Theresa Bernstein: A Century in Art

“Theresa Bernstein: A Century in Art” is an exhibit currently on view in the James Gallery at the CUNY Graduate Center at 35^th Street and Fifth Avenue. (If you stand on the southeast corner of that intersection you can look into the windows of the gallery and see numerous Bernstein paintings.) Bernstein lived from 1890 to 2002 (do the math!) and had work exhibited in every decade of the 20^th century. She was a contemporary of Edward Hopper and the painters of the Ashcan School. She made a great many paintings of New York life, several of which are in the exhibit and which I’ve posted pictures of below. She had a vibrant style, awhirl with life and color, whether documenting the antics of the rich, the talented or the working poor and she drew on a host of different influences, including the French impressionists and some of the avant-garde painters of her era.

 

Lilies of the Field, 1915 

 

Art Battles at 5 Bryant Park

In an empty, undeveloped building lobby on 40th Street at Sixth Avenue, a massive mural has been painted by four artists. I was there on Friday evening, November 15, 2013 and took some pictures,

Marble Slabs on West 35th Street

Walking to work on Friday morning up 35th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues I came across a bunch of opened wooden crates outside Macy's. Nobody was around. Here's what it looked like from a distance:

Stepping closer:

And closer:

Homeless on Fifth Avenue: So Close, Yet So Far

A good night's sleep just a window pane away...

 

Chinese Antique Store

There's an antique store on Mulberry Street in Manhattan's Chinatown that's filled with beautiful statues, sculptures, vases and scroll paintings, some of which might pass for museum quality if glimpsed quickly as you walk down the store aisles.

Souvenir Store on W. 33 St.

Not too long ago, I used to pass a souvenir shop aimed at tourists on the corner of 33rd Street and Seventh Avenue. I took pictures of the windows because it had the most unusual juxtapositions of objects. There would be statues with ancient Egyptian motifs next to typical "I Love New York" merchandise.

Midway in the Bronx

On a scruffy patch of land in Bronx Park, between Bronx Park East and the Bronx River Parkway (just east of the Bronx Zoo), a traveling amusement park known as Tommy's Midway gets set up every year to provide rides to kids in the Pelham Parkway section of the Bronx. On August 19, 2013, I happened to come across this collection of rides as it sat awaiting opening hours. It was late afternoon and I don't know why it wasn't open yet, but I took the opportunity to walk around the empty rides and take pictures.

Central Park in the Snow

The first time I ever took an extended walk in Central Park at night by myself, it was on a night when it was snowing in either the late 1980s or early 1990s. The snow was falling softly and gently and laying down a perfect covering, illuminated by the street lamps in the park. As I walked, I passed a beautiful blond policewoman and I looked at her and managed to get out, "Good evening," and got a lovely smile in return. I stopped at the ice skating rink and watched as the snowfall was lit up by the lights on the rink, creating an ever-changing filtered pattern over the skaters, who seemed to be having a good time. I walked further up and went through the Mall, that long passageway leading up to the Naumberg Band Shell, with trees on either side and the Literary Walk, featuring statues of assorted authors, at its southern end. I was the only one on it and it was just one long breathtaking passage of white snow and snow-covered trees overhead and illumination from the lamps. I then went down the steps to the Bethesda Fountain and stood there for a while in the snow. It was one of the best times I ever had in the park. I had one other evening like this a few years later, but every time after that, whenever it's been snowing like this I haven't been anywhere near the park.

I didn't have a camera with me at either time when I was in the park at night when it was snowing, but I have tried to take pictures of the park in the snow when I could in the years since.

Building Facade on W. 12 St.: Like a Hollywood Set

They've torn down the building that used to be St. Vincent's Hospital on 12th Street and 7th Avenue and they're building condos in its place, but they kept part of the facade of the old building. When I first spotted the site, it looked like this:

Serious Shades of Green

It was on Sunday, June 9th and I believe it was after a big rain, but the New York Botanical Garden (in the Bronx) was as green as I've ever seen it. Most of the tree blossoms (cherry blossoms, magnolias) had come and gone and the Azaleas were nowhere to be seen (they may not have blossomed yet), so there wasn't much in the way of actual flowers, but the tree leaves, bushes and grass were vibrant in their greenness.

