David Monn's Joyful "Art of Celebrating" Book and Party

David Monn decorated the extraordinary Rose Reading Room with red-fringed lampshades for a New York Public Library Lions gala (images from the book courtesy of David Monn). 

A beautiful party can offer an enchanting escape from daily life, and to be able to organize a wonderful party is a gift. Events planner David Monn is well known in New York for the parties he has designed including benefits for the New York Public Library and Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala and a White House state dinner. Now he has produced his first book, The Art of Celebrating, a hefty, over-sized 400 page tome published by Vendome Press that features 26 of his events, and he recently hosted a wonderous book party at the New York Public Library to celebrate its publication (more about that affair below).

David grew up in the town of Fayetteville, Pennsylvania, and he writes in his book about arriving in New York unable to afford college so he educated himself by observing the beauty of the city. After working in interior design and the jewelry business, he started his events planning business in 2004 and quickly got some big commissions. Now his company with 25 employees plans weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, parties and galas.
For another Literary Lions gala, David Monn transformed the McGraw Rotunda into a forest with hanging lanterns –

At the Metropolitan Museum, a Costume Institute evening in honor of Chanel found David creating a French formal garden with defining boxwood and hedges in the Charles Englehard Court of the American wing. Fragrant gardenias made up the centerpieces, and the facade of the First American Bank, built in 1822, was dramatically lit at the rear  –

In Baltimore at a wedding rehearsal dinner held in the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, David asked artists to recreate Monet's dreamy water lily paints for a romantic backdrop. Pretty ranuculus flowers on the tables repeated the paintings' pastels –

Farther abroad, David designed a birthday party in the Palazzo Pisani Moretta in Venice. Cocktails were served in the Grand Salon whose walls are covered in their original fabric –

To mark the book's publication, David hosted a party this week at the New York Public Library. As TD and I approached the Library's majestic entrance on Fifth Avenue, we saw that elegant, tall, white candles in glass globes lined the steps of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building to announce the party –

Inside, the Gottesman Exhibition Hall was decorated with faux apple trees which were strung with white lights that looked like flowers –

The scent of jasmine filled the air. Impressionistic Monet water lily-like murals were hung here too, lining the walls over chic seating areas brought in for the party –

There were four bars, which was convenient and nice not to have a long wait at a bar. And there were delicious food stands everywhere one looked offering oysters and shrimp, eggplant parmigiana, wonderful pigs in a blanket, sliced jambon serrano ham –

The event moved out into the vaulted Astor Hall. David gave his remarks and thanks, and then on the opposite stairway singer Lisa Fischer performed a soaring rendition of "I Dream in Color" –

The Abyssinian Baptist Church Cathedral Choir from Harlem sang some gloriously uplifting gospel music which was especially moving to me after the upsetting and sad political news of the week –

Yours truly with Mr. Monn –

When finally we peeled ourselves away to leave and return to the world outside, a band from Elan Artists was performing Prince's powerful "Purple Rain." The event was a magical moment of beauty, which the world can really use right now. That's what I call a book party.

The Glimmerglass Festival Spring Gala in New York City

With Francesca Zambello, Artistic and General Director of the Glimmerglass Festival.
I grew up in upstate New York and am a big fan of the Glimmerglass Festival (previously known as the Glimmerglass Opera) in Cooperstown, New York.  Readers may remember that TD and I have had a couple of visits there. I still love the Glimmerglass pie story.

Glimmerglass recently hosted their spring festival gala here in NYC and kindly invited us. The gala was held at the Metropolitan Club on Fifth Avenue and 60th Street, a private social club which was founded by J.P. Morgan in 1893 and is housed in one of New York City's most beautiful buildings which was designed by Stanford White during the Gilded Age.
A view of the cocktail reception at the gala –

At the cocktail reception we chatted with Francesca Zambello, Artistic and General Director of the Glimmerglass Festival, a real dynamo who has also directed at the Metropolitan Opera and is the Artistic Advisor at the Washington National Opera. Francesca noted how important the evening was since it supports the Festival's acclaimed Young Artists and Summer Internship Programs, which trains and supports young musical artists, production professionals and arts administrators.  Then she said, "Do you know Peter Duchin?" and gestured toward the legendary band leader who was standing next to her.

