cityArts August 3, 2010

AUG. 3-SEPT. 13, 2010 Volume 2, Issue 13

IN THIS ISSUE Don’t misunderstand Matisse’s motives, says LANCE ESPLUND. A closer look at Berg at Bard.

Wynton Marsalis scores the silent film Louis.

© 2010 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Plus: Travel with the Arts: Focus on Washington, D.C. Bernadette joins Night Music Asphalt Orchestra on the sidewalk

“The Window” (1916) is on view at MoMA’s Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913-1917.

InthisIssue 6 Film

Wynton Marsalis and Cecile Licad score Daniel Pritzker’s new silent film, Louis.

Sharon Sprung, Zeli

7 Theater Open Registration Starts August 25th

The National Academy School of Fine Arts offers artistic instruction for artists of every level. We’d be happy to help you choose the class that’s right for you. Call us at 212.996.1908 or visit us at www.nationalacademy.org to learn more and to register.

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MARK PEIKERT re-evaluates A Little Night Music as Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch join the show.

8 Museums MoMA’s Matisse exhibition directs our attention to everything but the art, according to LANCE ESPLUND.

10 At the Galleries Reviews: Town and Country & Trevor Winkfield at Tibor de Nagy Gallery; The Pursuer at Greene Naftali Gallery; Love and Freedom at Sugar Gallery; Where in the World? at Pace MacGill; Francois Kollar at Zabriskie Gallery; NineteenEightyFour at the Austrian Cultural Forum; Charles Burchfield at DC Moore Gallery.

12 Classical Music & Opera The Bard Music Festival offers two weekends to take in Berg. Plus a look at what’s coming up at Caramoor, Music Mountain, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Tanglewood and Glimmerglass Opera.

14 Travel With the Arts: Washington, D.C. A look at the museums, galleries, theater and other cultural attractions for the savvy traveler headed to our nation’s capital.

16 Arts Agenda Galleries, Art Events, Museums, Theater, Out of Town.

19 Paint the Town by Amanda Gordon Hanging by the lake at the Prospect Park Alliance Junior Committee Summer Soiree; at the Young Patrons of Lincoln Center summer party; the National Arts Club is recognized; and we anticipate FIT Couture Council’s summer party.

EDITOR Jerry Portwood jportwood@manhattanmedia.com MANAGING EDITOR Adam Rathe arathe@ manhattanmedia.com ASSISTANT EDITOR

Christine Werthman ART DIRECTOR Jessica Balaschak CONTRIBUTING ART DIRECTOR

Wendy Hu

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InBrief

Jason Stevens opened ReBar on Front and Jay Streets in Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood three-and-a-half years ago.

A former investment banker, Stevens was looking to utilize his creative side in a way that his job at Merrill Lynch just didn’t allow. Built on the site of the Grand Union Tea Company, Stevens’ ReBar was voted by Time Out New York in 2007 to be the “Best New Bar.” And starting in mid-July, the ReBar has opened its own in-house movie theater.

The ReRun Theater, which screens films

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Catch a ReRun

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As a curator of ignoble genre cinema of the ’60s and ’70s, William Lustig has his work cut out for him. Shedding light on obscure and frankly lowbrow films is an especially daunting task considering how hard it is not only to rescue many titles from distribution limbo, but to get audiences to take them seriously as more than retro junk.

Nevertheless, Lustig fights an uphill battle on multiple fronts and with gusto, dedicated to preserving an aspect of our culture that many ungratefully take for granted. The director of the infamous indie slasher Maniac Cop, Lustig is also the founder of Blue Underground, a no-nonsense and surprisingly comprehensive DVD distributor of cult films. He returns to Anthology Film Archives Aug. 12 for the second time, curating the popular “William Lustig Presents” series.

When asked about how he programmed this year’s series, Lustig explains, “Number one: I wanted to pick films that had been languishing since their theatrical release.

These are movies that—some of them have seen the light [of day] on VHS, none of them DVD. So for all intents and purposes, for the last 10 or 15 years [these films] have been unavailable. My second criterion is to try to showcase directors and actors who I feel have been forgotten or neglected.”

One of those directors is Henri Verneuil, a contemporary of Jean-Pierre Melville whose style of shooting action scenes is reminiscent of Melville’s, but who is distinctly more light-hearted in his approach. Verneuil’s The Sicilian Clan features Melville regulars Lino Ventura and Alain Delon, as well as Jean Gabin, as a violent escaped convict (Delon) leads a wealthy Italian mobster (Gabin) to a big payoff. With a bouncy score by Ennio Morricone, The Sicilian Clan shows signs of a filmmaker that, like Melville, takes great pleasure in forcing his viewer to scrutinize his actors’ body language in the hopes of anticipating what they’re scheming to do next.

The opening scene where Delon escapes the police from the inside of an armored car is especially taut.

Lustig’s series also celebrates B-movies that wouldn’t otherwise get the attention they deserve because they can’t be linked to an instantly recognizable star or director. Rod Taylor is the biggest name involved with Dark of the Sun (aka Mercenaries), a bleeding heart actioner that both celebrates and tsktsks the exploitative amorality of soldiers of fortune. The film is a bit schizophrenic in that it highlights Taylor’s character’s violent, testosterone-driven nature, but then shows you how he inevitably learns to channel that anger toward the kind of compromised greater good we’ve come to expect from macho antiheroes with no name.

ya n

Summer Camp

Unsolved Mysteries. It alternates between moronic sitcom humor and long, clumsy scenes in the woods, one of which climaxes when the killer attaches a switchblade to a trombone to form a makeshift bayonet. This movie isn’t likely to scare anyone anytime soon, but its third act’s Peckinpah-esque slow motion action scenes, including a banjo-strummin’ car chase, is definitely not something you’re going to forget.

[Simon Abrams] Aug. 12-20, Anthology Film Archives, 32 2nd Ave., 212-505-5181, www. anthologyfilmarchives.org; $9.

While Lustig is saving many worthy titles from obscurity, some of the films just seem to belong on VHS, where they can be discovered by a bewildered and soonto-be devoted audience that looks at them as artifacts from a bygone era of lurid but memorable cheesefests. The Town That Dreaded Sundown is a post-Texas Chainsaw Massacre faux-verité horror flick about a real-life masked Texarkana serial killer who’s never been caught or identified. Sundown is a rubber-necker’s delight, especially recommended for anyone with an unclean affinity for the dramatic re-enactments from

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“Best day trip you’ll take all summer” August 3, 2010 | City Arts

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Peter Sorel

InBrief

Asphalt Orchestra releases its debut album Aug. 3.

on Blu-Ray and DVD with stereo sound, has a seating capacity of 60 people. To the right of the minivan seats that Stevens installed in the theater is a fully stocked bar, open only before and after films to comply with NYS liquor laws.

Aside from some quality “adult beverages,” as Mr. Stevens put it, attendants can also expect a light menu of gourmet popcorn and hot dogs, including duck confit sausage.

Stevens readily admitted that the idea for a “Gastropub” combination bar and theater isn’t one he came up with, but rather one that he thinks takes already existing modes of entertainment and improves them. “The whole movie theater [business] model is very antiquated,” Stevens says. “You walk in, you pay an arm and a leg for junk food, and that’s the whole experience. My thought is, ‘Why not make it nicer?’”

Stevens went on to say that both ReBar and ReRun cater to both “very wealthy” Dumbo residents and those who commute to work in the neighborhood. That mix of haves and have-nots is part of the rationale behind Stevens’ design for the bar’s decor and its eclectic menu. “We’ve got a very high-end feel, but I built the whole thing out of junk,” he says. “Everything is re-used. Remodeled old city park benches, hubcaps, fireplace covers. We’ve kept the place very real and the prices way down. It was always a $5 draft and it’s two bucks off during happy hour, so it’s a $3 pint of beer until 7 p.m. That’s kind of hard to beat. So the people who live in Dumbo like us because it’s fancy, and the people who work in Dumbo like us because we’re fairly priced and we’re pretty mellow.”

Aaron Hillis, film critic, vice president of indie film distribution label Benten Films and now programmer of the ReRun, confirmed that the theater’s programming will be similarly comprehensive, a mix of old films

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and new independents. “It’ll definitely be all over the map. I’m going to be doing a lot of undistributed [titles] and films that haven’t been distributed very well,” he says. “That’s the greatest pragmatism as far as film culture is concerned. I can also deal with filmmakers and producers directly, and I don’t have to deal with studios or distributors or sales agents who can make the process go on and on. But down the road, I’m sure we’ll be doing a lot of repertory film programming as well.” [SA] For more information, visit www.reruntheater.com.

Pounding the Pavement

From Frank Zappa to metal, Asphalt Orchestra does it all, and, with an instrumental setup that resembles a high school marching band more than a proper orchestra, recontextualizes music both familiar and obscure.

A radical new project from Brooklynbased composers’ association Bang On A Can, Asphalt Orchestra launched last summer with several packed outdoor shows at Lincoln Center. The band, comprising 12 brass and percussion players, brings its unique brand of music and performance to a wide variety of venues, even taking to the streets and surprising bystanders with a choreographed, mobile show.

Though the performers feel at home playing in several different scenarios, piccolo player and co-director Jessica Schmidt did say that, “The dynamic [playing indoors vs. playing outdoors] is slightly different because you don’t have the same accidental audience.”

This summer, Asphalt Orchestra will be returning to its roots—and debuting new material from the group’s forthcoming, selftitled album—at Lincoln Center Out of Doors from Aug. 4 through 8. The album, which will be available on Cantaloupe Music, showcases the band’s talent by covering a huge range

of styles and effortlessly crossing genres, featuring arrangements of pieces by Zappa, Swedish metal band Meshuggah, jazz legend Charles Mingus, and others. “We’re really all over the board as far as types of music,” said Schmidt of the breadth of styles represented on their new album. “It’s a challenge, but it’s a lot of fun.” Also to be featured on the album are pieces commissioned by both David Byrne and Yoko Ono that, according to Schmidt, feature “choreography very closely based on the musical structure.”

Given the band’s success in the past year and its affinity for crowd participation, impromptu antics and exuberant outdoor performance, the upcoming Lincoln Center shows are sure to be an audacious and quirky experience. Schmidt seemed excited to be back at Lincoln Center this summer, noting that “the dynamic between audience and performer is different in New York than elsewhere; here, if you get in someone’s face, they’ll get right back in yours.” [Sean Patrick Kelly] Aug. 5-9, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, on the Plazas of Lincoln Center, www.lcoutofdoors. org; free.

Wild Style in East Hampton

With Exit Through The Gift Shop releasing nationwide, Jeffery Deitch backing Shepard Fairey, recently published books

Glass Half Full

Two years ago, Cid Mendez, 42, was a successful guy working in the corporate world of video editing. Then he decided to chuck it all and make art. “I started buying tools and used the Internet to figure out how to make things,” he explains. The always-optimistic Mendez began making wooden boxes, furniture, works using glass in mosaic patterns and mixed media pieces using recycled materials. His next step was exhibiting his hard work at Gallery 21 in Newark.

The events he organized garnered enough attention that he began to get interest from other sectors. Mendez later designed and fabricated the bar and other elements for Taberna, a new restaurant on the Upper West Side. That led to further commissions, such as his savvy ideas of re-working the space at Tony Zazula’s Commerce restaurant in Greenwich Village. He’s also designed and opened his home as a commercial gallery space, Life is Beautiful, in Hoboken.

Mendez is not happy, however, with the interior designer label that is often applied to his efforts. “I do fabrication. I do it all,” Mendez explains. “I’m a commercial artist.” People will be able to get a

by Swoon and Poster Boy, and Jim Joe a commonplace, almost comfortable aspect of New York City life, it can be easy to forget the roots of these Street Art maestros.

“People are into that whole scene, but if you ask 100 people who Blade or Coco or Mare 139 is, 99 of those people wont know,” says Eric Firestone, bi-coastal gallerist and curator.

At Firestone’s East Coast gallery in East Hampton, New York, a showing of work from the classic graffiti artists of old New York City called Down By Law goes on display Aug. 14, and Firestone believes it’s a chance for Street Art enthusiasts to look to the past.

“I think there should be a strong degree of homage,” he says. “It makes a lot of sense to go back to the womb, so to speak.”

The show was curated—as all Firestone’s shows are—in 60 days, “guerilla style.” Down By Law includes rare photographs of graffiti of the 1970s, as well as canvases by the aforementioned Coco, who earned the title in his heyday as the Duchamp of graffiti. Also hanging will be rarely seen, early paintings by Dondi White, who, at the age of 22, had already had had seven solo exhibitions. Viewers will also get glimpses at original designs for The Beastie Boys, Run DMC and other early hip-hop iconography.

