BY Janel Bladow
Where did summer go? Seems as if we were just planning to hit the highways to enjoy the shore or mountains. Now everyone’s back to school, back to work or just plain back! But what makes us happiest is the return of beautiful September breezes around the Seaport!
Photophatastic…
Opening this week is a major first – the first time photo artist Alfred Stieglitz’s captivating photographs of New York have been shown together in 80 years. Anyone who appreciates photography, history and old New York City must visit the Seaport Museum New York for this iconic exhibit, “Alfred Stieglitz New York.”
Museum President Mary Ellen Pelzer spotted some of his harbor photos and thought they would make an exciting show and contacted photography historian, author and Stieglitz expert Bonnie Yochelson to curate a show. For 18 months – a relatively short time in museum production – Yochelson worked furiously contacting museums around the country to borrow their Stieglitz film and prints and prepare a book on the exhibit.
“This was major challenge,” Yochelson told Seaport Report. “Securing loans from top art museums is a big task. That’s a feather in our cap to achieve that.”
“This kicks off a re-invigoration of the museum,” added Pelzer. “Downtown is the site of the first New York. It’s not only a city of ambition as noted by Stieglitz but also an island city and still the second largest port city.”
While his photographs of the city’s waterfront are rather limited in number, the two experts were able to cull together a terrific visual tale of the rise of our modern city, concrete jungle. Separated chronologically, the museum’s rooms depict several periods of Stieglitz’s photographic journey through Manhattan. The first highlights his early works from 1893 through 1916 and is a quiet, meditative space like his pioneering gallery at 291 Fifth Ave. The second imitates his sparse Midtown gallery, designed by his second wife, artist Georgia O’Keefe. The photos here include his iconic views of the growing city and skyscrapers rising outside his studio and apartment windows. The third exhibit room features works of other photographers and filmmakers of the time including Thomas Edison, capturing the people, places and feel of a bygone New York.
“His life is fantastic,” said Yochelson, who has lived in Tribeca since 1987. “It’s just great photo history and as a photo-historian, this is monumental to me. This is a major show and the topic has never been done in modern times, which is surprising because Stieglitz staked New York City as his turf. It was a fun project for me.”
The exhibit runs through January 10, 2011. Details: www.seany.org/stieglitz.
Water and wine…
S.R. took to the harbor recently to join oenophiles and friends of Pasanella & Son Vitners and the Seaport Museum on a sea cruise. Sunsets over the Statue of Liberty’s shoulders made the dusk “Sip ‘N Sail” ($65 per person) aboard the museum’s flagship schooner Pioneer all the more spectacular. Guests tasted three Italians: Ombra Perseco non-vintage, Clardo Pinot Bianco 2008, and Brigaldara Valpolicella 2008. While we nibbled on a selection of complementing cheeses, we chatted with the captain and crew while Pasnaella staff explained the complexities of the vine. The cruise is popular with neighbors, New Yorkers, tourists and connoisseurs alike, just about anyone who enjoys a fine glass of wine and a unique New York experience. The two-hour sail takes off from Pier 16 at 7 p.m. and there are only a few left for the season: Thursdays, Sept. 23 and 30 and Oct. 7. Reserve a spot, www.pasanellaandson.com. Meanwhile, be sure to stop by the shop and pick up a Rosso and Bianco ($10.99 each), bottled under their own label Pasanella & Figlio (son). Delish!
Beachy-keen…
The new “Imagination” Park opened this week on John Street (between South and Front Sts.). Although the water feature wasn’t ready to spurt, kids, moms and nannies didn’t appear to mind. Frolicking in the sand pit on the west end of the park and moving the huge bright- blue rubber blocks seemed to capture their imaginations just fine. SR especially likes the “ship’s bridge” rising above the park for a bird’s eye view of this little piece of wonderland. Open daily 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and you don’t need a kid to enjoy!
Rising beams of steel…
The two steel beams of the World Trade Center aren’t the only newly re-installed steel beams doing their phoenix impression downtown. Recently, the towering steel sculptures of artist Louise Nevelson, “Shadows and Flags”, returned to her namesake park in the same spot she placed them in 1977. But that’s all that remains the same of the tiny pocket park at Maiden Lane and Liberty St. After a $2-million overhaul to make it larger, more accessible and better lit, the plaza reopens next month.