After the cocktail reception, guests streamed into the ballroom to hear a few performances by young artists. With its carved and painted ceiling, the room reminded me of the Rose Reading Room at the New York Public Library.
A view inside the ballroom before the performances began –

Francesca took to the stage to welcome guests and introduce the Master of Ceremonies, the renowned American operatic bass-baritone Eric Owens. Francesca noted that the upcoming summer season at Glimmerglass will celebrate 100 years of music, with productions by Puccini, Strauss, and Rogers and Hammerstein. Stressing the importance of the young artists' program, she said, "It is incumbent upon us to support the arts so that we have a civilized society." Here, here.
Then we got to enjoy some lovely music including performances by Glimmerglass Young Artist Jacqueline Echols –

(these photos are by Karli Cadel)
Glimmerglass Young Artist Beth Lytwynec –

Soprano Yunah Lee, who sings the role of Cio-Cio-San at Glimmerglass this summer –

and Glimmerglass Young Artist Patrick O’Halloran –

What a treat it was to hear these wonderful performers and more in that grand room. Check out the upcoming season at Glimmerglass and get your summer tickets!

Gilded New York In Print and In Person

Gilded New York book on the left, and a corner of the Gilded New York gallery, on the right. 
New York City first rose to the stature of a world capital, on a par with London and Paris, during the Gilded Years - 1885 to 1905 - when new industries like steel manufacturing and railroads produced vast fortunes after the Civil War. New wealth led families like the Vanderbilts, Goulds and Astors to live with glamorous style which emulated European aristocratic luxury. These personal fortunes also bankrolled many buildings which still shape New York City today including the Frick Museum, the Morgan Library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Main Branch of the New York Public Library. This fascinating era in New York City is explored in a new book from The Monacelli Press and in an exhibition now up at the Museum of the City of New York.

Recently I went up to the Museum of the City of New York at Fifth Avenue and 104th Street to see Donald Albrecht, the Curator of Architecture and Design at the museum, and a co-curator of the Gilded New York show along with Jeannine Falino, an independent curator, and Phyllis Magidson, the museum's Curator of Costumes and Textiles. I had met Donald before, when I worked on my Cecil Beaton story for Elle Decor magazine, and attended the seminar on Gay New York and the Arts in the 20th Century.

Donald met me at the new Tiffany & Co. Foundation Gallery where the Gilded New York exhibit is on display. He reported that the Tiffany & Co. Foundation supports this permanent gallery with a grant devoted to fashion, jewelry, and the decorative arts of any period. This Gilded New York show is up until Nov. 30, 2014.

The small elegant gallery is a jewel box of a room designed by William T. Georgis Architects. Windows offer pleasant views across Fifth Avenue to Central Park.

On display are paintings, fashions, accessories, and jewelry from the turn of the last century. 

This large canvas on one wall portrays Cornelia Ward Hall and her children, painted by Michele Gordigiani in 1880. It captures a wealth of satin, lace, pearls, velvet and glossy Asian decor –

At the opposite end of the gallery are two evening dresses by the first brand-name fashion designer ever, Charles Frederick Worth, who was born in England and worked in Paris. The one on the left, called Electric Light, was worn by Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt II to the Vanderbilt Ball in 1883. Its metallic electric bolts in the fabric and shooting out from the shoulder celebrated the power of electricity which Thomas Edison had just invented in 1880 –

The accompanying book investigates the era further, with interesting essays and photographs about jewelry, architecture, fashion, and the famous balls. 