But, although the show canvases the graffiti movement from the early ’70s onward, Firestone contends it is far from retrospective.

“I don’t think that’s fair, especially

look at his work—including lamps, tables and glass objects—later this month when it is on display at Cucine Lube, an upscale Italian kitchen-interiors showroom on the Upper East Side.

Opening party Aug. 25, Cucine Lube, 1158 2nd Ave., 212-421-4411; 6-9 p.m.

Cid Mendez with a work of art made from bottle caps.

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Film

There is a conceit among some young creators of silent films, trying on the genre as a prelude to their big sound feature. They think that silents should look old, faded, out of focus and scratchy.

But the new digital restorations that premiered in Bologna last month of the first films by the Lumière brothers demonstrate the astonishing clarity of the earliest motion picture film stock. These were not improvements on the original, but a replication of the quality in which they were seen all over the world in the last days of the 19th century. Audiences at silent film festivals over the past few years have been rewarded with breathtaking nitrate prints of classic films that look like they were made yesterday.

Now comes Louis, a silent feature written and directed by Dan Pritzker that actually was made yesterday—give or take. It seems to glow right through the screen and reclaim the power of classic film. Visually stunning—and accompanied by a jubilant soundtrack—Louis imagines a fantasy version of New Orleans in 1907, and follows the exploits of 6-year-old Louis Armstrong in the days just before he begins his long, brilliant career. The absence of dialogue and sound effects means that the music has to do double duty as underscoring and to replace conversation. So inviting Wynton Marsalis and the pianist Cecile Licad to score the film was nothing short of inspired. It’s part dance, part Little Rascals, part MTV. And by turns it’s beautiful, funny, astonishing and occasionally frustrating—but always engaging.

The film is set in the tenements, back alleys, cemeteries and bawdy parlors of Storyville, where a variety of scantily-clad ladies rub noses (and other body parts) with gentlemen and politicians. One of the latter turns out to be a very nasty judge, who will stop at nothing to win his bid for the governor’s office. Louis, played by a wide-eyed Anthony

Coleman in his screen debut, gets mixed up in the schemes of this character, played with zest by Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen, Nightmare on Elm Street) as an homage to Chaplin, although Charlie’s debut on the silver screen did not come until 1914.

One of the fantasy sequences involves Haley falling into the clockwork mechanism of a giant voting machine, a nod to Chaplin’s Modern Times, but Pritzker asks the viewer to suspend questions about such anachronisms and let them become part of the texture of the film.

Pritzker is a professional musician himself (he also happens to be heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune and has a net worth in the billions, according to Forbes), and he shot Louis as a sidebar to a sound film he conceived about Buddy Bolden, another New Orleans trumpet player who figures in the tale, often called the father of jazz.

“Louis came about when I was writing a screenplay about Buddy Bolden, the first jazz trumpeter of New Orleans, and I took my mom to see Chaplin’s City Lights with the Chicago Symphony performing the score. It was without a doubt the best movie experience I ever had,” Pritzker explains. “The challenge of trying to tell a story visually, without dialogue, was compelling.

I thought that if I was going to shoot one film, I might as well try to shoot two: the second being a silent film that picked up where “Bolden” ended.

And it put Vilmos [Zsigmond] and me on even footing; he’d never made a silent film before either.”

Pritzker evidently gave the art, costume and effects departments free rein. The ladies are splendidly gowned, and art director Gary Diamond’s color scheme begins with sepia tints, swirls of gold and tawny brown, then slowly teases into splashes of red, white and blue. Oscar-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (Close Encounters, McCabe

Peter Sorel

Young Man with a Silent Horn

Jackie Earle Haley as Judge Leander Perry in a scene from Louis.

and Mrs. Miller) glides his camera upstairs into the bordellos, down into dark cellars, and peering through grates in a seamless fashion reminiscent of the twists and turns of the one-take L’Hermitage, although here the art on display is of a somewhat different character. Many of the scenes have been elaborately choreographed by Broadway veteran Hinton Battle, and a dreamy quality permeates the 70-minute flick. The film comes with a soundtrack that elegantly matches the stylish visuals.

Marsalis and Licad have contributed in equal measure to the underscoring. “The idea of accompanying a silent film telling a mythical tale of a young Louis Armstrong was appealing to me,” Marsalis says. “Of course, calling it a silent film is a misnomer. There will be plenty of music, and jazz is like a conversation between the players so there’ll be no shortage of dialogue. I look forward to playing with Cecile. The contrast between Gottschalk’s music and jazz can be a revelation to those unfamiliar with Gottschalk’s music and jazz.”

Marsalis’ cues run the gamut from authentic New Orleans sounds to much later bop, with some

Ellington thrown in for good measure, while Cecile Licad’s crystalline piano tracks incorporate music of Gottschalk and Chopin. At a June press screening, the music was still in process, and what was heard was actually a temp track: a compilation of preexisting recordings that were not intended to be used in the completed film, but only to fill in during pre-production. Whether Marsalis has time to write actual charts for the film remains unresolved, but if it ends up this way, it is still a satisfying solution most of the time. The playing is tremendous, as might be expected.

Intended for DVD release with an R rating (for some sexual content), Louis will have a brief theatrical tour in five U.S. cities in late August— including at the famed Apollo in New York— with live musical accompaniment by Marsalis, Licad and a 10-piece all-star jazz ensemble.

[Donald Sosin]

supply, novices may outnumber them, tempted by the offer of more than 60 instructional workshops, which promise to teach the ability to twirl with the best of them. That’s only one reason why the number of attendees swelled from approximately 1,500 at the first Congress in 2001 to the expected 20,000 this year. Jose Mangual, bandleader of Son Boricua—which performs Sept. 3—recalls the 1970s and ’80s, when New York boasted twice as many salsa clubs as today. Salsa waned during the ’90s because not enough people kept up the tradition, but Mangual cheers the groundswell of interest that’s been growing over the past five years. “I love seeing so many from the younger generation come to feel its beauty,” he says.

“When you dance salsa with freedom, there’s no better way to express human emotion.”

Popular teacher Ismael Otero, dubbed “The Million Moves Man,” returns for his 10th year, and he says he’s determined to

keep the ranks growing. “New York is the country’s biggest supporter of the music and dance,” Otero said. “People from all over the world want to see what we’re doing. But we also want to see them—that’s how salsa grows and changes, as we pick up things from one another.”

He sets a terrific example. As choreographer of the company Caribbean Soul Dancers and a former hip-hop and break-dancer, he naturally likes to mix things up. But he considers his teaching method very basic. “If you learn the fundamental steps—and there aren’t that many—you can then elaborate as much as you want,” Otero explains. “Salsa is about self- expression and connecting with your partner. It literally can take you out of the world, if only for an evening.” [Valerie Gladstone] Sept. 1-6, Hilton New York, 1335 6th Ave., www.nycsalsacongress.com.

Louis screens Aug. 30, Apollo Theatre, 253 W. 125th St.; 8, $38.50-$53.50. For more information, visit www.louisthemovie.com.

InBrief to so many of the early artists,” he says.

“Until there is a full-on museum collection of this type of art, there won’t be a full understanding of its impact.” [Dale W. Eisinger]

Roll Those Hips

Skirts will swirl, hips will undulate and feet will fly when the New York International Salsa Congress Dance & Music Festival swings into the New York Hilton to celebrate its 10th anniversary this Labor Day weekend.

“You can’t believe the energy,” bandleader Ernie Acevedo Conjunto says. “You can’t believe the happiness. Even if you have two left feet, I promise you that our rhythms will make you dance.”

Now in his third year playing at the event, his band Conjunto Imagen are only one of the five high-profile groups scheduled

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Dancers at last years’ NY International Salsa Congress Dance & Music Festival.

to entertain the salsa lovers headed to the hotel’s ballrooms. Having just released its 12th recording, Afinando, with singer Jenny Colon, Conjunto plans to introduce the newcomer to audiences Sept.2. La Universidad de la Salsa, one of the oldest and most beloved bands, takes the stage Sept. 5.

While aficionados will not be in short

Theater

Send in the Stars Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch make ‘Night Music’

W

the shadow of Zeta-Jones or blossomed into something fuller, because Mallory is consistently one of the evening’s bright spots.

Everyone else remains more or less the same (Leigh Ann Larkin is still excruciating as Anne’s maid Petra, uncertain of whether she should play the character with a Midwestern or Cockney accent), but the flaws in Nunn’s production are highlighted the second time around. The monochromatic set and glacial pace leave one impatient; this is, after all, a show about a famous actress, so why are the costumes all in white, black and shades of gray? And despite Desirée’s repeated references to the “farce” of a weekend in the country with her lover (Aaron Lazar), his wife (Erin Davie), Fredrik and Anne, Nunn has directed the show as if it were a languid Noel Coward comedy.

As for Peters, she’s a much-missed theatrical icon who gives an assured, sometimes very funny performance, but just as often slips Take Ramona Mallory, for instance. The into self-parody, drawling her lines in an overactress plays Fredrik’s virginal, much-younger the-top Bernadette Peters impression. Erasing wife, and when I saw the show last year I wrote memories of Zeta-Jones’ misguided, hammy that her giggly delivery “is rather like watching rendition of “Send in the Clowns,” Peters Taylor Swift take the Broadway stage.” Now, City Art 10 x 5.54:Layout 1 7/27/10 10:02 AM Page 1 looks both fabulous and relaxed, which must her performance has either been freed from

hat a difference a few months and two new cast members make. When I saw Trevor Nunn’s production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s A Little Night Music last December, I was blown away by both Catherine Zeta-Jones— who ended up winning a Tony Award for her performance as actress Desirée Armfeldt— and Alexander Hanson, as her married former lover Fredrik. The rest of this elegiac musical about lust and love, set in turn-ofthe-last-century Sweden, felt serviceable at best, and egregious at worst. Having just seen the show with Bernadette Peters stepping in for Zeta-Jones and Elaine Stritch replacing Angela Lansbury, I still maintain that the revival is less than sparkling, but for different reasons.

weekend one

Joan Marcus

By Mark Peikert

Alexander Hanson (left), Bernadette Peters and Aaron Lazar in A Little Night Music at the Walter Kerr Theater. come as a relief to her after her last Broadway stage appearance as Mama Rose in Gypsy seven years ago.

Which leaves us with Stritch, who turns the role of Desirée’s aged former courtesan mother inside out. Gone is Lansbury’s doddering, imperious interpretation, replaced instead with Stritch’s innate good, common sense. Stritch eschews all semblance of calculating charisma, making Madame Armfeldt into a woman who seems relieved to have abandoned the pretence of kindness and flattery. Instead, she’s sharp, aggressive and angry, her company manners

Berg and Vienna

Friday, August 13

program one

Alban Berg: The Path of Expressive Intensity Chamber works by Berg

Saturday, August 14

program two

The Vienna of Berg’s Youth Chamber works by Zemlinsky, Webern, and others

program three

Mahler and Beyond American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein, conductor Orchestral works by Berg, Mahler, Korngold, and others

program four

Eros and Thanatos Chamber works by Berg, Schreker, Mahler, and others

program five

Teachers and Apostles Chamber works by Berg, Schoenberg, Wellesz, and others

program six

The Orchestra Reimagined Members of the American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein, conductor Orchestral works by Berg, Busoni, Hindemith, and others

Sunday, August 15

weekend two

Berg the European

Friday, August 20

program seven

“No Critics Allowed”: The Society for Private Performances Chamber works by Berg, Debussy, Reger, and others

Saturday, August 21

program eight

You Can’t Be Serious! Viennese Operetta and Popular Music Chamber works by Berg, Sullivan, Lehár, Kálmán, and others

program nine

Composers Select: New Music in the 1920s Chamber works by Berg, Toch, Gershwin, and others

program ten

Modernism and Its Discontent American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein, conductor Orchestral works by Berg and Schmidt

program eleven

Between Accommodation and Inner Emigration: The Composer’s Predicament Chamber works by Berg, Schoeck, Hartmann, and others

program twelve

Crimes and Passions American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein, conductor Orchestral works by Berg, Hindemith, and Weill

Sunday, August 22

planed away by the years. Speak-singing the song “Liaisons,” Stritch nails the comedy and the bitter regret at the way things have turned out, both for the world and for herself. By turns wistful, giddy and furious, the song becomes a tour de force of personality over the ravages of time, a testament to the survival skills of both the character and the actress. Sure, Stritch is giving us a modified version of herself, but isn’t that what becomes a legend the most? <

Open run, Walter Kerr Theater, 219 W. 48th St., 212-239-6200; $52–$137.

twenty-first season

the bard music festival

berg

and His World

august 13–15 and 20–22

The Bard Music Festival presents two extraordinary weeks of concerts, panels, and other special events that will explore the musical world of Alban Berg.

