My favourite walk

Glorious sunshine at last, and I had to go out in the countryside.

 

So I park by the allotments and take the path that leads down to the Saxon Mill.

 

on my right, a rape field

on my left, in the distance, across the river is Guy's Cliff House which burnt down in the 1920s I think - or should I say Thornhill Hall

and a closer look

it is such a glorious day, not a cloud in sight

I have now walked down the hill and I am much closer to the house

now I cross the first bridge

the pond on my left

I can see the second bridge in the distance through the foliage

the second bridge and the Saxon Mill at the end of it

the weir

it is 11.30 so not many people here

in an hour it will be packed

you can see the house from here

and now I take the path up the hill that will take me to the village

you can see the church at the top

almost reached the top

through the churchyard

walk through the fields, a last look at Guy's Cliff House, and back to the allotments.

The Frick Collection

The Frick Collection, 1 East 70 St at Fifth Avenue, comprises art treasures amassed by Henry Clay Frick and is housed in the mansion he had built in 1914.

Opened in 1935, the Museum has been kept as it looked when the Fricks lived there.  What sets it apart from most museums is that it strives hard to be as unlike a museum as possible. There is no wall text describing the pictures, no ropes and there are fresh flowers on every table.

We were not allowed to photograph anywhere inside the building, so photographs of the outside will have to do.

Inside the Museum, there is an enclosed central Garden Court with marble floors, fountains and greenery which is extremely peaceful and serene.

Even though Frick's main passion was paintings, he also collected antique tables, chests, chairs and sculpture, all of which are spread liberally throughout the mansion.

The Living Hall

houses one of the most impressive Renaissance pictures anywhere in America:

Giovanni Bellini, St. Francis in the Desert, 1476-78

Stunningly well preserved, Bellini's figure suggests Francis'  vision of Christ who seems to be in a state of mystical transport. He strides barefoot from his simple shelter into a rock-strewn wilderness: with his hands extended he is transfigured by a supernatural radiance that emanates from the clouds in the upper left section of the painting.  On the palms of the saint one can see faint traces of the stigmata.

Hans Holbein the Younger, Portrait of Thomas Cromwell, 1533

Hans Holbein the Younger, Portrait of Sir Thomas More, 1527

These two Tudor adversaries now seem to stare at each other in the Living Hall, separated by El Greco's St Jerome.


The Library and North Hall

J.M.W. Turner, Cologne: The Arrival of a Packet-Boat: Evening, 1826

Turner achieved the transparency of water colour painting in this canvas and some seem to think that he combined oil and watercolours here. The painting depicts glorious light in early evening.

J.M.W. Turner, The Harbor of Dieppe, 1825-26.

Hanging opposite Cologne, this painting depicts early morning light and was very daring for its time because the sun is painted twice.

Both pictures dominate that very large room and their lightness and brilliancy were spellbinding.

J.M.W. Turner, Fishing Boats Entering Calais Harbor, 1803

Hilaire-Germain-Edgar Degas, The Rehearsal, 1878-79

The unidentified violinist appears divorced from the events surrounding him, his age and stolid form providing a contrast to the doll-like ballerinas.


 

Johannes Vermeer, Mistress and Maid, 1666-67

After 1660 one of Vermeer's prevalent themes is women writing letters. In this painting he added another person, the maid, and so he introduced an element of dramatic tension between the two women over the letter and its content. There is also the tension between the different classes expressed in the difference in the colours and richness of their dress. The light in the painting comes from the left and falls on the mistresses face as is apparent from the shadow of the table on her legs.



Johannes Vermeer, Girl Interrupted at her Music, 1658-59

The painting shows typical courtship in the 17th century and it focuses on the importance of music when it comes to love. This is shown by the painting in the background of the scene, which is that of Cupid. It is also shown by the wine glass on the table as drinking wine was associated with love in that period: in this case the glass is full to show the slow moving relationship between the young woman and the older man.

Johannes Vermeer, Officer and Laughing Girl, 1657

This is a study of a light-filled space - the theme is of a girl entertaining her suitor. The silhouette of the officer helps give the painting the illusion of depth and contrasts with the play of light on the woman and the furnishings.

