A Day in Chelsea: Flowers and Art

Great style at the farmer's market. (Click on photos to enlarge)
Gee, I've had some ideas for the blog but they didn't work out. (Did you see the Hemingway & Gellhorn movie on HBO? I was really looking forward to that but it wasn't so good.)
New York City came to the rescue: yesterday TD and I had a nice day in the neighborhood. It started at the Union Square Farmers Market which is now in full tilt. The woman pictured above was wearing a cotton coat and carrying bunches of flowers in her arm. Her coat was not new trendy fashion but instead a beautiful, timeless print which looked especially great combined with the flowers. That to me is real style.
Into our canvas shopping bag we crammed lilies, sunflowers and a baguette. What else do you need?

Bunches of peonies with a yellow eyelet dress

and waves of perennials.

Back at home a red sparrow visited the bird feeder

while Bell napped on the couch below.

Then it was off again to some art galleries in Chelsea. First stop, Gagosian Gallery for the murals and portraits of Richard Avedon. Between 1969 and 1971, Avedon created four huge murals which pictured Andy Warhol and the Factory, The Chicago Seven, military and government officials known as the Mission Council, and Beat poet Allen Ginsberg and his family.

The murals are gigantic, and it was almost like watching a movie as they progressed along the walls.
Then it was on to Matthew Marks to see paintings by Brice Marden.

Most of the paintings here were oil on slabs of marble which Marden completed last year on the Greek island of Hydra. The thin paint on the white marble was serene and quiet.
Then we stopped into 192 Books on 10th Avenue which seems to be just about the last independent bookstore on the isle of Manhattan.

After this exploration, we required some refreshments so happily we found two empty stools at the bar at The Red Cat restaurant where we had a restorative glass of wine and some French fries. On our way home we vowed that our next foray would be up to the High Line which is now extended up to 30th Street.

A Trip to the Kips Bay Designer Show House

The Aldyn Residences, at 63rd Street and the Hudson River - click on photos to enlarge (photo from company website)
TD and I were invited last week to the cocktail preview party of the 40th anniversary Kips Bay Decorator Show House, which is always a big event in the springtime when decorators pull out the stops to style their assigned room with their signature panache. The Show House is usually mounted in a classical manse on the Upper East Side, but this year it is presented on two floors of the new, modern luxury Aldyn Residences on the west side – as far west as you can get in fact as its location abuts the Hudson River. The Show House is open until June 14 and admission is $30 – you get your money's worth for sure as 32 talented designers are presenting their work this year; the pictures here are a small selection of the event.
The modern interiors featured huge windows which revealed spectacular views up and down the Hudson. Outdoor decks stretched in either direction along the river. At one end was perched...wait for it...the private lap swimming pool. It was a grey evening but the light on the Hudson was luminous.

Inside was a panoply of design, color, textures and ideas. Set in a living room with soaring windows, the reknowned Bunny Williams, along with Brian J. McCarthy and David Kleinberg Design Associates, created a tribute to the iconic American designer Albert Hadley, who passed away this March, complete with Hadley's signature red pops of color.
I found myself drawn to the serene rooms which were quiet and relaxing. Raji Radhakrishnan/Raji RM & Associates created a peaceful home office. I would love to work at this desk. And look at that view!

The wonderful Charlotte Moss, who last year around this time published a beautiful book, designed on the second floor a very romantic master bedroom. A long hall, which was covered with wallpaper that looked like pale silver birch, and hung with photographs that Charlotte had taken in France, led to the bedroom which had walls lined with green velvet. Charlotte herself was tucked in a corner wearing a long dress that shimmered with golden sequins which she told me was vintage Adele Simpson. Preserved boxwood covered one wall, the air was scented, and birdsong played overhead. It was dreamy escape.

Charlotte Moss in her room (photo from Kips Bay)
Back down we went to the first floor of the Show House where Susan Zises Green designed a very pretty living room. I met the decorator who said that she was inspired by the colors of the Hudson River outside the windows, and on that grey evening her room of tranquilly-toned furniture, art and antiques perfectly matched the view beyond.