The chateauesque Astor home at Fifth Avenue and 65th Street had a double-height ballroom with paintings hung salon-style from floor to ceiling  –

The George Vanderbilt house was at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, where Bergdorf Goodman now stands today –

Interestingly, as has been observed by fashion historian Caroline Reynolds Milbank, when the United States was born, its founders like George and Martha Washington did not want to dress in an ostentatious way which copied the European aristocracy, but rather desired a style which was simple and independent of Europe and reflected the values of their young democracy. And so the simplicity of American style was born. However in the nineteenth-century, with their new wealth based on new industries, Donald Albrecht said, the Vanderbilts and the Astors began to look to imitate European aristocracy with their castles, crown jewels and couture. "Americans in the Gilded Age were looking to the past and looking to the future at the same time," he noted.

Save Our Libraries and Bookstores

The back side of the library from Bryant Park on a summer night at dusk.  

The main branch of the New York Public Library, now called the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, is one of my favorite places in the city. I have written about it before on the blog - please go and read all about it here! I also recently attended a lecture at the library on Edith Wharton which you can read about here.
Opened in 1911, it is a beautiful and timeless Beaux Arts building

where anyone can go to read or research or write.

In the monumental Rose Reading room, I love the carved and painted ceiling overhead

and the heavy wood tables and chairs and the elegant bronze reading lamps.

The corridors are lined with marble

and other iconic New York buildings are visible through its lofty windows.

The library really is uplifting and inspirational, like a church.
Across the street is the Mid-Manhattan Library which was founded in 1970 and houses the largest circulating collections of The New York Public Library. I was there recently in the building doing some research, and it is in terrible shape. Inside, it was dirty and shabby with neglect. One floor which used to be filled with shelves of books was practically empty except for tables where it seems homeless people have found a place to sit. I wasn't getting very far with my research and I asked a librarian for help, who apologized saying, "We used to have more books." I asked her about the floor vacated of shelves. She said, "The management likes a 'light and airy look.'" Huh? Less books in the library for a light and airy look? That doesn't make any sense. It's a library. Which by definition requires books.

You see, there is a plan afoot. The Library has already sold off the popular Donnell Library on West 53rd Street in a controversial sale to a real estate developer. Now the Library has proposed a plan to vacate the Mid-Manhattan Library and sell the building to a real estate developer. It also wants to sell the Science, Industry and Business Library at 34th Street and Madison Avenue. These circulating libraries would move into the main Schwarzman building which would be gutted. Its historic seven story book stacks would be demolished and 1.5 million books would be moved to a site in New Jersey. Again, there is that confounding idea of a library with less books. This plan was created through a closed door process with no public input, has been condemned by architecture critics, and will cost New York City taxpayers $150 million.

During Mayor de Blasio's campaign, he promised to halt this plan, though time is now running out. You can learn more about the plan here, and write to Mayor de Blasio here to tell him to stop this plan.

At the same time comes the news that the renowned 109-year-old building that houses the famed Rizzoli bookstore on 57th Street will demolished. (This photo from The New York Times)

The limestone mansion will undoubtedly be replaced by another superluxury supertall residential building, as if New York City needs one more Bloomberg-era billionaire apartment tower stretching its long shadow over Central Park. Please go here to sign a petition to have the Rizzoli building designated a landmark which could save it from demolition.

The cultural life and intellectual life of a city are just as important as real estate development but things have gotten a little out of whack here on the island of Manhattan. It's disturbing for someone who loves books and beautiful things.

Edith Wharton at the Library: A Writing Life

I recently had the chance to sit in on a lecture at the beautiful New York Public Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street about the great American writer Edith Wharton. I have read a lot about Edith Wharton in the past so I was interested to attend the lecture which was giving by Robert Armitage, of the library's research division, and lasted one hour and forty five minutes.

