This spring has really turned out to be a banner season for New York City museums. After Covid, I think the museums are going all out to attract visitors, and there are some wonderful things to see in New York now. Taken together as a whole, New York offers an astonishing display of the best of the best - there really is no place like New York! In the order in which I saw them, here my favorites that I recommend. And you can see how they are related --
The Newly Renovated and Expanded Frick Collection
The West Gallery
The Fragonard Room
The Frick Collection has always been a favorite spot of mine, and now, after a lengthy and expensive renovation and expansion overseen by Selldorf Associates, it reopened this spring. I was lucky to get a tour of it before it opened to the public as I was researching a story I wrote for Frederic magazine (read my story here). On the afternoon that I was visiting, actress Christine Baranski, who is currently in the series "The Gilded Age," came through looking smart in a pantsuit. I wanted to catch her eye and say, "What do you think? This is the real Gilded Age!" but she didn't look like she was open to chitchat.
The building was originally built as the home for the Frick family and then converted into a museum after family members died, per Henry Clay Frick's will. Now it was been renovated and expanded. The grand staircase, which used to be closed off with a velvet rope, is now open so one can happily ascend to the second floor where the former family bedrooms are now gallery exhibition space. On the second floor there is also a a new gift shop and cafe. The whole thing feels much more opened up and the Frick seems like more of a substantive museum, a bigger destination. It's greatest pleasure is the art collection hanging on the walls. To enjoy the masterpieces purchased by Frick in this stunning setting is really a treat.
"Sargent and Paris"
In the Luxembourg Gardens
Paul Helleu Sketching with His Wife
A couple of weeks after the Frick reopened, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened "Sargent and Paris," featuring the work of artist John Singer Sargent, also of the Gilded Age. Organized by curator Stephanie Herdrich, it examines the decade when the young 18-year-old painter arrived in Paris and began his career. His rise was quite meteoric as it ends with the renowned portrait of "Madame X", which, with her low cut dress, fallen shoulder strap, and arrogant attitude, was felt to be an unsuitable portrayal of a married woman. The painting scandalized Paris and prompted Sargent to move to England.
In England, Sargent painted some of my favorite works including the big, blowsy, gorgeous "Wyndham Sisters" and the simple, poetic garden scene "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose," but here in this show based in Paris you see the beginning of his great taste and eye for elegance and style and color. Sargent had such a beautiful vision of the world and it's a great comfort to be in its presence.
"Amy Sherald: American Sublime"
On a whole entire floor, The Whitney museum downtown in the Meatpacking District has mounted an exhibition of paintings by Amy Sherald, who famously did the portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama. Sherald, who was born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1973, did not see many people pictured who look like her in the annals of art history and so she set about painting portraits of every day Black Americans.
After looking at a number of the portraits, I noticed that the artist renders the skin in gray, rather than natural skin tones. She did this, she has said, to draw attention to the individual rather than the shade of their skin color or race. Like John Singer Sargent, Sherald has a wonderful eye for clothes and details, and I loved the colors and prints and patterns in this show. I found it very uplifting in the current dark and disturbing political climate.
"Superfine: Tailoring Black Style"
Also centered on a Black theme, back uptown at the Met, the Costume Institute has just opened a new show celebrating the Black dandy, and how Black men have used clothing as self expression and protection since the 18th century. I have not seen this one yet but plan to soon! It of course opened with the Met Gala on the first Monday in May, organized by Anna Wintour and Vogue. Attended by musicians, movie starts, athletes and artists, the night raised $31 million. The Costume Institute has not mounted a menswear show in 22 years. The reviews have been great and I'm looking forward to it. There is always something wonderful new to see in New York City.