Tickets and information: 845-758-7900 fishercenter.bard.edu Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Alban Berg in the Atelier Madame D’Ora, Wien, 1909. © ÖNB/Wien, 203481-D

August 3, 2010 | City Arts

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MUSEUMS

Rebel Without a Cause

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By LANCE ESPLUND ow do you turn Matisse: Radical Invention: 1913-1917, one of the most anticipated New York exhibitions of the summer, into one of the biggest disappointments? At the Museum of Modern Art, the show’s organizers—John Elderfield, MoMA’s chief curator emeritus of painting and sculpture, and Stephanie D’Alessandro, a curator of modern art at the Art Institute of Chicago, where the show originated—have done seemingly everything they can to transform Matisse from a master colorist, sculptor and draftsman, a tireless innovator, a purist and a radical visionary into a mere reactionary—a mere “radical”—a rebel without a cause.

One of the unfortunate outcomes of recent art historical scholarship is revisionist thinking—looking back at art and artists with keenly focused yet newly clouded eyes. And advancements in technology, which produce facile data (useful mostly to conservators) concerning the makeup and progression of artworks, are increasingly part of the problem.

X-rays, laser scanners and infrared reflectograms have been used here to analyze Matisse’s work.

The newfound images and information lay bare, mark by mark and layer by layer of paint, Matisse’s “process,” and have been used to focus our attention on everything but the art.

Some contemporary art historians—using the revolutionary innovations of the early Modernists as precedents—seem to think that in art, overthrowing tradition is a worthy tradition in and of itself. In recent decades, the trajectory of art, and what gets lauded in galleries and museums, has shifted away considerably from aesthetics to mere acts of rebellion.

Artists used to be radical and revolutionary only when new directions were natural outgrowths of their studio practices. For many artists today, bucking—instead of embracing— tradition has become their primary enterprise.

And current thinking is adversely altering how we see and interpret an artist such as Matisse.

Increasingly, established artists from the past, rethought and re-imagined, are being turned on their heads in exhibitions such as this one, which does more damage than good.

By 1905, Matisse eliminated shadows and tonal values from his paintings. He liberated color, freeing it from its primarily descriptive function into one that is primarily emotive, and he pared-down his forms into economically pure expressions—revolutionary advancements that, equal in importance to Cubism, helped to usher in abstraction. Furthering—not ditching— tradition, Matisse never rebelled for rebellion’s

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sake. On the contrary, Matisse had a horror of anything dishonest, showy or facile, and he often quoted the words of Courbet to his students: “I have simply wished to assert the reasoned and independent feeling of my own individuality within a total knowledge of tradition.”

To suggest, as this exhibition does repeatedly, that Matisse ever left a mark on a drawing or painting for any other reason than that it served the whole work of art would be a lie. To propose otherwise is an insult to Matisse and a misunderstanding and misrepresentation of his aims and achievements as an artist. Describing his working methods, Matisse remarked, “Everything that did not contribute to the balance and rhythm of the work, being of no use and therefore harmful, had to be eliminated.”

Not to be splitting hairs here—Matisse’s art was new and continues to be modern and exciting—but to emphasize that newness, excitement and modernity were Matisse’s goals, when in fact they were mere byproducts of his continual journey in his art toward a deepening refinement of an economy and clarity of expression, is to misdirect viewers from what matters in Matisse. If Matisse left on the paper or canvas a ghostly pencil line or erasure; an abrasion, scratch or charcoal smudge; an undercoat of paint peeking through colored wash, he did so because those elements were necessary and integral to the exploration of his theme. They remained not for effect but because they contributed to the structural integrity, the formal rhythms and pressures— the music—of the whole composition.

Matisse: Radical Invention, an exhibition of nearly 110 drawings, paintings, prints and sculptures, is a concentrated study of the period 1913-17. It covers the five-year period between Matisse’s monumental achievements in Morocco and those in Nice, when Matisse was grappling at least to some degree (and unsuccessfully so) with the advents of Cubism.

This period produced Matisse’s three large and problematical paintings “Bathers with a Turtle” (1907-19), “Bathers by a River” (190917) and “The Moroccans” (1916), all included in the exhibition. Despite its title, however, the show actually comprises works from 1893 to 1931. There are a number of masterpieces in the exhibition, including “Blue Nude” (1907), “Interior with Goldfish” (1914) and the three 1916 paintings: “The Italian Woman,” “The Piano Lesson” and “The Portrait of Sarah Stein,” a luscious, modern Veronica’s veil, as well as the small Cézanne “Bathers” (1879-82) from Matisse’s own collection. But overall, this five-year period is one of Matisse’s least

Musée National d’Art Moderne/Centre de Création Industrielle, Centre Pompidou, Paris. Bequest of Baroness Eva Gourgaud, 1965

MoMA’s Matisse exhibition directs our attention to everything but the art

“Interior with Goldfish” (1914). successful. And it doesn’t help that, poorly chosen and installed, Matisse: Radical Invention includes some of the worst Matisses— notational sketches, iffy drawings and prints and unfinished paintings—I have ever seen.

What is so infuriating about MoMA’s exhibition is that Matisse, reassessed here in sections titled “Explorations,” “New Ambitions” and “Changing Directions,” is being belittled and revised. Rather than unpack what makes Matisse’s art worthy of our attention, the show furthers the confusion that Modern art can be understood only if we examine every step of the artist’s journey along the way. The finished work seems beside the point.

Walking through this bummer of a show, I began to wonder if the curators actually had any love for Matisse at all.

At the press preview, the curators, during their remarks, unpersuasively praised Matisse

for his peculiarly modern “uncertainty,” “doubt” and “risk,” as well as for his ability to work instinctively and without reason and for his focus on “process over product,” an “openness” that, according to Elderfield, is the key to what “makes [Matisse’s art] open to the viewer.” Thankfully, the curators’ remarks were followed by those of Claude Duthuit, Matisse’s grandson, who, clearing the air, spoke only of the appropriateness of a Matisse show in New York, a city his grandfather loved for its “crystalline light.” Short and sweet, Duthuit’s comment, which alerts us to Matisse’s love of color, of “light,” gets at the heart—and more directly than a dozen more shows like Matisse: Radical Invention—of what makes Matisse’s art so miraculous and mysterious. < Through Oct. 11, Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53rd St., 212-708-9400.

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“The Gypsy,” by Trevor Winkfield.

Town and Country & Trevor Winkfield: A Selection As its title suggests, Town and Country, an engaging exhibition curated by artist Trevor Winkfield, covers a lot of ground. The 25 works may all be traditionally 2-dimensional, and they share a certain intimacy of effect.

Beyond this, however, they range from modern C-prints to vintage photographs, from paintings to collages to watercolors, and from high art to low. Together, they give the impression of the contents of the curio cabinet of an exacting and idiosyncratic connoisseur—“a sampling of souvenirs from both rural and urban areas spanning over 100 years,” in the words of the artist/curator.

A subtle, careful hanging brings out unexpected rhymings. Signac’s intricate, circular design for an 1888 theater program hangs beneath Wilson Bentley’s exquisite, silvery photomicrograph (dated 1885-1919) of a snowflake’s tiny symmetrical facets.

Albert York’s “Twin Trees,” with its hermetic naturalism, hangs next to Jonathan Lasker’s abstract “Raster Wald,” which is dominated by two gridded, tree-like bundles. An undated canvas by Louis Eilshemius revisits a classical theme—a nude grasping swirls of fabric—with earnest and naive nostalgia. Alongside, Jane Freilicher’s skillful painting of nude-and-drape nods knowingly to Watteau. The installation also includes works by Charles Burchfield, Arthur Dove, Jean Hélion, Alex Katz and Graham Sutherland. Particularly noteworthy is one of Marsden Hartley’s “Dogtown”

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landscapes from 1936, which captures with luminous bluntness the strange rock formations at one of his favorite painting spots.

Installed in Tibor de Nagy’s smaller gallery are seven paintings, spanning the last decade,

by Winkfield himself. Followers of his work will immediately recognize the kinetic compositions of planar colors and crisply delineated objects.

The aura of Pop hangs about such paintings as “The Gypsy,” in which a figure sporting a feathered headgear holds out a mysterious cone, from which emerges, in a liquid swirl, a phalanx of factory smokestacks. Elsewhere in this canvas, the outlines of chairs dance with pears perched on coiling ribbons. What does it all mean? As always, Winkfield’s images suggest worlds placed very deliberately and provocatively within other worlds, to elusive purpose. Viewed next to the works in Town and Country, however, one is newly struck by how utterly private Winkfield’s own paintings are—and how much they are the product of a discreet worldview—despite their Pop colors and jaunty rhythms. [John Goodrich] Through Aug. 13, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, 724 5th Ave., 212-262-5050.

The Pursuer Taking its title from a 1959 Julio Cortázar story, The Pursuer gathers 13 artists around loose themes of chronology and self-identification.

The artists’ wide-ranging approaches spin the exhibition into a compelling narrative of materiality, and they grapple with the preservation of an immediate past as time lumbers forward.

Whimsical realism is provided by Candy Jernigan’s found-object assemblages and pencil drawings. “Found Dope: Part II” is made up of drug vials and an illustrated map detailing where and when each was found. “Ten Kinds of Beans” is a drawing of exactly that, as well as “Homage to Goya.”

Paul Sharits dominates much of the main room with drawings and notes toward his chromatic films. Sharits’ sketches draw parallels to his abstracted explorations of color and systematized movement. Well-planned curation led to the placing of Sharits’ drawings next to works by the young Ida Ekblad. In both, tight composition is paired with rich, wild use of the medium.

Alex Hubbard’s video “The Paranoid Phase of Nautical Twilight I-III” shares structural elements with Kerstin Brätsch’s painting “Are You Game?” In both, large circles resemble clock faces and invoke clockwise movement: Hubbard’s in a chainsaw cutting through a wall from behind, while the shading in Brätsch’s work implies a sort of escape from the cyclical nature of time.

One of the show’s most arresting works is the awkwardly placed “Untitled/Project for The Andy Warhol Museum,” by Alex Bag. The oversaturated video features Bag herself in a variety of roles as a TV flips through stereotypical daytime programming: sensationalist talk shows, news footage of natural disasters and the “set-up” from infomercials. Parts of the video bear resemblance to Warhol’s screen tests, and Bag’s embrace of incoherence forces fresh interpretation of assigned and assumed identity.

The Pursuer proves to be a solid summer group show; its mixture of 1980s post-pop humor and serious whimsy provides a pleasing diversion from a 95-degree day. [Nicholas Wells] Through Aug. 13, Greene Naftali Gallery, 508 W. 26th St., 212-463-7770.

Love and Freedom The industrial landscape of Bushwick is giving way to street art. As yet un-trampled, you can still find good examples of Swoon’s paste work sublimely weathering away. At Sugar Gallery, a small space run by installation artist Gwendolyn Skaggs, you’ll see Love and Freedom. The show features three works that explore big ideas through humble objects. In her series “Charted Breaths,” artist Jacqueline Lou Skaggs uses rhinestones to chart the periods in poems and letters. They drift in tight formations across gouache-painted wooden panels on which the first line painted determines all the rest. It doesn’t matter that it’s all very private and hard to decipher, because they’re refreshingly quiet and beautiful—and they sparkle, too. Doug Young’s giant hook rug features an action adventure war scene, and is deliberately humble to bring home the unbalancing nature of power. Young suggested the rug be hung in a boy’s room for greatest effect. In her second piece, Jacqueline Lou Skaggs has painted significant images on lost pennies, or found ones in this case. The tiny penny paintings are hung in a random pattern that the curator discovered by tossing coins on the ground. The blending of folk aesthetics and

conceptualism is an interesting idea; however, a magnifying glass would help to fully appreciate the piece. Skaggs evolved into a curator when she began inviting artists to show in her studioturned-gallery. Her development has been aided by others also drawn to the art world’s outskirts, perhaps for the love of space and the freedom to show their own way. [Julia Morton] Through Aug. 21, Sugar Gallery, 449 Troutman St., Brooklyn, 718-417-1180.

Where in the World?

Pictures should transport us to another place, to an actual setting, into another state of mind or even to a combination of both.

How convincingly photographers achieve this impressive feat depends on a whole slew of talents, from how they light and compose their works to their ability to find resonant subjects.

In this engrossing show, several distinguished photographers transform reality—sometimes ordinary places, other times exotic locales—into haunting worlds. The list of contributors features a rich array of talent, including Diane Arbus, Bill Brandt, Richard Benson, Harry Callahan, Robert Frank, Paul Graham, Duane Michals, Nicholas Nixon, Robert Rauschenberg, Lucas Samaras, Frederick Sommer, Hiroshi Sugimoto and Garry Winogrand.