We took one more trip out onto the deck and then headed downstairs to an interior courtyard where a party tent had been erected. Bars were set up there and hors d'oeuvres were passed to a chic crowd who required some refreshments after a long house tour. It was a very civilized outing here on the isle of Manhattan.

Cocktails at Bergdorfs with William Yeoward

With designer William Yeoward
I had the pleasure recently of going up to Bergdorf Goodman to have a cocktail with English designer William Yeoward who produces crystal, china, furniture, accessories, fabrics and table linens. I wrote about William in the past for Elle Decor magazine; you can read that piece here. But we had talked over the phone so I was looking forward to meeting him in person.
The occasion for the celebration at Bergdorf Goodman was the launch of William's American Bar Collection of crystal cocktail glasses.

The designer has also just published his book William Yeoward's American Bar - The World's Most Glamorous Cocktails

The gloriously glossy book offers more than 150 pages of cocktail recipes from his favorite bars including The Connaught Bar, Annabel's, and the American Bar at the Savoy.

In the book he writes, "Beautiful crystal is the ultimate enhancement for any drink but cocktails in particular afford the opportunity to use many different shapes and sizes." At Bergdorf Goodman, his collection offers a sparkling range of options, reasonably priced at $21 - $150.

At the party bartenders concocted Green Park drinks from the Savoy, a fresh blend of basil, celery bitters, lemon juice, sugar syrup, Old Tom gin and an egg white. With it was offered cheese sticks made by William's cook in London. It was a delightful treat at the end of a work day. "I love to mix cocktails, no less than four," William said with a wink.
TD and I don't often make cocktails at home but recently we have been mixing for fun Old Fashioneds, which are a blend of whiskey and lemon juice over ice with a slice of orange and a maraschino cherry. The smell of an Old Fashioned reminds me of childhood at 611; it is my Proustian madeleine. Last Christmas, after a midtown outing we landed at cocktail hour with my sister Cynthia and her partner Barb in the Monkey Bar, Graydon Carter's restaurant on East 54th Street. There, the Old Fashioned came with big, truly old-fashioned square ice cubes that you don't see anymore, and was gloriously laden with fruit. For a luxurious cocktail, don't miss the Monkey Bar.

A Trip to Miami South Beach

(click on photos to enlarge)
TD and I last week took a fun five-day trip down to Miami South Beach for some much needed r and r. We have been down several times before, and we always enjoy wide sandy beach and the surf of the Atlantic Ocean while being close to a lot of great restaurants and stores. It's an easy getaway. The flight is less than three hours and once we get there we don't need to rent a car because everything is within walking distance. We were on a 7am flight out of LaGuardia and swimming in the warm ocean by 11:30.
We checked into the charming Villa Paradiso which in one block from the beach, and were looked after by the helpful Anna.

At night we strolled around in shorts. A colorful Cadillac was parked in front of the Marlin Hotel; the car and the building go back in time.

South Beach was developed in the 1930's, and claims to have the largest collection of buildings featuring Streamline Moderne Art Deco architecture. I love the pastel colors and cubic lines of the apartment houses. It looks to me like Old Hollywood. I said to TD, "Can we move here?"

Voluptuous bougainvillea smothered a dusty pink apartment building at dusk.

At night we walked along Lincoln Road, a long pedestrian row lined with stores, restaurants, galleries and bars. In the 1960's Miami Beach architect Morris Lapidus designed Lincoln Road as it appears today, and I think it must be one of the great public spaces in the world. It is always crowded with visitors from all over the world, and offers great people-watching when you sit down to eat dinner. One night we had authentic Northern Italian pizza at Spris, and another night we ate at the lively Sushi Samba. On Collins Avenue we had a delicious Italian dinner at Spiga (sit on the porch) but the best dinner we had was at the newish Yardbird Southern Table and Bar (thanks Beth). Oh, I can still taste that fried chicken.

But mostly in Miami, we sit on the sandy beach and swim in the warm water. It feels like a relief to the body and spirit to be enveloped by tropical nature after a winter in the city. Even the clouds cooperate.

At the beach I am happy.