This is the path I usually take after entering the Garden and heading north.

Sunflowers on the Subway

Not something I see everyday.

Photo taken on Wednesday morning, June 26, 2013 on the downtown #2 train in Manhattan.

Subway Stories: The First Time I took the “L” Train

This was on April 26, 2003. I’d been invited to a birthday party for a young co-worker who would turn 24 on April 26. She was doing the party with a French intern from Brooklyn College who had been born at around the exact same time some 4000 miles away. April 26 just happened to be on a Saturday, so the party was held then at a loft in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, rented by Brooklyn College students. (I don’t recall if Delphine, the intern, actually lived in the loft or asked some friends if they could use it.) In any event, the directions to the place indicated that I would have to take the L train to get there. The L train runs west to east along 14^th Street in Manhattan and then continues straight into Brooklyn, traveling through Williamsburg, Bushwick and East New York before veering south and ending up in Canarsie. As far as I can recall, I had never taken the L train before. Whenever I’d needed to go crosstown on 14^th Street in Manhattan, I’d simply walked and whenever I’d traveled to those sections of Brooklyn, I’d taken other trains.

Empty Storefronts in Manhattan

A few weeks ago, I passed my favorite salad bar/deli in the neighborhood where I work and was stunned to find it closed. I'd been going to Green Pea at 38th Street and Fifth Avenue, even when I was working ten blocks north 15 years ago and more, since Green Pea is situated about halfway between my last workplace and my current one. I never took a picture of it when it was open. This is how it looks now:

Not only did they make good hot lunches, but the place was open late so I could stop there after work to pick up snacks whenever I was headed to the movies or off on long walks in Central Park. Where am I gonna go now?

High Line Park

Two years ago on Father's Day (June 19, 2011), my daughter took me on my first walk through High Line Park, which was created on an old elevated railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan  and extends roughly from 14th Street to 30th Street. The park is very narrow and snakes through what used to be a thriving industrial area, but is now predominantly residential.

The Toy Train Store on 45 St.

There’s a hobby store inside 23 W. 45^th Street in Manhattan that offers a display case in the building lobby featuring samples of the store's wares, such as these toy buses and subway cars. I've never actually been in the store, which is somewhere inside the building on an upper floor. I have no desire to buy anything in it, although it might be fun just to browse.

Subway Stories: When Women Put Their Face on...

I haven’t seen it in many years, but when I rode the #6 train from the Bronx (J-Lo’s line) into Manhattan some 20-odd years ago, I would occasionally see women putting their makeup on while riding the train. It struck me as about as odd as if a man suddenly decided to shave on the subway. Although, come to think of it, I seem to recall seeing men using electric shavers on their faces once or twice on the subway.

Bronx Zoo: Tiger meets Duck

I was in the Bronx Zoo on Sunday, May 4 and I entered the Siberian Tiger exhibit, where the tigers roam around a large grassy area while zoo visitors peer at them from behind two separate glass enclosures.

One of the panes of glass borders a pond where I imagine the tigers drink. Somehow a duck mother and her ducklings got into the pond, which didn't seem like such a safe place.

Welcome to Madara's New York

I have blogs devoted to film and J-pop, but I also want one I can devote to the experience of living in New York City, either to tell some of the unique stories I've gathered from the past few decades or to post pictures I've taken of the city as it undergoes changes. I'm not going to launch into a long story in my first post, since this is basically a test entry to see how comfortable I am using Google's blog format. (My other blogs are on LiveJournal and Wordpress.)

So, first off I'd like to share pictures of something I encountered on Pelham Parkway in the Bronx recently. One Saturday at the end of March of this year, I spotted a squirrel that was colored differently from any other squirrel I'd ever seen in New York. To my eyes, it was brown.