ordeal.  The building is being converted to luxury condominiums with well-heeled residents like Michael Kors.

The shabby chic Jane hotel on Jane Street along the Hudson River was once the Sailors' Home and Institute.  In April 1912, surviving sailors from the Titanic stayed there and held a memorial service for their shipmates and the passengers who went down with the Titanic.

The former Sailors' Home and Institute and now The Jane.  Titanic's sailors stayed here after their arrival in NYC.

The last stop on the tour was in Chelsea along the Hudson River.  The Carpathia, which rescued survivors of the Titanic, moored at Pier 54 following its arrival in NYC.  Crowds gathered to greet family members and friends and ambulances waited to transport passengers needing medical care.  Today, Pier 54 is barren, with only the skeletal facade still standing, a ghostly image on a cold night in April, 104 years after the tragic, predicted sinking of the Titanic.

The Carpathia moored at Pier 54 in April 1912 following rescue of Titanic passengers

Pier 54:  Rescued Titanic passengers disembarked here

What do the Cooper Union, Astor Place, Grace Church and a Chelsea pier have in common?

Answer: The Titanic.

What do the Cooper Union, Astor Place, Grace Church and a Chelsea pier have in common? (Part 1 of 2)

Answer: The Titanic.

We recently took a ghost tour about the tragic yet predicted sinking of the Titanic.  The tour was hosted by local tour company Boroughs of the Dead.  The tour recounts the many connections, both mundane and supernatural, of New York City with the Titanic.

The tour occurred on cool, clear night.  There was definitely a chill in the air and the stories made it all the more chilling as the evening and tour wore on.  Tour guide S.J. (pictured below) began the tour in the East Village near the steps of the Cooper Union on 8th Street.

Talented guide S.J. Costello.  Susan recognized S.J. from the Lower East Side Tenement Museum where S.J. is also a tour guide.   

The Cooper Union, on a cool April evening

Why the Cooper Union?  Well, this is where the story started to get chilling.  Writer Morgan Robertson once worked at the Cooper Union.  Earlier in life, Robertson had worked on ships and later wrote fictional stories based on his experiences.  He wrote a story entitled Futility about a virtually unsinkable passenger liner that sunk in the North Atlantic during April after striking an iceberg.  He published his story in 1898, 14 years before the Titanic sank.  And what was the name of the ship in Robertson's story?  Titan.  (Cue the spooky music.)

According to a Wikipedia article, there are several similarities between the fictional ship Titan and the actual ship Titanic:

• Both were triple screw (propeller)
• Described as "unsinkable"
  • The Titan was the largest craft afloat and the greatest of the works of men (800 feet, displacing 75,000 tons, up from 45,000 in the 1898 edition), and was deemed "practically unsinkable" (as quoted in Robertson's book).
• Shortage of lifeboats
  • The Titanic carried only 16 lifeboats, plus 4 folding lifeboats, less than half the number required for her passenger and crew capacity of 3000.
  • The Titan carried "as few as the law allowed", 24 lifeboats, which could carry less than half of her total complement of 3000.
• Struck an iceberg
  • Moving at 22½ knots, the Titanic struck an iceberg on the starboard side on the night of April 14, 1912, in the North Atlantic, 400 nautical miles (740 km; 460 mi) away from Newfoundland.
  • Moving at 25 knots, The Titan also struck an iceberg on the starboard side on an April night in the North Atlantic, 400 nautical miles (740 km; 460 mi) from Newfoundland.
• Sinking
  • When Titanic sank, more than half of her 2200 passengers and crew died.
  • When Titan sank, more than half of her 2500 passengers drowned.

Of course, Robertson's story was not the only predictive tale with similarities to the actual sinking.  Two stories by fiction writer W.T. Stead tell the 1886 tale of a ship that sank with too few lifeboats resulting in many lives lost and the 1892 tale of another ship sinking after hitting an iceberg.  The stories predated the sinking of the Titanic by two decades.  W.T. Stead died in 1913.  How did he die?  He was a first class passenger aboard the Titanic and went down with the ship.  (Cue the spooky music.)

From the Cooper Union, we walked across the street to Astor Place.  Why Astor Place?  First, Astor Place was named for fur trader and real estate magnate John Jacob Astor.  The namesake died a century before the Titanic sank.  So, no connection there.  However, his immense fortune survived him and was eventually inherited in part by his great-great-grandson, John Jacob Astor IV.  The later Astor spent lavishly, including booking first class accommodations on the maiden voyage of the Titanic.  When the time came, he respected the "women and children only" protocol, put his pregnant second wife on a lifeboat and then, because there were no more lifeboats, went down with the Titanic.  Second, Astor Place is where the former Wanamaker's department store building stands to this day.  In April 1912, the radio antenna on top of the Wanamaker's building received transmissions from the Titanic and the rescue ships, including the Carpathia, which docked in New York City with Titanic survivors 3 days later.

The final radio transmission from Titanic: 

          15 April 1912, sometime between 2.15 a.m. and 2.25 a.m.

          R.M.S. Titanic to R.M.S. Carpathia:

          “SOS SOS CQD CQD Titanic. We are sinking fast. Passengers are being put into boats. Titanic.”

 ("CQD" was a maritime distress signal in the early 20th century.)

The former Wanamaker's annex, completed in 1907 .  Radio antenna on top of the building received reports of the sinking as it occurred.  Today, the building is home to AOL offices and a Kmart store.

During the tour, we realized that we had inadvertently booked the tour for April 15, the date in 1913 when the ship sank.  We toured on the anniversary on the sinking.  (Cue the spooky music.)

Next up:  Part 2--more of the tour.

Sports: The New York Rangers

Attending a New York Rangers game in Madison Square Garden is a great experience.  Attending a Stanley Cup playoff game there is priceless.  Rangers fans are intensely loyal and loud.  During the game, the atmosphere inside MSG is high voltage and emotional.  While New Yorkers disagree about a lot of things, Rangers fans agree that their team is great. 

The Rangers hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins for Game 3 of the NHL Eastern Conference first round.  The series was knotted at 1-1 and Game 3 was the first home game for the Rangers.  The Blueshirts played well for 2 periods but faltered in the third period and lost 3-1 (with an empty net goal).

During the game, Rangers fans were kind enough to voice their concerns about Penguins center Sidney Crosby:

• "Crosby, you can't pass wind!"
• "Look at Crosby fight.  He's hitting the other guy with his purse!  I think it's a Michael Kors."

Let's go Rangers! 

Welcome to home of the New York Rangers, on of the original 6 NHL teams.  Can you quickly name the other 5?

Welcome to Rangerstown

Welcome to the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Round 1, Rangers v. Penguins in MSG, Game 3

Panoramic view:  Rangers v. Penguins, pre-game warm up (4/19/2016)

 

Rangers v. Penguins, pre-game warm up (4/19/2016)

 

Rangers v. Penguins, pre-game preview with projection mapping on the rink and synchronized lighted bracelets in the crowd

More projection mapping on the rink

Rangers v. Penguins:  Opening face-off (4/19/2016)

Cool stuff:  A rally towel for every fan, plus a remotely controlled lighted bracelet.  The towel came in handy to sing the cheer following the Rangers' two goals.  Unfortunately, one goal was disallowed following the Penguins coach's challenge of a missed offside call.  The lighted bracelets were synchronized to glow different colors before and during the game.  For example, during the singing of the national anthem, the bracelets glowed red in the lower ring of seats, white in the middle ring and blue in the upper ring. 

P.S.  The NHL "Original Six" (1942-1967) are:  the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens.