Celebrating Women's History Month: Our Art Salon on March 3rd, Zoom at 7 pm: A Feminist Monument in Central Park

Vinnie Bagwell, Victory Beyond Sims, model 2020

Come join us for tonight's 

Art Salon

Wednesday, March 3rd

7 pm

Hosted by Greenwich Arts Council

(write to nyarts.exchange@verizon.net for the Zoom link)

Sculptor Vinnie Bagwell unveiled her model for a new monument in Central Park at the Hudson River Museum in September 2020, as part of the exhibition Women at the Fore, September 18, 2020 through January 3, 2021.  Although the in-person experience has closed, the virtual experience remains available online on the Hudson River Museum's website. 

Our Art Salons, hosted by the Greenwich Arts Council on Zoom, have focused on the entire exhibition of one subject (Félix Fénéon at MoMA, closed on January 2, 2021) and one artist's singular series of paintings (Jacob Lawrence: American Struggle at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, August 29 through November 1, 2020).

Tonight's Art Salon takes its content from Women at the Fore, a group exhibition of 40 women artists from the 19th through 21st centuries.  However, the sheer vastness of the show, which happily introduced numerous lesser-known women artists in addition to the famous Mary Cassatt, Georgia O'Keeffe and Miriam Shapiro, felt overwhelming as I tried to figure out a way to pull a thread through this one topic: women artists.  The subject matter seems fairly female, but not compelling enough to generate a coherent discussion among us all.

Vinnie Bagwell interview on Youtube

To that end, I decided to focus on one topic introduced into the narrative of this feminist exhibition: 

Vinnie Bagwell's Victory Beyond Sims, which will replace the J. Marion Sims statue in Central Park. Sims was a 19th century gynecologist who experimented on enslaved Black women. Born in South Carolina, he remained loyal to the Confederacy, even while he lived in New York, where he died in 1880.  The statue by German sculptor Ferdinand Freiherr von Miller was installed in Bryant Park in 1894 and then moved to Central Park in 1934. It was taken down from its place in Central Park on April 17, 2018, following the protests motivated by the publication of exposés on Sims' abusive medical practices in  2017.

Our discussion will focus on Vinnie Bagwell's sculptures, the iconography of Victory Beyond Sims, and the feelings we have toward public monuments in the 2021 century.  

Videos on the sculptures by Kara Walker and Kehinde Wiley will be viewed and discussed as well.

Please join us at 7 pm this evening.  I look forward to sharing a lively conversation with you on this timely topic.

Best wishes,

Beth

Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com

 

A Valentine Quiz - Who Are Art History's Greatest Love Matches?

Frans Hals, Marriage Portrait of Isaac Abrahamsz Massa and Beatrice van der Laen, 1622.  Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

It's Valentine's Day 2021.  Let's celebrate with a sentimental challenge: can you identify these lovers in art?

If you can guess all 10: you merit the whole pound of chocolates;  9-7: you merit a half a pound of chocolates; 7- 5: you merit a quarter of a pound of chocolates; 4 and under: you merit a Hersey's Kiss and a hug for trying.  Thank you for taking the time to test your knowledge and click through for the correct answers.  Please feel free to share with your fellow art history fans.  

Happy Valentine's Day  - 

With love and hugs,

Beth and the New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com

1. Answer

2. Answer

3. Answer

4. Answer

5. Answer

6. Answer

7. Answer

 

8. Answer

9. Answer

10. Answer

February Zooms: Art Salons Hosted by Greenwich Arts Council and "Queen Esther in Art" Hosted by Learning in Retirement Stamford

 

Paul Signac, Portrait of Félix Fénéon, 1890

aka Opus 217. Against the Enamel of a Background Rhythmic with Beats and Angles, Tones, and Tints

Museum of Modern Art, NYC

In about a month from now, we'll mark the first anniversary of the Covid-19 lockdown and, perhaps, look back on all we accomplished during this challenging "pause."  Did you see all the 2,500 museums available online?  Did you take all the virtual art tours?  I sure haven't.  