Edith Wharton's career is an iconic American story because she, as artists do, completely invented herself. Edith Jones was born into the rigid upper class of Edwardian New York when women were expected and allowed to do nothing beyond marry and raise a family. Edith grew up in a mansion at 14 West 23rd Street, which is about exactly where our friend La Peckham lives now in a loft in a building that Robert Mapplethorpe once lived in. Edith was determined to be a writer but society and her mother discouraged her. "Her literary ambitions were ignored and scorned," noted Armitage. He told a story about how in one of Edith's early stories, a character wanted to tidy up a drawing room for a guest. Her mother read this and icily noted, "Drawing rooms are always tidy."

But Edith was undeterred in her drive to capture in words the Edwardian world of manners and style.
Edith Wharton in furs -

She became friends with many of the artists and writers of the day. Here she is with her friend Henry James on the left at her house in Lenox, Massachusetts, called The Mount, which is now a destination for visitors.

Edith married Edward "Teddy" Wharton, but is was an unhappy match.

Later Henry James introduced her to journalist William Morton Fullerton, with whom she had an intense love affair. Handsome.

For me as a reader it's always a pleasure to return to the refined world of Edith Wharton's novels and the elegance of Edwardian New York. I like Henry James too, but Wharton's writing to me is less flowery, less complicated, simpler, clearer, more American. But under the gilded surfaces of her rarified world are some very harsh stories and characters.  I recently read The Custom of the Country and I could barely finish it because the central character Undine Spragg, though noted for her great physical beauty, is completely unlikable. At the lecture Armitage described Undine as "vain, vulgar, self-absorbed and heartless." Her well-meaning husband is destroyed by her ambition and she gets her way in the end. Beneath the beauty and glamour is a tale that is tough to digest.

Edith of course persevered with her work and became one of the most highly regarded authors in American literature. Her novel Ethan Frome is required reading in many schools (we read it in New Hartford in seventh grade) and she won the Pulitzer Prize, the first woman to do so, in 1921. Armitage noted that Edith Wharton published 48 volumes in her career, which he said was two books a year. That's a lot of writing. With talent and determination she overcame her obstacles and pursued her art which is an inspiration in any age.

Square Dance in Bryant Park

"Hold hands with your partner and circle to the right." (click on photos to enlarge)
At the end of the day I was passing through Bryant Park which is located behind the beautiful, big, old public library on Fifth Avenue. This park was once dark and dangerous. Now it is a wonderful, small, gorgeously groomed park right in the middle of Manhattan where people can sit and enjoy the tall trees and flowers landscaped by renowned designer Lynden Miller. At this time of year, it was recently the site of the big tents of New York Fashion Week, but the fashion shows have moved uptown to Lincoln Center.

It was a pleasant, warm night as I walked through and I was thirsty. As I passed through the park I heard a country blue grass band playing and saw some special food and drink tables set up. The outdoor Southwest Porch lounge located at the southwest corner of the park was offering delicious draft beer for sale.
Well, I could not resist.

As I sipped my cold draft beer, a big square dance was starting in the park. Hundreds of people in all ages, shapes and sizes were gathering on the green lawn for a free square dance. The lively Foot and Fiddle Dance Co. band took to the impromptu stage and the dance director, or "caller," Pat Cannon came to the center of the lawn with a microphone. Anybody could join in. You didn't have to have a partner, Pat would find you a partner.
Soon everyone was promenading to the left. And promenading to the right. 

Do-si-do your partner

Now swing your partner -

Up on the stage, Pat Cannon was very good at directing hundreds of people in a friendly way.

All in to the center –

Everyone was smiling - those dancing and those sitting on the side watching the dance. It brought a happy country spirit into the middle of the city; there are two more square dances coming up in September. In square dancing, you move on from one partner to the next so strangers were having fun dancing with each other.

With the different kinds of couples dancing, as partners switched sometimes two women or two men, strangers, would end up paired together. "It's ok!" said Pat Cannon. 'It's 2013! It's ok!"

City lights came on the office buildings surrounding the park. 

And dusk fell over the fine library.

It was a moment. In New York who knows what you are going to come across next. And that is one of its great joys.