James McNeill Whistler, Arrangement in Black and Gold: Comte de Montesquiou-Fezensac, 1891-92

The Comte de Montesquiou, a symbolist poet and aristocratic dandy was a model for Baron de Charlus in Proust's novel A la Recherche du Temps Perdu.

J.M. Whistler, Arrangement in Brown and Black: Portrait of Miss Rosa Corder, 1876-78

Corder was an artist herself. The painting is one of several where Whistler explores the juxtaposition of black forms against a black background. Some critics have suggested that this use of black on black is verging on, and is a forerunner of abstraction.


The Dining Room

Peter Bruegel the Elder, Three Soldiers, 1568



West Gallery

Claude-Oscar Monet, Vetheil in Winter, 1878-79

The ice floes of the Seine and Vetheuil's  mediaeval church tower.


The Enamels Room

Leonard Limousin, Triumph of the Eucharist, c. 1560s-70s, enamel on copper

Leonard Limousin, Portrait

These were stunning. The colours were incredibly vibrant, suggesting a combination of the features of oil painting and stained glass.

Stuff the Jubilee

I tend to only write about art I have personally seen, but I will make an exception with this latest Banksy artwork that appeared by the side of a Poundland store near Turnpike Lane in Haringey, as it is so brilliant and has a strong message too. 



A young boy kneeling on the ground is using a sewing machine to make Diamond Jubilee party bunting.  The location of the art work is also very significant. In 2010 an inquiry found that a seven year old boy had been working over 100 hours a week in an Indian sweatshop to produce items for Poundland.

... and while I'm at it, I'll take this opportunity to include the image below from the Coalition of Resistance which is also brilliant, I think.

Shopping/dining

We did not do any shopping while we were in New York.  I know that there were missed opportunities here, but there is so much to see and do that shopping seemed an irrelevance.  I did buy some jewellery though in the vintage flea markets and some ceramics in a shop called Sara on Madison Avenue: I was so caught up at looking at the marvellous Japanese art works in that shop that I did not remember to take any phbotographs, a fact that I now regret.

We did not even go in many shops, but did some window shopping and here are some of the photographs I took.

Urban Outfitters on 5th Avenue, very near the Manufacturer's Hannover Trust Building. Shattered glass effect as you go in

once you are inside, they have done this clever thing with 50s glass on the ceiling - very effective

the whole shop looked good in an industrial sort of way.

The Sephora shop on 5th Avenue

these are the treatment areas: very clever - you can see what is happening in the shop while you are being pampered

but it is the spectacular window above the door that catches the eye.

The Bergdorff Goodman windows

 were imaginative and carefully thought out

one theme

with lots of variations

mainly monochrome

with some colour to accentuate the off white

in between the large windows were some small ones

displaying accessories, but with the same theme

and equally interesting.

An art gallery near the Tenement Museum on Orchard Street, if I remember rightly

I do not remember the name of the gallery or the artists who were exhibiting

Prada on Madison Avenue

same shop, different window

ditto

Madison Avenue again

Keszler Gallery, Madison Avenue

and we go inside

Banksy

Jerome Lucani, Marilyn Monroe Glamour, 2012

getting closer

and even closer.

I did not take many photographs of the places where we ate, mainly because I did not carry my camera with me in the evenings. Here are a few though:

The Fat Radish, on Orchard Street.

We had a very late lunch here. It must have been 3.30 when we arrived  and there were very few people eating.

We loved the industrial simplicity of the decor

the food was delicious

We came again on a Sunday at a much more reasonable hour and the place was packed - we were lucky to get the last table

the atmosphere was vibrant and the menu was different

as everyone was having brunch

the service was friendly and efficient.

Another excellent place where we had lunch on 57th Street

the Art Nouveau decor was pleasing

huge displays of blossom everywhere

meticulous attention to detail

and the food was excellent.

This is Don Giovanni's on 10th Avenue, cheap and cheerful, with good food and it was always very busy. It was very near our hotel so we ate here three times.