The Steins Collect at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

I went with my fourteen-year-old niece and godchild Jane up to the Metropolitan Museum on Sunday for a serious infusion of art. We saw the new American Wing (beautiful, don't miss it) and the new Galleries for Arab Lands (daunting and worth a visit) but the centerpiece of the trip was the current exhibition called The Steins Collect which is about the Stein siblings who were important collectors of modern art in Paris in the early part of the twentieth century.
The Steins – Leo, Michael and his wife Sarah, and Gertrude the writer who made an appearance in Woody Allen's movie Midnight in Paris – were Americans from Pittsburgh who lived in Paris and befriended unknown artists including Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. They bought paintings inexpensively and amassed a spectacular collection of modern art which is now on view at the Met. The exhibit states that artists, writers and musicians convened at the Steins' Saturday salons. "By opening their houses and making art accessible the Steins did more to support art than any other collector or institution during the first decades of the twentieth century."
The art is colorful and ravishing, including Matisse's Portrait of a Woman from 1908

and his joyful Landscape at Collioure from 1905.

Here are the Steins at home – with Matisse seated in the center, and his paintings hung high on the wall. What a fantastic time to live in Paris.

Afterward Jane and I headed downtown and sat in Union Square for a bit while she had an ice cream cone. I said, "What was your favorite thing today?" She said, "The self portrait by Matisse."

Jane has a good eye.
I said one of my favorite things were the photographs that showed the Steins' homes. Here is a picture by Man Ray of Alice B. Toklas standing and Gertrude Stein seated in their apartment at 27, Rue de Fleuris from 1922. I love the art covering the walls and the simple heavy wooden furniture and the light coming through the interior windows.

What a wonderful way to live.

20th Century Art and Design at Lincoln Center

Sheer banners decorate the front of the The Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. (click on photos to enlarge)
TD and I were invited this week to the opening of the inaugural New York 20th Century Art and Design Fair organized by 1stdibs up in the tent at Lincoln Center. I haven't been up to Lincoln Center in a while – don't ask me why, time flies! Lincoln Center looked great, all spiffed up and polished. It was nice to be there again on its wide quiet plaza.
Mounted in a spacious, comfortable tent adjacent to the The Metropolitan Opera , the show includes 36 dealers from 1stdibs offering 20th century furniture, art, design, clothing and jewelry. It's up this weekend and admission is $20 – check it out if you can.
I liked this chic combination of furnishings, framed art and very dark walls at Dragonette Ltd. from Los Angeles.

Vintage and estate jewelry dealer Neil Marrs offered some enticing baubles. Elizabeth Taylor-worthy.

Dealer Jayne Baum and Good Design teamed up to present a combination of furniture and art. TD knows Jayne from Bailey House where they have both been involved for many years with the annual auction. I liked this big photograph of a water glass by Amanda Means – very Mad Men.
An art work by John Noestheden featuring Swarovksi crystals was hung next to his acrylic painting.

You know how I like a little sparkle.

There were good things to eat and drink in the tent as dusk fell.

Outside, it was a nice spring night as TD exited the tent.

We walked through the plaza and passed the central fountain.

Here is a view of Lincoln Center as we left.

It was a civilized and congenial night in New York, as it should be.

Happy Easter

Flowers ablaze at the Union Square Farmer's Market (click on photos to enlarge)
It's Easter Weekend here in NYC and the weather is beautiful. I am a person who is definitely affected by the lack of light in the winter time, and I can feel myself "wake up" around this time in the spring when the sunlight returns and flowers are blooming in NYC.
A magnolia tree blossoms against a brick wall on Hudson Street -

Waves of tulips in Abingdon Square which used to be covered in asphalt -

A deli on Sixth Avenue offers a spring selection -

On West 20th Street, forsythia, lilacs and wisteria co-mingle -

At the Union Square Farmer's Market, Cyclamen $5 -

Flowering branches at the Durr's truck at the Farmer's Market -
Parrot tulips in a metal firehouse bucket at the Upper Rust, one of my favorite shops, on East 9th Street -

A pale hydrangrea and tulips from the Farmer's Market in the living room -

I hope you are enjoying flowers too and the spring season and having a lovely holiday weekend.