To give a few examples of the exhibit’s range, you could start with Paul Graham’s complex “Camaro, Louisiana, 2005.” An aging, dented blue sedan is parked at a dilapidated restaurant next to a hand-written sign advertising Po Boy plates and a Kool cigarette poster. The pavement shows cracks. A pick-up truck cruises by on the road. There’s a feeling that everything needs repair and poverty lurks right around the corner.

But the sunlight falling on the windshield brightens the scene, and you can imagine the driver, when he gets back into his car, being happy simply to take a ride in it on a pretty day after feasting on a Po Boy. Lucas Samaras’ “Photo-Transformation” evokes a completely different mood. A chair covered by a swath of fabric sits near what could be a dressing table in a small New York apartment. There’s nothing else in the room. But the space comes alive with the colors he uses to shade the few objects—pinks, blues and greens glow on the material and the wall, creating a rainbow of color and movement. Wonderfully, the photo turns into a sweet and lovely dream.

A face can serve as a landscape and a place, as Robert Frank proves in his eloquent portrait, “Mary.” The striking woman looks straight at the camera, a flower tucked into her long, disheveled hair. By the light you know that this is the beach.

A shadow cuts her face in two, perhaps cast by the photographer. Behind her, you see gentle waves rolling onto the shore. In contrast, she looks straight ahead, intense and unforgiving.

For pure delight, probably nothing equals Joseph Koudelka’s “Czechoslovakia,” a photograph showing a young boy riding a bicycle down a cobblestone street. He wears what appears to be an angel costume, a long white robe and wings, and confidently steers with only one hand. He is as nonchalant as the old woman who catches sight of him is incredulous. Naturally, questions arise as to why

and class distinction of British hedgerows.

The viewer has an impulse to get close and look through the hedge. Do we want to see through the hedge simply because we are kept out, or are we seduced by the danger implied in peering too closely at the lives protected by such fortifications?

The Austrian Cultural Forum is certainly an appropriate setting for such an exhibition—its stark, Modernist milieu evokes the isolation of Orwell’s novel. But none of the artists addresses the omnipresence of technology in our daily lives. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World might be another fitting parallel, with its dystopian future stemming from the fulfillment of human desires and drowning any dissent in a sea of pleasure and information to the point of malaise.

[NW] Through Sept. 5, Austrian Cultural Forum, 11 E. 52nd St., 212-319-5300.

Charles Burchfield: Fifty Years as a Painter “Camaro, Louisiana, 2005,” by Paul Graham.

he sports such unusual attire, but the feeling of joy he conveys makes learning the answers inconsequential. Behind him, horses pull a carriage, with not much of a chance of overtaking his bicycle. As the title of the show asks: Where in the world? Indeed, in strange, amusing and unforgettable places. [Valerie Gladstone] Through Aug. 27, Pace MacGill, 32 E. 57th St., 212-759-7999.

Francois Kollar: French Fashion Photography of the 1930s-40s After seeing the works of fashion photographer Francois Kollar in this stunning show, it is hard to understand why he never gained the fame of peers like Cecil Beaton and Horst. Born in Hungary in 1904, Kollar moved to Paris at 20 where he became head of the Draeger Frères photographic studio. He first made his name with a documentary series of portraits of French workers, called “La France Travaille,” later branching out into commercial photography for clients like Chanel, Lanvin, Balenciaga, Schiaparelli, Balmain, Van Cleef and Arpels and Moët et Chandon, and publishing in magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar.

He shot beautiful women with respectful affection, highlighting what makes them intriguing through his artistic composition and delicate lighting. The finely boned subject of “Pour Sibel Speigel” clutches a sumptuous fur jacket with wide sleeves to her breast, her eyes cast down as if shy about the flamboyance of her attire. Her hat frames her face, two plumes gracefully curving upward. They echo the curve of her long gown.

Kollar consistently managed to bring out the vulnerability in the women he photographed, giving them an accessibility that we no longer associate with fashion models. They certainly aren’t ordinary women but then they aren’t fierce or perfect either. More importantly, you can imagine that they have interior lives. The lovely woman in “Pour Harper’s Bazaar” resembles actress Rita Hayworth, her long hair falling to

her bare shoulders, her hand on her breast. Light illuminates her thoughtful face.

He also photographed famous women. For “The Duchess of Windsor,” he placed her in an elegant room, in front of a window and a vase filled with feathers. Wearing a long, silvery gown with thin straps, she looks into the distance, contemplative and serene. In fact, what sets his works apart from others in the field is the feeling of serenity. It gives you the freedom to engage with the subjects, rather than simply standing aside and admiring them. By humanizing them, he makes us all the more appreciative of their glamour. [VG] Through Sept. 3, Zabriskie Gallery, 41 E. 57th St., 212-752-1223.

NineteenEightyFour The works in NineteenEightyFour, up at the Austrian Cultural Forum, can be divided into three themes central to the “Orwellian”: surveillance of the public, doublespeak and the architecture of control. Artists use and interweave this most common literary eponym into a crosshatched exploration of unexposed power and control in the 21st century.

The Quistrebert Brother’s “Illuminati,” a mural of Big Brother-esque eyes, is painted high in a corner and peers down into the gallery. The suggestion of CCTV cameras is evident, though the eyes appear more threatening than the actual security camera mounted nearby. “Congruent Triangles” references the Eye of Providence with a large triangle made up of nine smaller triangles, each framing a single all-seeing eye.

Clemens von Wedemeyer’s video, “Die Probe,” explores Orwell’s concept of doublespeak with a recreation of a politician rehearsing an acceptance speech backstage at a rally. The banality and hollowness of the rhetoric is heightened by low volume and the missing audience.

Rachel Owen’s minimalist sculpture “Privet,” a light box covered with green shards from broken bottles, suggests the segregation

Though less exhaustive than the Charles Burchfield retrospective at the Whitney Museum, DC Moore’s selection of three dozen watercolors touches upon all the crucial aspects of one of the most intriguing American artists of his time. Spending almost his entire life in Ohio and western New York State, Burchfield (1893-1967) first gained renown as one of the American Scene painters—a group that included such talented but hide-bound painters as Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood.

Burchfield seems cut from a different cloth; while evolving through a number of stages— from an early expressionism-tinged style, to more somberly naturalistic scenes in the 1920s and ’30s, to the fantastically stylized work in his last decades—his work always simmers with an eccentric exuberance.

In his early twenties, Burchfield produced a collection of drawings of anthropomorphized plants and houses, turning them into symbols for bird and insect calls. This interest in the animistic possibilities of the everyday remained with him all his life. At DC Moore, it’s apparent in the early “Waning Moon,” in which

unnaturally heightened reds and blues describe shacks amidst stylized foliage. The image might seem schematic were it not for Burchfield’s sure sense of color and his knack for imparting tangible weight to sunlight.

More sober in tone is “November Smoke,” which depicts a neighborhood of humble, sturdy houses soaking up the meager fall sunlight.

Burchfield finds an eerie soulfulness in their blank, staring windows. Several watercolors from his middle period capture, in subdued but resonant hues, the sights of industrial and urban Middle America: a shaggy grape arbor behind a house, an angular steam locomotive. But even in his most naturalistic images, the fantastical is at hand. Among the highlights here is a meticulous study of several skunk cabbages, whose curling petals are caught with such rhythmic intensity that they seem like alien growths.

The bulk of DC Moore’s installation covers work produced after the early ’40s, when the artist returned to, and pushed even further, the exotic stylizations of his youth. Unlikely dark halos surround foreground flowers in “June Scene (Whatman’s Antiquarian),” while foliage turn into tiers of arcing, flaming greens. In other watercolors, trees as elaborately articulated as pagodas or cathedrals reach towards shimmering suns. The artist used materials more adventurously, too, often reworking and enlarging old watercolors by adding extensions to their edges. Throughout, his enthusiasm for the exotic is grounded in the observed, tempered by a fidelity to light, so that boughs, trunks and clouds move convincingly from illumination to shadow.

Little seems to have escaped Burchfield’s ever-curious eye. In a watercolor from 1917, a telephone pole’s tiny insulators, marching across its upper crosspiece, talk to the fringes of a cloud towering miles away. In these worlds, whenever a butterfly flaps its wings, a storm actually brews. DC Moore’s installation reveals Burchfield as a true original—a practical visionary who gave Modernism a singularly American touch. [JG] Through Sept. 25, DC Moore Gallery, 724 5th Ave., 212-247-2111.

“Privet,” by Rachel Owens.

August 3, 2010 | City Arts

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ClassicalMUSIC & OPERA

Berg at Bard

The music festival celebrates the Viennese composer’s intensity without the influence of Schoenberg

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By Jonathan Leaf ven those classical music fans who actively hate the bulk of modernist music are typically forced to admit their love for the work of Alban Berg. His Violin Concerto is certainly among the most beautiful of concertos, and his operas are the touchstones of the 20th-century repertoire. Yet, as the word “modern” terrifies ticket-buyers, classical music programmers rarely build concert programs around his music. That’s a shame.

This year’s Bard Music Festival offers audiences two weekends this month in which to listen to Berg as the centerpiece.

The first weekend, titled “Berg and Vienna,” aims to consider how Berg’s music is an extension of a specifically Viennese style.

To this end, Berg is paired up with a series of other Viennese composers, such as waltz king Johann Strauss the Younger and the gifted Hollywood film composer and ex-pat Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

The second weekend, “Berg The European,” has Berg played alongside other contemporaries that broke away from the bombastic Wagnerian musical style dominant in fin de siècle opera houses and concert halls. This places Berg next to composers ranging from Ravel and Debussy to Stravinsky and Gershwin.

What’s especially notable—and commendable—about Bard’s musical selections is what’s largely absent the first weekend and wholly missing the second: Only two short pieces by Berg’s teacher, Arnold Schoenberg, will be played.

This reflects good taste in itself, and it’s a useful corrective. Berg’s name has been too long and too much tied to Schoenberg. Pairing Berg’s music with that of composers like Mahler and Zemlinksy makes far more sense. Although he did study with Schoenberg and wrote music that often seems to lack a signature key, Berg is a composer of enormous lyricism and beauty.

Yes, Berg’s operas can sound harsh. But

A Classical Expedition: Five music festivals north of the city

By Donald Sosin

Caramoor Festival Celebrating its 65th birthday, the Caramoor Festival is just a 40-mile hop to Katonah, N.Y., at the sumptuous estate nestled among Italian cedars and filled with priceless European and Asian art. The classical programs of July have come and gone, with a string quartet concert the only example of “serious” music till September. It would be well worth the effort to hear the Jasper String Quartet, which has been in residence at Caramoor all season. Fresh out of its program at Yale—where the Tokyo String Quartet coached the players—the Jasper Quartet is already an astounding ensemble.

The group’s Aug. 5 program includes Haydn’s String Quartet in G, Op. 77, No. 1, the “Lyric Suite” by Alban Berg and the premiere of a work written for the group by Annie Gosfield, a New York City-based composer with solid creds in both the academic and the alternative new music scene.

Music Mountain As age goes, Music Mountain is the granddaddy of chamber music festivals in the United States. This is the 81st year that string quartet fans (and more recently jazz buffs) have beaten a path to the barn in Falls Village, Conn. There seems to be no end of first-rate

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string quartets on today’s concert scene— including the Arianna, Avalon, Daedalus, Shanghai and St. Petersburg quartets—and festival director Nicholas Gordon invites them each season to play and coach young talent. Gordon mingles with the sophisticated audience members at each concert—often moving chairs, opening doors and setting up stands—creating a low-key, family atmosphere that extends to a worldwide radio audience for each concert. The first weekend in August features all six of the Mozart string quintets played by the Amernet String Quartet, which has roamed the world’s concert halls since 1992. The quartet will be joined by fellow Miamian Chauncey Patterson on viola. Jazz nights include the Galvanized Jazz Band Aug.14, with dancing starting at 6:30 p.m.

Norfolk Chamber Music Festival & Infinity Music Hall Just a short drive away from Music Mountain is the little village of Norfolk, where the Yale Music School brings its faculty and many guests for chamber and choral music, including free student recitals that take place in a casual atmosphere on Thursdays and Saturdays.

On Aug. 6, the Tokyo Quartet plays Debussy, Mozart and Lera Auerbach, a

Violinist Miranda Cuckson performs in programs 7 and 9 of the Bard Music Festival. this is to underline the pain his characters are in. And even when the music is neurotic or wrenching, like Mahler’s, it aims for expressive beauty—not ugliness.