Oh - I have visited a few virtual exhibitions, as well as several in person since art museums and galleries opened this past summer.  The in-person experience can't be beat. However, there are several virtual exhibitions that merit praise.

What do YOU think of virtual exhibitions on museum websites?  I would genuinely like to know.

So with that curiosity in mind, and a sincere desire to talk to you about art, as we did when we toured the museum and galleries shows, I have dreamed up a series of 4 meetings, which I call "art salons" that offer an opportunity to talk about art and not sit passively listening to the presenter.

Our series of 4 salons is called: Critiquing the Virtual Museum Experience

It is hosted by Greenwich Arts Council.  You can learn more about the series and register here.

• 
  
• Time: Wednesdays, February 17 and February 24; March 3 and March 10
• 7:00 PM  8:30 PM
• Cost: $15 each
• Topics:  

1. Félix Fénéon at MoMA
2. Jacob Lawrence at the Met
3. Women artists at the Hudson River Museum
4. Crowd-sourced photos of life during the Covid-19 Pandemic at the Phillips Collection.

• 
  
• Each session features conversations about the curator's theme, content, and website presentation. We will meet in small "rooms" to facilitate lively and spontaneous exchanges. Preparation for these salons is recommended in order to fully engage in the three conversational segments listed above (theme, content, and success/failure as a virtual art experience).  However, it's not necessary.

I hope you will join us for these 1 1/2 hour opportunities to really weigh in on the art scene today.

For more details, please visit the Greenwich Arts Council website.

Antoine Coypel, Esther Swoons Before King Ahasuerus, c. 1704

Musée du Louvre

Art History Lecture on Zoom, Hosted by Learning in Retirement:

"Images of Queen Esther in Art"

Wednesday, February 24 at 10 am.

Browse and register here and here

Fee: $5.00

I'll lecture on the image of Queen Esther in art, just in time to celebrate Purim on February 25-26.

Please join me for this sprint through hundreds of years of artworks about The Book of Esther in the Bible, each created for a different audience: Catholic, Protestant and Jewish.  

I hope you will sign up for one or more of these art history events.

And I hope I see you again soon!

Warm wishes for Valentine's Day,

Beth

Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.

Director and owner

New York Arts Exchange

www.nyarts-exchange.com

Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.

 The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., delivers his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in the auditorium of Oslo University in Norway on Dec. 10, 1964.  (AP Photo)ASSOCIATED PRESS

Today we honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. with remembering his advice and striving to bring all humankind together in peace and harmony:

“We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.”

Abbé Godwin, Martin Luther King, Jr., 1997, Raleigh, NC

Erick Blome, Martin Luther King, Jr, 2007, Rocky Mount, NC

Lei Yixin, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, 2010/dedicated 2011, Washington, DC

New Year's Greeting 2021 - It's Finally Here!

May this new year bring you and your family peace, joy and good health all the way through - 

Love and hugs,

Beth

and the New York Arts Exchange

 

Happy Holidays from New York

 

Wishing you peace and joy for the holidays and into the New Year!

Love,

Beth and the New York Arts Exchange

Thanksgiving Greetings - Make it a DiY Art Celebration

 

Dear friends,

Every year I look for a new image to say "Happy Thanksgiving."  Usually, it's a work of art.

This year, I looked around the internet and found such easy, fun craft ideas that I thought: why not make this Thanksgiving an artsy DIY festival celebration?

Here are a few ideas on YouTube and on one website that seem inexpensive and uncomplicated.  Perhaps you have some of this stuff hanging around the house.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMe33QvnUjs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZX4A5_n8r4

https://feltmagnet.com/crafts/thanksgiving-art-and-crafts

Wishing you And Your Family 

A Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving!

with love from the

New York Arts Exchange