Well, doesn't that look like FUN!
Wendy & I left the house at 7:10 to usher at Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church 7:45 service; left there at 9 AM and pulled into the NYC parking garage at 1 PM:
We have discovered that it is MUCH BETTER to not do the "I-95 thing" into New York City. We go down to Hartford, then south on 91 to Exit 17, and take Route 15, known as the Wilbur Cross Parkway, which runs into The Merritt Parkway, which runs into the Hutchinson River Parkway (I have told my kids "Any time you can take a road with the word Parkway in it, do it."). Then into the Cross County Parkway, then south on the Saw Mill River Parkway, which runs into the Henry Hudson Parkway which takes you down the west side of Manhattan. It is a REALLY PRETTY ride and, according to Google Maps, only takes an extra 5 minutes!
On our way down, Wendy discovered Cafe Luca at 71st and 1st Avenue ("Local haunt serving a huge selection of diner standards from morning to night in a functional space."):
Parked at the garage at 1351 1st Avenue, walked down and had a great club sandwich & fries. Last night I hit Sotheby's website just to see what is on display this weekend and discovered they have a major American Art auction Monday evening, with viewing hours this weekend!
So we walked a block over to Sotheby's!:
and up to their exhibition/viewing galleries on the 10th floor:
Wendy looking a a beautiful Worthing Whittredge painting:
Worthington Whittredge - The Pine Cone Gatherers, 1866
Andrew Wyeth - Main Gaff, 1983 watercolor
William Bradford - Golden Rays on the Labrador Coast, 1868
Thomas Moran - Yellowstone Lake, circa 1874 watercolor
Thomas Moran - Tulolmne River Near the Head of the Great Cañon, 1890
Albert Bierstadt - Sunset in California, Yosemite
Albert Bierstadt - Yosemite, circa 1875
William Trost Richards - Off Conanicut, Newport, 1904
Sanford Robinson Gifford - Indian Summer, circa early 1860s
Additionally at Sotheby's we saw works by
Frederic Edwin Church
Jasper Cropsey
Childe Hassam
Winslow Homer
Ogden Pleissner
Francis Augustus Silva
N.C. Wyeth
Felix Ziem
plus additional works by Bierstadt, Bradford, Gifford, Moran, Richards, and Andrew Wyeth
We then walked 1 1/2 blocks up, and 1 1/2 blocks over to the Bohemian National Hall, which was hosting The American Art Fair (17 dealers/galleries in 3 floors of a single building!).
All the dealers were very gracious; some highlights include:
William Trost Richards - On the New Jersey Shore, 1897 [Avery Galleries]
Alfred Thompson Bricher - Narragansett Beach, 1874 [Menconi + Schoelkopf]
Sanford Robinson Gifford - A Ledge in the Catskills, c. 1865 [Menconi + Schoelkopf]
Robert Seldon Duncanson - Short Mountain, Hawkins County, Tennessee, circa 1851-1853 [Debra Force Fine Art, Inc.]
Winslow Homer - Boys Fishing, circa 1873 [Debra Force Fine Art, Inc.]
But the highlight for my day is
Thomas Moran - Castle Rock-Green River, Wyoming, 1907 [J. N. Bartfield Galleries]
unfortunately, $4,500,000 is somewhat out of my budget.
This day, and this type of viewing, is a once-in-a-liftime experience. By the end of the week, these paintings might well be in someone's home, halfway around the globe, never to be seen in public again.
On our way down in the elevator we chatted with a man who had also been at Sotheby's, and then this "Art Fair", and he was now heading 2 miles over-and-down to Christie's (in Rockefeller Center). It being just before 4, I had had enough for the day, but when I got home, I researched Christie's - OH WOW!
Well, maybe next year...
Picked up the car at 4, Dinner at Five Guys in Manchester, CT at 7, listened to the 2nd half of the Patriots Game (Patriots 30, 49ers 17) - Home at 9. Excellent Adventure-Time with my Beautiful Bride! Thank You God for these Great Days!
Music today:
Yes - The Yes Album, 1971
various artists - 18 Modern Rock Classics From The 80's, 1996
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Zuma, 1975
The Police - Outlandos d'Amour, 1978
Marc Cohn - The Rainy Season, 1993
Bruce Hornsby and the Range - Scenes from the Southside, 1988
Bruce Hornsby and the Range - The Way It Is, 1986
Shameless Plug: if you enjoy this blog, you may like my other one about Hiking the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire/Vermont/Maine (On Sept. 1, I joined Deede and Tad hiking Mt. Katahdin [Hunt Trail] - his final day on the AT!)
hyperlink: dixonheadingnorth
http://dixonheadingnorth.blogspot.com/