The Festival kicks off on a lucky (for a few) Friday the 13th. That night, Bard will have a

Siberian-born New Yorker whose haunting, expressive music has found a wide audience in the last decade. The quartet return Aug. 14 with selections from Mozart, Schubert and Webern. Ransom Wilson leads Mahler’s lyrical Symphony No. 4 Aug. 7 on a program that also includes the rhapsodic Brahms “Clarinet Sonata in Eb” played by David Shifrin and André-Michel Shub.

Right down the road in Norfolk is Infinity Hall, a first-rate, intimate performance space with great acoustics and a terrific restaurant.

It’s become a favorite stop on the tour for many established rock, folk and blues artists; among the August lineup are Firefall, Leon Redbone, John Lee Hooker Jr. and Suzanne Vega and the Holmes Brothers.

Tanglewood The summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Lenox, Mass., Tanglewood has long been a favorite escape for visitors from all over the world. Along with a full schedule of performances by the orchestra and top soloists like Hilary Hahn, Richard Goode and Dawn Upshaw, there are many special events. Herbie Hancock performs Aug. 9; Aug. 14, John Williams will celebrate his 30th anniversary at Tanglewood with a program of his scores for Spielberg films. If serious 20th-century music is your cup of tea, this year’s Festival of Contemporary Music (Aug. 12-16) focuses on a 70-year retrospective of music by faculty at the Tanglewood Music Center.

Gala open-air dinner in its Spiegeltent. Guests will hear a pre-concert talk from Bard’s learned president, Leon Botstein. Then the postprandial concert features the gifted American pianist Jeremy Denk playing several of Berg’s best pieces. Strauss’s beloved waltz “Wine, Women and Song” follows.

Over the next two days there will be six more concerts and talks. The Saturday evening concert will have Berg’s Violin Concerto and the astonishing adagio from Mahler’s reconstructed Tenth Symphony. This is likely to be an unforgettable experience. The Sunday performance includes not only Berg’s lovely “Kammerkonzert,” but exquisite music from Busoni and Hindemith. Denk will again be at the keyboard, and buses will be available to take concertgoers who don’t wish to drive up and back.

Among the many highlights of the following weekend is a closing concert of vocal music. For this, Bard has rounded up a bunch of fabulous singers, including fast-rising soprano Christine Goerke. The selections are from the larder of Berg, Hindemith and Weill. < Aug. 13-15 & 20-22, Fisher Center, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., 845758-7900, www.fishercenter.bard.edu.

Occasionally, BSO members find time to get away and relax. Or rather, they take a busman’s holiday and present other concerts.

This season, Keisuke Wakao, assistant principal oboist and principal oboist of the Boston Pops, has organized a series of chamber concerts with some of his colleagues at Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum. The two remaining concerts Aug. 9 and 16 offer a potpourri of Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Piazzola.

Glimmerglass Opera Moving further west to the Finger Lakes, the Glimmerglass Opera is a delicious place to relax and enjoy vocal performances by rising stars and established professionals. Located at the top of Otsego Lake, it’s a line-drive up from Cooperstown, making it possible to take in the Baseball Hall of Fame or the fascinating Farmers’ Museum during the day, then head up the eight miles to the Alice Busch Theater for the evening.

Matinees are a favorite time to picnic, with prepared gourmet dishes available 48 hours in advance. Last year, I saw superb productions of Menotti’s The Consul and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and am looking forward to returning this month for Copland’s The Tender Land and Handel’s Tolomeo, in its first professional staging. Tosca and The Marriage of Figaro are also on the Thursday through Tuesday schedule that winds up Aug. 24. You could make a quadruple-play and catch them all on each of the first two weekends of August.

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TRAVEL WITH THE ARTS

Focus: Washington, D.C.

From priceless art to fantastic theater, the nation’s capital is more than monuments

BY TONY WARE

J

Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the

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City Arts | cityartsnyc.com

“Jack Kerouac wandering along East 7th street ...”

(1953) on view at the National Gallery through Sept. 16.

© Copyright 2010 The Allen Ginsberg LLC. All rights reserved.

ust a few hours by train or bus from New York City, Washington, D.C., sits at the heart of a region tasked with both changing and preserving history. And the arts have captured every dynamic shift in the cultural climate. Whether a fan of visual arts, theater, dance or film, visitors to the District and its immediate surrounding area gain access to cultural archives and contemporary interaction.

From the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum complex and research organization, to independent gallery spaces tucked into vibrant neighborhoods, the nation’s capital paints a picture of creative expressions.

There’s no better starting point when surveying the District’s museums than exploring the National Mall. While there’s no retail therapy to be found around this grand avenue of landmarks, you’ll find plenty of priceless works of art sourced from around the globe. The National Gallery of Art offers two buildings: a permanent collection of European and American masterworks (including North America’s only painting by Da Vinci, “Ginevra De’ Benci”) in one, and the other more heavily concentrated on 20th-century artists.

Currently, there’s a special Edvard Munch: Master Prints exhibit continuing through Oct. 31, and an exhibit of Allen Ginsberg’s photographs, titled Beat Memories, on view through Sept 16. The grounds also comprise a 6-acre Sculpture Garden, and on Friday evenings through mid-September jazz artists perform.

Those with an interest in the works of modern and contemporary artists can find an unconventional selection in the nearby Hirshhorn Museum, an iconic, cylindrical building lined with provocative works, and complemented by a multi-tier recess of sculptures. The current Yves Klein: With the Void, Full Powers exhibit continues through Sept. 12 and includes an incredible selection of Klein’s series, such as the Anthropometries, Cosmogonies, fire paintings, planetary reliefs and blue monochromes.

Not a far walk from the National Mall is the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the largest non-federal art museum in the District, with an emphasis on American (oftentimes contemporary) artists (Chuck Close Prints is on view until Sept. 12) and collectors of every medium. A similar focus on American art is concentrated within the Donald J. Reynolds Center for Art and Portraiture, the Greek Revival building within the Penn Quarter neighborhood that houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. And the second weekend in September, this site becomes the epicenter of the annual Arts on Foot art market and festival, featuring exhibitors, performances, tours of alternative art spaces, cooking demonstrations and more. A branch facility of the Smithsonian, The Renwick Gallery is located several blocks west (near the White House) and highlights domestic crafts and decorative arts. Current exhibits include

“Running Fence” (through Sept. 26) and Telling Stories: Norman Rockwell from the Collections of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg (through Jan. 2, 2011), which examines the connection between Rockwell’s iconic images and movies.

The Penn Quarter offers additional dynamic venues for the visual and performance arts, such as the nonprofit Flashpoint Gallery, featuring works by local residents. The associated Mead Theatre acts as a creative laboratory for more kinetic collaborations. The nearby Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company features a troupe of provocateurs that develop and promote boundary-breaking engagements; Sarah Ruhl’s Tony-nominated play In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play will be mounted this summer (Aug. 23–Sept. 19). For something a bit more traditional, the Harmon Center for the Arts is home to The Shakespeare Theatre Company, which will be putting on free performances of Twelfth Night (Aug. 19–Sept. 5); All’s Well That Ends Well kicks of the fall season Sept. 7.

A few blocks north, the Warehouse Theatre includes a black box performance space, emerging

artists gallery and screening room, earning it the reputation of being, according to The Washington Post, “an avant-garde Kennedy Center,” referring to the cross-discipline arts facility along the Potomac, which sponsors events such as the Millennium Stage (free nightly performances).

Indeed, in the Penn Quarter, art is curated and exhibited in some unexpected spaces, such as in the lobbies of office buildings—including 901 E. Street, 1111 Pennsylvania Ave. and 555 9th St.—where art consultants such as Margery Goldberg (of Zenith Gallery) and Jean Efron organize revolving exhibitions. Additionally, those as fascinated by the world’s perceptions and reporting of cultural events as the works themselves can explore the Newseum, a seven-level, interactive showcase tracing the flow of information through centuries of award-winning prose and photography. This high-tech survey of historical journalism also stages special exhibits on groundbreaking news stories, such as Elvis Presley’s impact on popular culture (through Feb. 14, 2011).

Another neighborhood incubating a thriving scene is Dupont Circle. Those looking for a

formal experience should first visit The Philips Collection, home to 2,500 Impressionist and modern artworks. The two current temporary exhibits—one focused on Pousette-Dart, the other on Robert Ryman—continue through Sept. 12. To observe a more cross-cultural, mid-Atlantic perspective, spaces such as the Hillyer Art Space (a nonprofit arts organization-backed gallery) and the Irvine Contemporary launch exhibitions focusing on emerging artists. Not far, and mere blocks to the east at equally gallery-enriched Logan Circle, The Studio Theatre is a playhouse that has been offering contemporary, innovative productions for over three decades. This summer they present a version of Passing Strange, Stew and Heidi Rodewald’s stunning theatrical rock musical (for which Stew won a Tony for Best Book of a Musical), without the indefatigable frontman, and have received positive response, extending the production through Aug. 22. From here, you can further explore the 14th Street corridor and U Street District, featuring dialogue-sparking venues such as Source for improv and indie theater, as well as local photography exhibits.

Scott Suchman

Photo by Lee Stalsworth

displays works by those in residence. Plus, local universities such as Marymount and George Mason have student galleries open to the public.

Similarly, many spaces are made available for rehearsal and performance of dance and physical theater to support fresh local talent at The Rosslyn Spectrum Theatre and Synetic Theatre, among other locations. On a nationally acclaimed level, Signature Theatre is a nonprofit dedicated to bold contemporary musical theater and unexpected invention of classic musicals, and was the recipient of the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award. The current production of Chess continues through Sept. 26 (last-minute, inexpensive tickets to shows at this and several other theaters can be picked up at the TICKETPLACE booth in the Penn Quarter).

This is just a small cross-section of the outlets for artistic and cultural expression available to survey within a highly compact area. While it’s hard to see everything in one trip, it’s easy to see something amazing.

Jahi Kearse in Passing Strange at The Studio 2ndStage, through Aug. 22.

Installation view of Yves Klein: With the Void, Full Powers at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

It’s difficult to find an area of the District without a destination of artistic value. Wandering around Georgetown, it might be the Byzantine and Pre-Columbian collection within Dumbarton Oaks, a Federal-style mansion/landscape architecture research library and gardens. Or venture a neighborhood north to Foxhall and you’ll find the Kreeger Museum, another “house museum,” an amazing example of modern/postmodern architecture and equally contemporary visual arts. You shouldn’t restrict your experience to D.C.’s borders, however.

C

ommunities such as Bethesda, Md. (directly north of the District), and Arlington, Va. (just to the west across the Potomac), have established themselves as compelling entryways into the local scene. And with convenient transportation, such as Vamoose Bus, using these neighborhoods as hubs, it’s possible for visitors from New York to immerse themselves in art before even setting foot within D.C. For example, wander only one block from the Bethesda Metro station, and you’ll find the

Round House Theatre, dedicated to re-interpreting contemporary and classical novels through bold visuals (a theatrical version of The Talented Mr. Ripley written by Phyllis Nagy begins Sept. 8 and runs through 26). While mere doors down, you’ll discover the Waverly Street Gallery, a spacious setting that displays works of all formats and is one of a dozen venues that takes part in the Bethesda Art Walk every second Friday of the month (from 6 to 9). For those traveling with young adults, Bethesda also offers The Imagination Stage, a theater company geared toward inspiring and empowering kids. Located just a little north of downtown Bethesda, Strathmore is a scenic 11-acre site offering concerts, recitals, exhibits and limited engagements, such as the presentation of Louis: A Silent Film Aug. 28, with live accompaniment by Wynton Marsalis and Cecile Licad.

Arlington, meanwhile, is home to dozens of arts organizations and hundreds of arts events annually. The city’s Cultural Affairs Division promotes studios and exhibits in the Lee Arts Center. Similarly, the Arlington Arts Center

fascinating house tours yuletide garden tram tours special exhibitions ever-changing blooms enchanted woods children’s garden family fun shopping & dining

an

Courtesy of Newseum

american treasure The Newseum building complex located between the White House and the U.S. Capitol.

Enjoy a unique blend of history and year-round beauty at this world-class museum, garden, and former du Pont estate.

Flower image: Jeannette Lindvig

Winterthur is nestled in Delaware’s beautiful Brandywine Valley, midway between New York City and Washington, D.C. Take I-95 to Exit 7 in Delaware.

800.448.3883 • 302.888.4600 • winterthur.org

August 3, 2010 | City Arts

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ArtsAGENDA Gallery openings

Gallery listings courtesy of

Benrimon Contemporary: “Younger Than Moses:

Idle Worship.” Opens Aug. 12, 514 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl., 212-924-2400.

Christopher Henry Gallery: “London Biennale.”

Opens Aug. 5, 127 Elizabeth St., 212-244-6006. de Castellane Gallery: “Non-Native New York.”

