Yesterday I decided to go to the Morgan Library and Gallery which I have walked past numerous times since it is just a few blocks from my apartment.
What a little treasure! Apparently Pierpont Morgan (industrialist) was very passionate about collecting old manuscripts. The library houses all kinds of old manuscripts. And, he built a beautiful library to house this collection.
Additionally, they have galleries of
newer works, a restaurant, and a venue for musical performances.
Today, in addition to the many manuscripts, there was an exhibit of drawings by Ruebens and his contemporaries, an exhibit of items from Tennessee Williams, and an exhibit of photographs by Peter Hujar.
In the afternoon I decided to take a test run to Brooklyn to find the site of the welding class that I am signed up for on Saturday. It was a nice day and I wanted to make sure I knew where I was going. So, I hopped on the subway (6 train to Union Square, L train to Brooklyn!!) and off I went. The shop is about a ten minute walk from the subway stop and is in a kind of gritty, earthy industrial area. The nice surprise was the amazing graffiti murals adorning some of the walls along the way!
It was quite a contrast – I spent the morning looking at drawings from some of ‘the masters’ and the afternoon looking at graffiti art on the walls of industrial buildings.
This morning, since I knew it was forecasted to be an unseasonably warm day, I wanted to do something up around Central Park. I decided to go to the Guggenheim on the Upper East Side at 89th street right across the street from Central Park.
It’s a beautiful iconic Frank Lloyd Wright building and it had some interesting exhibits. They had a sculpture exhibit by Brancusi which I liked and a collection of classic paintings that I also really liked. There were a couple of other exhibits that weren’t so much to my liking but I guess that is what art is all about. But, it’s a beautiful building and well worth the time to explore.
After finishing at the Guggenheim, I decided to take a walk through Central Park. It was in the 70’s (highly unusual for late February!) and I was wearing only a polo shirt. There were tons of people in Central Park – walking, jogging, on bicycles, skateboards, etc. Everyone was relishing the warm weather.
It’s hard to describe how large Central Park is but it is quite massive. Like I said before, the Guggenheim is on 89th and the park going south stretches down to 58th. Going north it stretches up to 110th Street. In any case, it was a nice day for a walk and for people watching.
Sounds like some great discoveries Mike! I’ve never heard of the Morgan Library but it looks and sounds very interesting. Also glad that you liked the Brancusi Exhibition at the Guggenheim; I had a similar reaction to most of the rest of exhibitions there!