Opens Aug. 5, 525 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn, no phone.

First Street Gallery: “Anamnesis.” Opens Sept.

9, 526 W. 26th St., 9th Fl., 646-336-8053.

James Cohan Gallery: Ingrid Calame: “New York.”

Opens Sept. 10, 533 W. 26th St., 212-714-9500.

Lehmann Maupin: Jennifer Steinkamp: “Premature.”

Opens Sept. 10, 540 W. 26th St., 212-255-2923.

Lucky Gallery: “Honey I Shrunk Red Hook.”

Opens Aug. 8, 176 Richards St., Brooklyn, 917434-8360.

Miyako Yoshinaga Art Prospects: “Counterpoint: Outsider Art From Japan.” Opens Sept. 9, 547 W. 27th St., 2nd Fl., 212-268-7132.

Noho Gallery in Chelsea: Chuck von Schmidt: “Branded.” Opens Sept. 7, 530 W. 25th St., 4th Fl., 212-367-7063.

NY Studio Gallery: Rachel Stokoe: “This Ain’t No Shangri-La.” Opens Sept. 2, 154 Stanton St., 212-627-3276.

Ronald Feldman Fine Arts: Hannah Wilke: “Early Drawings.” Opens Sept. 11, 31 Mercer St., 212226-3232.

Van Der Plas Gallery: “The Inspired World of Ahomeka Southerland.” Opens Aug. 6, 89 South St., Pier 17, 212-227-8983.

Visual Arts Gallery: “Where Is My Vote?: Posters for the Green Movement in Iran.” Opens Aug. 30, 601 W. 26th St., 15th Fl., 212-592-2145.

Von Lintel Gallery: Izima Kaoru: “One Sun.” Opens Sept. 2, 520 W. 23rd St., 212-242-0599.

Westside Gallery: “Abstract Intentions.” Opens Aug. 7. “Valetudo: Art and Healing in Provence.” Opens Aug. 31, 133/141 W. 21st St., 212-592-2145.

at the galleries Amador Gallery: Bruce Gilden: “Coney Island.”

Ends Aug. 20, The Fuller Building, 41 E. 57th St., 6th Fl., 212-759-6740.

Animazing Gallery: Daniel Merriam: “Taking Reality by Surprise.” Ends Sept. 5, 54 Greene St., 212-226-7374.

Aperture Gallery: “States of Flux.” Ends Aug. 12, 547 W. 27th St., 4th Fl., 212-505-5555.

Armand Bartos Fine Art: David Kramer: “Seems Like We’ve Been Down This Road Before.”

Ends Aug. 12, 25 E. 73rd St., 212-288-6705.

Benrimon Contemporary: “Graffiti NYC: Artists of the Third Rail.” Ends Aug. 10, 514 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl., 212-924-2400.

BLT Gallery: Francoise Gillot: “A Series of Monotypes.” Ends Aug. 15, 270 Bowery, 2nd Fl., 212-226-6106.

ClampArt: Dave Anderson: “One Block.” Ends Aug. 20, 521-531 W. 25th St., Ground Floor, 646-230-0020.

DCKT Contemporary: Brion Nuda Rosch. Ends Aug. 20, 195 Bowery, 212-741-9955.

Denise Bibro Fine Art: “Summer Selections 2010.”

Ends Aug. 13, 529 W. 20th St., 4th Fl., 212-6477030.

El Taller Latino Americano: “The Palombos: An Immigrant Family.” Ends Aug. 25, 2710 Broadway, 3rd Fl., 212-665-9460.

Gallery 307: “Photographs From the Outside.” Ends Aug. 20, 307 7th Ave., Ste. 1401, 646-400-5254.

Gallery at Le Poisson Rouge: Alexander Kaletski:

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City Arts | www.cityartsnyc.com

“Life of the Party.” Ends Sept. 7, 158 Bleecker St., 212-505-3474.

Half Gallery: “Normal Dimensions.” Ends Aug. 13, 208 Forsyth St., no phone.

Haunch of Venison: Doug Argue, Bill Fontana, Alexandra Grant & Les Rogers: “Four Projects.”

Ends Aug. 28, 1230 6th Ave., 20th Fl., 212-2590000.

Heidi Cho Gallery: “As You Like It: Part II.” Ends Aug. 15, 522 W. 23rd St., 212-255-6783.

James Cohan Gallery: “The Tell-Tale Heart (Part 2).”

Ends Aug. 13, 533 W. 26th St., 212-714-9500.

James Graham & Sons: Roger Phillips: “New Sculpture & Prints.” Ends Aug. 27, 32 E. 67th St., 212-535-5767.

Kris Graves Projects: “Sultry II.” Ends Aug. 14, 111 Front St., Gallery 224, Brooklyn, 212-796-7558.

Lehmann Maupin: “Touched.” Ends Aug. 13, 540 W. 26th St., 212-255-2923.

Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery: “Istanbul Cool!” Ends Sept. 1, 39 E. 78th St., 3rd Fl., 212-249-7695.

Lennon, Weinberg Inc.: Richard Kalina: “A Survey 1970-2010.” Ends Aug. 13, 514 W. 25th St., 212-941-0012.

Lesley Heller Workspace: “The Young Israelis.”

Ends Aug. 13, 54 Orchard St., 212-410-6120.

Live Fast Underground Gallery: Frank Russo: “Monsterfaces.” Ends Sept. 5, 57 Clinton St., 212-228-8863.

Lobby Gallery: “Point of View: A Gallerist’s View of Emerging Art.” Ends Sept. 6, 1155 6th Ave., no phone.

Margaret Thatcher Projects: “Sea to Shining Sea.” Ends Aug. 13, 539 W. 23rd St., Ground Floor, 212-675-0222.

Marlborough Gallery: “Grass Grows by Itself.”

Ends Sept. 9, 40 W. 57th St., 212-541-4900.

McKenzie Fine Art: “Reader’s Delight.” Ends Aug. 6, 511 W. 25th St., 212-989-5467.

Michael Rosenfeld Gallery: Marguerite Zorach & William Zorach. Ends Aug. 13. Fairfield Porter. Ends Aug. 13, 24 W. 57th St., 212-2470082.

Mike Weiss Gallery: “Reflexive Self.” Ends Aug. 14, 520 W. 24th St., 212-691-6899.

Mitchell-Innes & Nash: “Item.” Ends Aug. 13, 534 W. 26th St., 212-744-7400.

Miyako Yoshinaga: Inbal Abergil: “24 Frames Per Second.” Ends Aug. 14, 547 W. 27th St., 2nd Fl., 212-268-7132.

Morgan Lehman: “the default state network.” Ends Aug. 13, 535 W. 22nd St., 6th Fl., 212-2686699.

Nancy Margolis Gallery: “Gallery Artists.” Ends Aug. 13, 523 W. 25th St., 212-242-3013.

Noho Gallery in Chelsea: “Twelve.” Ends Aug. 21, 530 W. 25th St., 4th Fl., 212-367-7063.

Nohra Haime Gallery: Pieralli)(Favi: “Extrakestrakos.” Ends Sept. 11. Valerie Hird: “The Maiden Voyages Project.” Ends Sept. 11, 730 5th Ave., 212-888-3550.

Pelavin Gallery: “This Mess We’re In.” Ends Sept.

3, 13 Jay St., 212-925-9424.

Perry Rubenstein Gallery: “Shred.” Ends Aug. 27, 527 W. 23rd St., 212-627-8000.

Prince Street Gallery: Matt Klos: “Keeping Things.” Ends Aug. 21, 530 W. 25th St., 4th Fl., 646-230-0246.

Salmagundi Club: “Hard Times - An Artist’s View.”

Ends Aug. 18, 47 5th Ave., 212-255-7740.

Show Walls: Stephanie Brody-Lederman: “Ordinary Life.” Ends Aug. 27, 1133 6th Ave., no phone.

Soho20 Chelsea: “15: Annual International Exhibit.”

Ends Aug. 14, 547 W. 27th St., Ste. 301, 212367-8994.

Soho Photo Gallery: William George Wadman:

“Drabble.” Opens Sept. 7, 15 White St., 212226-8571.

STUX Gallery: “Barakat: The Gift.” Ends Sept. 11, 530 W. 25th St., 212-352-1600.

Susan Teller Gallery: “Helluva Town.” Ends Aug. 19, 568 Broadway, Rm. 502A, 212-941-7335.

Tibor de Nagy Gallery: “Town and Country.” Ends Aug. 13, 724 5th Ave., 212-262-5050.

Treasure Room Gallery: Michael Filan: “Excavations Non Objective.” Ends Aug. 31, Interchurch Center, 475 Riverside Dr., no phone.

Visual Arts Gallery: “That’s Just It.” Ends Aug. 14. “Serial Intentions.” Ends Aug. 14. “Camera Work.” Ends Aug. 14. “The Slow Motion Show.” Ends Aug. 14, 601 W. 26th St., 15th Fl., 212-592-2145.

Von Lintel Gallery: “Summer Group Show.” Ends Aug. 27, 520 W. 23rd St., 212-242-0599.

Zabriskie Gallery: Francois Kollar: “French Fashion Photography of the 1930s & ’40s.” Ends Sept. 3, 41 E. 57th St., 212-752-1223.

Museums American Folk Art Museum: “Perspectives: Forming

the Figure.” Aug. 24-Aug. 2011, 45 W. 53rd St., 212-265-1040.

Asia Society & Museum: “Go Figure: Five Contemporary Videos.” Ends Aug. 15. “Rivers of Ice: Vanishing Glaciers of the Greater Himalaya.”

Ends Aug. 15, 725 Park Ave., 212-288-6400.

Brooklyn Museum: “Work of Art: The Winner.”

Aug. 14-Oct. 17. “This Is Me: Life Reflected Through Art.” Aug. 18-29. “Andy Warhol: The Last Decade.” Ends Sept. 12. “Kiki Smith: Sojourn.” Ends Sept. 12. “Healing the Wounds of War: The Brooklyn Sanity Fair of 1864.” Ends Oct. 17, 200 Eastern Pkwy., Brooklyn, 718-6385000.

Chelsea Art Museum: Jack Toolin: “Perfect View.”

Aug. 5-Sept. 2. Jean Miotte: “The Nineties.”

Ends Sept. 2, 556 W. 22nd St., 212-255-0719.

Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum: “National Design Triennial: Why Design Now?.” Ends Jan. 9, 2 E. 91st St., 212-849-8400.

Discovery Times Square Exposition: “King Tut NYC: Return of the King.” Ends Jan. 2, 226 W. 44th St., no phone.

The Drawing Center: Gerhard Richter: “Lines Which Do Not Exist.” Sept. 11-Nov. 18. Claudia Wieser: “Poems of the Right Angle.” Sept. 11-Nov. 18, 35 Wooster St., 212-219-2166.

The Frick Collection: “From Mansion to Museum: The Frick Collection Celebrates Seventy-Five Years.” Ends Sept. 5, 1 E. 70th St., 212-2880700.

International Center of Photography: “For All the World to See: Visual Culture & the Struggle for Civil Rights.” Ends Sept. 12. “Perspectives 2010.” Ends Sept. 12, 1133 6th Ave., 212-8570000.

Jewish Museum: “Fish Forms: Lamps by Frank Gehry.” Aug. 29-Oct. 31. “The Monayer Family: Three Videos by Dor Guez.” Ends Sept.

7. “Shifting the Gaze: Painting & Feminism.”

Sept. 12-Jan. 30. “South African Photographs: David Goldblatt.” Ends Sept. 19, 1109 5th Ave., 212-423-3200.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: “Picasso in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” Ends Aug. 15. “American Woman: Fashioning A National Identity.” Ends Aug. 15. “Side by Side: Oberlin’s Masterworks at the Met.” Ends Aug. 29. “Tutankhamun’s Funeral.” Ends Sept. 6. “Hipsters, Hustlers & Handball Players: Leon Levinstein’s New York Photographs, 1950-1980.” Ends Oct. 17. Doug & Mike Starn on the Roof: “Big Bambu.” Ends Oct. 31. “Vienna Circa 1780:

An Imperial Silver Service Rediscovered.” Ends Nov. 7, 1000 5th Ave., 212-535-7710.

MoMA PS1: “Greater New York.” Ends Oct. 18, 22-25 Jackson Ave., Queens, 718-784-2084.

The Morgan Library & Museum: “Romantic Gardens: Nature, Art & Landscape Design.” Ends Aug. 29. Mark di Suvero. Ends Sept. 12, 225 Madison Ave., 212-685-0008.

El Museo del Barrio: “Retro/Active: The Work of Rafael Ferrer.” Ends Aug. 22, 1230 5th Ave., 212-831-7272.

Museum of Arts & Design: “Bespoke: The Handbuilt Bicycle.” Ends Aug. 15. “Portable Treasuries: Silver Jewelry From the Nadler Collection.” Sept.

26. “Dead or Alive.” Ends Oct. 24, 2 Columbus Cir., 212-299-7777.

Museum of Jewish Heritage: “Traces of Memory.”

Ends Aug. 15. “The Morgenthaus: A Legacy of Service.” Ends Dec. 2010, 36 Battery Pl., 646437-4200.

Museum of Modern Art: “Mind & Matter: Alternative Abstractions, 1940s to Now.” Ends Aug. 16.

“Lee Bontecou: All Freedom in Every Sense.”

Ends Aug. 30. “Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography.” Ends Aug. 30. “Picasso: Themes & Variations.” Ends Sept.

6. “The Modern Myth: Drawing Mythologies in Modern Times.” Ends Sept. 6. “Matisse: Radical Invention, 1913-1917.” Ends Oct. 11.

“Underground Gallery: London Transport Posters, 1920s-1940s.” Ends Feb. 28, 11 W. 53rd St., 212-708-9400.

New-York Historical Society: “The Grateful Dead: Now Playing at the New-York Historical Society.” Ends Sept. 5, 170 Central Park West, 212-873-3400.

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts: “The Peregrinations & Pettifoggery of

W.C. Fields.” Ends Aug. 21, 40 Lincoln Center Plz., 212-870-1630.

Noguchi Museum: “California Scenario: The Courage of Imagination.” Ends Oct. 24. “Noguchi ReINstalled.” Ends Oct. 24, 33rd Road at Vernon Boulevard, Queens, 718-721-2308.

The Painting Center: “Philadelphia Painters.” Ends Aug. 17, 547 W. 27th St., Ste. 500, 212-3431060.

Rubin Museum of Art: “Remember That You Will Die: Death Across Cultures.” Ends Aug. 9.

“Bardo: The Tibetan Art of the Afterlife.” Ends Sept. 6, 150 W. 17th St., 212-620-5000.

Skyscraper Museum: “The Rise of Wall Street.”

Ends Oct. 2010, 39 Battery Pl., 212-968-1961.

Society of Illustrators: “Blow Up.” Sept. 8-Oct. 16, 128 E. 63rd St., 212-838-2560.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: “Hilla Rebay: Art Educator.” Ends Aug. 22. “Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance.” Ends Sept. 6. “The Geometry of Kandinsky & Malevich.” Ends Sept. 7. “Julie Mehretu: Grey Area.”

Ends Oct. 6, 1071 5th Ave., 212-423-3500.

South Street Seaport: “Tigers the Exhibition.” Ends Jan. 15, Pier 17 at South Street Seaport, 800-7453000.

Studio Museum: Zwelethu Mthethwa: “Inner Views.” Ends Oct. 24. “Usable Pasts.” Ends Oct. 24. “Inside the Collection: Interiors from the Studio Museum.” Ends Oct. 24. “Hi-Res: Expanding the Walls 2010.” Ends Oct. 24. “Harlem Postcards.” Ends Oct. 24. “StudioSound: Dj/ rupture’s Radio GooGoo.” Ends Oct. 24, 144 W. 125th St., 212-864-4500.

Whitney Museum of American Art: “Lee Friedlander: America by Car.” Sept. 4-Nov. 28. “Jill Magid: A Reasonable Man in a Box.” Ends Sept.

12. “Sara VanDerBeek.” Sept. 17-Dec. 5. “Off the Wall Part 1: Thirty Performative Actions.” Ends Sept. 19. “Christian Marclay: Festival.” Ends

Sept. 26. “Off the Wall Part 2: Seven Works by Trisha Brown.” Sept. 30-Oct. 3. “Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield.”

Ends Oct. 17, 945 Madison Ave., 212-570-3600.

Auctions Christie’s: Christie’s Interiors. Aug. 31 & Sept. 1, 10

a.m. & 2, 20 Rockefeller Plz., 212-636-2000.

Doyle New York: Doyle at Home. Aug. 18, 10 a.m.,

175 E. 87th St., 212-427-2730.

ROGALLERY.com: Fine art buyers & sellers in online live

art auctions. 800-888-1063, www.rogallery.com.

Swann Auction Galleries: Vintage Posters. Aug. 4,

2. Shelf Sale. Aug. 25, 2, 104 E. 25th St., 212254-4710.

Art Events Chelsea Art Gallery Tour: Partake in a guided tour

of the week’s top seven gallery exhibits in the world’s center for contemporary art. Sept. 11, 526 W. 26th St., 212-946-1548, www.nygallerytours. com; 1, $20.

Dream Up Festival: Theater for the New City, under the artistic direction of Crystal Field, presents its first theater festival of all-premiere plays from artists across the country & abroad. Aug. 8-Sept.

5, locations vary, 212-254-1109, www.dreamupfestival.org; times vary, $12+ FringeNYC: The New York International Fringe Festival celebrates its 14th anniversary. The largest multi-arts festival in North America welcomes more than 200 companies from across the globe to perform for 16 days in venues around New York City. Aug. 13-29, locations vary, www. fringenyc.org; times vary, $10+.

Howl! Festival: Howl Arts, Inc., brings the 7th annual Howl! Festival to Tompkins Square Park.

The free series of events offers programs for adults & children on two stages, & includes poetry, music, dance, theater & more. Sept. 10-12, Tompkins Square Park, East 7th Street & Avenue A, www.howlfestival.com; free admission.

Lincoln Center Out of Doors: The festival presents free music and dance on the plazas of Lincoln Center. Now in its 40th year, LCOOD hosts a range of performances by international, U.S. & local artists. Ends Aug. 15, Lincoln Center, between Broadway & Amsterdam Avenues, West 65th to West 62nd Streets, 212-875-5766, www. lcoutofdoors.org; times vary, free.

Mostly Mozart Festival: The 44th season of the Mostly Mozart Festival offers more than 35 events, including concerts, dance, pre-concert recitals, late-night performances & lectures. Ends Aug. 21, Lincoln Center, 10 Lincoln Center Plaza, 212-875-5456; times vary, $35+.

Soho Arts Walk: The walk, now in its third year, continues to celebrate the Soho arts scene through a collaboration with the neighborhood’s galleries. Every third Thursday through September, Soho, www.sohoartswalk.com.

Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit: Washington Square hosts the fall edition of the Greenwich Village art exhibit, now celebrating its 80th anniversary. Sept. 4-6, 11 & 12, University Place at East 12th Street, 212-982-6255, www.wsoae. org; 12-6, free.

Music 92YTribeca: Tracy Bonham, whose 1996 major

label debut spawned the hit “Mother Mother,” performs. Aug. 13, 200 Hudson St., 212-6011000; 8, $13+.

Branded Saloon: Serbian classical guitar virtuoso Goran Ivanovic & his band, Eastern Blok,

perform their interpretations of classic Balkan melodies. Aug. 10, 603 Vanderbilt Ave., Brooklyn, 718-484-8704; 9, $10.

Cinders Gallery: Brian Chase, the drummer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, performs new songs. Aug. 6, 103 Havemeyer St., Brooklyn, 718-388-2311; 8.

Le Poisson Rouge: Pianist Taka Kigawa performs the music of Xenakis, Boulez, Webern, Pintscher & Eckardt. Aug. 23, 158 Bleecker St., 212-5053474; 6:30, $20+.

Lincoln Center: Ljova & the Kontraband perform chamber-jam music for the remix generation that melds the classical with the new. Aug. 12, David Rubenstein Atrium, Lincoln Center, Broadway between West 62nd & West 63rd Streets, 212875-5350; 8:30, free.

Noguchi Museum: Composer & clarinetist Evan Ziporyn performs as part of the Music in the Garden series. Aug. 8, 9-01 33rd Rd., 718-2047088; 3, $5+.

Jazz Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola: Cedar Walton Quartet with

Vincent Herring, David Williams & Willie Jones III. Aug. 3-8,. Amina Figarova Sextet. Aug. 9.

Jazz House Kids with Christian McBride. Aug. 16. The music of Antonio Carlos Jobim with Trio da Paz, Joe Locke, Harry Allen & Maucha Adnet. Aug. 17-22. An evening with jazz flutist Bobbi Humphrey. Aug. 30. Lou Donaldson Quartet with Pat Bianchi, Randy Johnston & Fukushi Tainaka. Aug. 31-Sept. 5, 33 W. 60th St., 212-258-9595; times vary, $10+.

Jazz Standard: Vocalist Kat Edmonson. Aug. 3.

Brian Hogans Quintet. Aug. 4. Davell Crawford.

Aug. 5. Quincy Jones presents the Alfredo Rodríguez Trio. Aug. 6-8. Mingus Orchestra. Aug. 9 & 23. Sarah Gazarek. Aug. 10. Ralph Alessi Quartet. Aug. 11. Jeff “Tain” Watts Quartet.

Aug. 12-15. Mingus Big Band. Aug. 16. Cindy Blackman: Explorations. Aug. 17 & 18. Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio. Aug. 19-22. Oliver Lake Organ Quartet. Aug. 24 & 25. Gerald Clayton Quintet.

Aug. 26-29. Mingus Dynasty. Aug. 30. Moutin Reunion Quartet. Aug. 31, 116 E. 27th St., 212576-2232; times vary, $20+.

Spike Hill: Douglas Bradford, 9 Volt Circuistry, Prana & Innertextures perform as part of Spike Hill’s Jazz Night. Aug. 9, 184-186 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn, 718-218-9737; 8, free.

Studio Museum in Harlem: Join the NJMH All Stars for classic musical portraits by Duke Ellington & Charles Mingus that will be contrasted with the works of Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Stuart Davis & others. Aug. 15, 144 W. 125th St., 212-348-8300; 2, free.

SummerStage: The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival presents two days of free concerts that take place in neighborhoods where the musical genius lived and worked. Aug. 28, Marcus Garvey Park, & Aug. 29, Tompkins Square Park, www.summerstage.org; 3, free.

Theater

Fall Preview on September 14 and (continued on) September 28 Reserve your space now and let the new season begin!

Contact: Kate Walsh, 646 442 1629 kwalsh@manhattanmedia.com

www.cityartsnyc.com N OW O N V I E W

Meet the Morgenthaus, a family who embraced the promise of America. Learn how, over three generations, they changed the course of world events, American politics, and Jewish history.

Explore an interactive family history at: WWW.MJHNYC.ORG/MORGENTHAUS

Chicago: The long-running revival of Kander &

Ebb’s musical about sex, murder & celebrity continues to razzle-dazzle. Open run, Ambassador Theatre, 219 W. 49th St., 212-239-6200.

Danny & Sylvia - The Danny Kaye Musical: This musical love story depicts the relationship between Danny Kaye & his wife & creative partner, Sylvia Fine, who wrote many of Kaye’s most famous songs. Open run, St. Luke’s Theatre, 308 W. 46th St., 212-239-6200.

Dietrich & Chevalier: Marlene Dietrich & Maurice Chevalier were the top film stars at Paramount

Edmond J. Safra Plaza 36 Battery Place in Lower Manhattan 646.437.4202

Closed Saturdays and Jewish holidays

This exhibition is made possible through generous funding from The Isenberg Family Charitable Trust, Marina and Stephen E. Kaufman, Lois and Martin Whitman, Jack Rudin, and New York State Senator Eric T. Schneiderman.

MEDIA SP ONSORSHIP G E N E RO U S LY P ROV I D E D BY

PHOTO: Henry Morgenthau, Sr., shown with Henry Morgenthau, Jr., and his children Joan, Henry III, and Robert.

August 3, 2010 | City Arts

17

SHOWS AVENUE

defined by quality and design

Antiques & Art at the Armory

Pictures in the 1930s. Marries to others, they fell in love & remained friends for life. Jerry Mayer’s musical stars Robert Cuccioli, Jodi Stevens & Donald Corren. Open run, St. Luke’s Theatre, 308 W. 46th St., 212-239-6200.

Julius Caesar: Shakespeare in the Park(ing) Lot continues its 2010 season by moving the Shakespeare play into a contemporary urban school system.

Ends Aug. 14, corner of Ludlow & Broome Streets, www.shakespeareintheparkinglot.com.

Macbeth: The Pulse Ensemble sets the Shakespeare classic in Afghanistan. Aug. 7 & 8, Governors Island, Nolan Park, Aug. 12-28, Riverbank State Park, 679 Riverside Dr., 212-695-1596.

Sex in Mommyville: The musical feminist comedy

Out of TOWN Picasso Looks at Degas at The Clark: This is the only

The Park Avenue Armory 643 Park Avenue | New York City

Save The Date September 29, 2010 | Private VIP Opening September 30-October 3, 2010 Open to the Public

For details & show information please visit avenueshows.com or call 646.442.1627

Rocaille Silver-Gilt Marine Salt Cellars by Garrard, detail.

—M.S. Rau Antiques

THE ROYAL OAK FOUNDATION

Americans in Alliance with the National Trust of England, Wales and Northern Ireland

18

City Arts | www.cityartsnyc.com

recounts the misadventures of a neurotic, guiltridden, health-conscious, sex-starved Manhattan mom trying to please her high-maintenance children, her lawyer husband & her Russian parents who live upstairs. Aug. 18-29, The Flea, 41 White St., 212-352-3101.

South Pacific: Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musical in its first Broadway revival. Ends Aug. 22, Lincoln Center Theater, 150 W. 65th St., 212-239-6210.

Vision Disturbance: Recent Guggenheim Fellowship recipient Richard Maxwell directs Christina Masciotti’s new play about a woman who loses her husband and the vision in one of her eyes.

Sept. 1-18, Abrons Art Center, Henry Street Settlement, 466 Grand St., 212-598-0400.

North American venue for this revelatory exhibit, which explores the Spanish Picasso’s lifelong obsession with the French Degas—his dancers, laundresses, bathers as well as his persona. Ends Sept. 12, The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass., 413-458-0524, www.clarkart.edu.

Spiegeltent Evening Cabaret at Bard SummerScape: Actress, singer & comedian Jackie Hoffman performs her unique brand of music & comedy.

Aug. 13, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, 845-758-7900, www.fishercenter.bard.edu; 8:30, $25.

Litchfield Jazz Festival: Dave Brubeck, Denise Thimes, the Gerald Clayton Trio, the Arturo O’Farrill Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra & others perform as part of the 15th anniversary of the popular festival, which wraps with the Anat Cohen Quartet & Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain & Edgar Meyer. Aug. 6-8, Kent School, Kent, Conn., 860-361-6285, www.litchfieldjazzfest.com; times vary, $29+ single tickets, $150+ passes.

Neapolitan Opera & Song Festival: Round Top hosts a European weekend in the Neapolitan Opera & Song Festival, celebrating the Chopin anniversary, early Italian opera & popular Neapolitan song. Aug. 28 & 29, Altamura Center for the Arts, 404 Winter Clove Rd., Round Top, N.Y., 518-622-0070; 2, $15+.

William Steig: Love & Laughter at Norman Rockwell Museum: The exhibition focuses on several stages of William Steig’s artistic career, from his time at The New Yorker until later works as an author & illustrator of children’s books & novels. Ends Oct. 31, Norman Rockwell Museum, 9 Route 183, Stockbridge, Mass., 413-298-4100, www. nrm.org; $10+.

Leonard Nimoy: Secret Selves at MASS MoCA: The artist & actor, best known as Spock on the popular Star Trek television series, is also an artist & will exhibit his recent photographic series exploring the lost or hidden self, inspired largely by Aristophanes’ theory of double-sided creatures. Ends Jan. 2, MASS MoCA, 87 Marshall St., North Adams, Mass., 413-662-2111, www.massmoca. org; $5+.

Marlboro Music Festival: Attend the culminating performance of the Marlboro Music Festival’s 60th season. The festival helps musical leaders hone their skills by allowing up-&-coming artists to play alongside masters. Aug. 15, Persons Auditorium at Marlboro College, Marlboro, Vt., www.marlboromusic.org; $5+.

Williamstown Theatre Festival: Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, directed by Nicholas Martin & starring Becky Ann Baker, Dylan Baker, Jessica Hecht & Campbell Scott (Ends Aug. 8); The Last Goodbye, a new musical using the story of Romeo & Juliet, set to the music & lyrics of Jeff Buckley & adapted by Michael Kimmel (Aug. 5-20); & Lanford Wilson’s Fifth of July, directed

by Terry Kinney (Aug. 11-22). Ends Aug. 22,

1000 Main St., Williamstown, Mass., www. wtfestival.org; times vary, $15+.

Richard Deon Exhibit at Hudson River Museum: The exhibition Richard Deon: Paradox & Conformity includes more than 30 paintings with mediums ranging from giant banners to easel-sized canvasses, employing the visual style of textbook illustrators of the 1950s. Ends Sept. 5, Hudson River Museum, 511 Warburton Ave., Yonkers, N.Y., 914-963-4550, www.hrm.org; $3+.

Norfolk Chamber Music Festival: The season continues with the Tokyo String Quartet (Aug. 6 & 14), Mahler Symphony 4 (Aug. 7) & an evening of Haydn, Schubert & Brahms (Aug. 13) & ends with the Norfolk Choral Festival (Aug 21). Ends Aug. 21, Music Shed in Norfolk, Conn., www. norfolkmusic.org; times vary, $15+.

Music Mountain: The season continues with the St. Petersburg String Quartet (Aug. 22), The Joe Carter Samba Rio Trio (Aug. 28) & the Shanghai String Quartet (Sept. 5). Ends Sept. 5. Music Mountain, Falls Village, Conn., www.musicmountain.org; times vary, $30+.

Kylie Minogue & Rufus Wainwright at the Watermill Summer Concert: Get your pop fix watching

Kylie Minogue & Rufus Wainwright perform at the Watermill Summer Concert 2010: The Last Song of Summer benefit. Aug. 28, The Watermill Center, 39 Watermill Towd Rd., Watermill, N.Y., watermillcenter.org; 4:30, $150+.

Tanglewood: Highlights include guest violinists Hilary Hahn (Aug. 7), Arabella Steinbacher (Aug. 7), Joshua Bell (Aug. 21) & Gil Shaham (Aug. 21); Yo-Yo Ma & his Silk Road Ensemble (Aug. 8); the Boston Pops with conductor Keith Lockhart (Aug. 14); & pianist Garrick Ohlsson in two intimate all-Chopin programs (Aug. 24 & 26). Ends Sept. 5, Tanglewood, 297 West St., Lenox, Mass., 888-266-1200; times vary, $11+.

Woodstock-New Paltz Art & Crafts Fairs: The fairs take place Labor Day weekend and include over 300 juried artists and crafts people, live musical entertainment, supervised children’s area, health care products, massage therapy; it’s known for excellent pottery, ceramics, textiles, leather goods, jewelry, glassware and fine art. Incredible artisanal food vendors as well. Sept. 4-6. Ulster County Fairgrounds, New Paltz, N.Y., 845-6798087; Sat.-Sun. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Mon. 10 a.m.-4 p.m., $7-$8 (children under 12 free). Complete details at www.quailhollow.com The Woodstock School of Art : All instructors are professional artists and utilize their fully equipped studios to teach their eager students.

This summer be sure to check out the WSA’s outdoor sculpture exhibit featuring Czech sculpture Alex Kveton (Through Oct. 2), a unique exhibit by late painter Louise Kamp, as well as their onsite gallery featuring the work of students, instructors and historic artists. 2470 Route 212, Woodstock, N.Y., 845-679-2388; Mon-Sat, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. www.woodstockschoolofart.org.

PainttheTOWN

By Amanda Gordon

MIDWEST ON THE HUDSON At the Young Patrons of Lincoln Center summer party, guests tended to hang out in groups of seven or eight people, laughing and gesturing like old friends. “I’m reconnecting with people I haven’t seen in a while, from business school and college,” said Stephanie Tsen. Some had memories from earlier than that. “When we were in high school we used to swing dance on the promenade,” said Lauren Sercander Dukes, recalling where the Midsummer Night Swing series was held before it moved to Damrosch Park. (That’s not the only thing that has changed: on this night, the theme was disco, with the long-standing Joe’s Pub favorite band The Loser’s Lounge performing.)

Remarkably, those who knew only one or two people at the event did not, in this scenario, feel left out.

“I’m surprised by how friendly everyone is. It’s easy going,” said Edris, an artist and owner of a hair salon on West 14th Street. “And I love the dresses and the hair.”

The stylish inclusiveness was not a mirage on one of the summer’s very hot nights.

The steering committee members of the Young Patrons of Lincoln Center, many of whom were wearing dresses by Tibi, took pride in their lack of snobbery.

“We’re like the Midwest of arts groups,” Jessica Evelyn Betts, the co-chair of YPLC, as it is known, said. “It doesn’t matter what you do or where you came from, the only thing we care about is that you love the performing arts.”

YPLC arranges discounted tickets for its members to many of Lincoln Center’s offerings. Its next party is October 28, a masquerade ball.

Clockwise from top left, Kimberly Shariff, a Lincoln Center lawyer, Viqar Shariff and Meatpacking District hair salon owner Edris; Irene Gorbansky, Alex Gorbansky, Jayee Koffey, Ami Sheth, Miraj Patel and Stephanie Tsen; Lexie Fisher with a mint ice cream cone from Lincoln Center’s L’Arte Del Gelato; Young Patrons of Lincoln Center VIPs Jason Paez, Jessica Evelyn Betts and Emily Feinstein; the most refreshing summer treat, from Lincoln Center’s restaurant Arpeggio.

HOT PROSPECT The surface of Prospect Lake was looking bright, almost neon, kind of Kermit green, at the Prospect Park Alliance Junior Committee Summer Soiree. “It’s algae, but it’s kind of a delightful algae,” said Alex Beard of Williamsburg, a real estate man who is apparently unafraid of nature.

But for a city reporter who hadn’t yet had the patience to wait on line for a Brooklyn Brewery India Pale Ale or Izze soda, the algae had an ominous quality.

On this steamy, swampy night, with the crickets chirping and the deejay spinning—was that New Order?—it was possible to imagine something dark taking place. What if... an evil monster rose from the lake, ripping down that pretty pedestrian bridge, and spewing its green venom at the hundreds of partygoers at the boathouse, innocently chatting, preening, dancing and bidding on Coney Island adventures and Philip Crangi heavy-metal chain necklaces? It would have been quite the New York elite takedown: the guests were top-of-the-masthead editors and writers, fashion and jewelry designers, boutique owners, chefs, musicians and even the mayor. Such a tragedy did not come to pass. Instead, Mayor Bloomberg relayed a chat he’d had with his 101-year-old mother on his way to the park; she remembers coming to the park all the way from Jersey City when she was young.

Many of the guests had also commuted. Will Beller came from the Bronx—but not because there aren’t good parties in his own neighborhood. He boasted of this summer’s Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation block parties. Meanwhile, the folks who blissfully live around Prospect Park told of the “outdoorsy, refreshing” activities they enjoy there. Cecilia Estreich likes the meadow on a Sunday afternoon. Miri Goodman likes running down the hill by the lake, at around 7:15 p.m., and Rachel Greenspan goes to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on Saturdays, at 11:30 a.m.— “when it’s still free,” she said (the garden starts charging admission at noon on summer Saturdays).

Above: Alysha Cassis (like Chelsea Clinton, married in Rhinebeck); from left: Edward and Lisa Young, of Bedford Stuyvesant; cousins Elizabeth Beller, Will Beller, Ned Beller, and Melanie Foreman .

Top, Bill Bragin and Lisa Philp at Midsummer Night Swing; right, Kurt Rudolph, Marina Chao and Roxana Marcoci at MoMA’s opening of The Original Copy: Photography of Sculpture, which Marcoci curated.

NEXTS AND NOTES Now that’s commitment: Bill Bragin, the director of public programming at Lincoln Center, spent his fifth wedding anniversary at work, presiding over another raucous, sweaty, jubilant night of Midsummer Night Swing. Fortunately that’s the kind of event his wife, Lisa Philp, is happy to attend. Dear is the husband who provides musical wonderment on a regular basis.

Next up, as part of Lincoln Center Out of Doors, the couple will be checking out the marching band Asphalt Orchestra (playing on Lincoln Center’s plazas Aug. 4 through 8)... As for these dog days of summer: The National Museum of American Illustration in Newport, R.I., gave the beloved Gramercy Park refuge the National Arts Club an “American Civilization” award on July 29… Coming up, the artists at MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, N.H., invite the public to visit with them in their studios, on MacDowell Medal Day, Sunday Aug. 15. The day starts with the presentation of the medal to jazz saxophonist and composer Sonny Rollins, followed by lunch (you can pre-order a picnic basket) and the open house… And FIT Couture Council has a summer party on Tuesday, Aug. 17 hosted by, among others, Alexandra Lebenthal, who has just come out with her first book, Recessionistas, a novel in which there’s a character very much like her, who loves investing in fashion companies.

For more party coverage, visit www.cityarts.info. To contact the author or purchase photos, email Amanda.Gordon@rocketmail.com; bit.ly/agphotos.

August 3, 2010 | City Arts

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Š Charles Manley photography

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