Who could pass up a chance to be in Manhattan in the Spring? When we received an invitation to a birthday party for a 90 year old friend, we didn’t waste a minute making plans and hotel reservations. Ever have a magical week? Mild temperatures, sunny every day and the opening of the new Whitney Museum-what could be better?
The official opening of the Whitney was May 1 but the following day was the neighborhood block party with free admission to the museum. We had secured our free advance timed tickets online before we left home. Were we ever grateful for those tickets when we got to the museum that day! The line for people without tickets stretched for blocks and blocks.
Museum staff kept everyone in order and stuck to the timing of the tickets. When we finally got through the doors at 11AM, we took the express elevator to the eighth floor so we could walk down. The elevator interiors were designed by Richard Artschwager.
Even though the museum was full of people that day, the spacious galleries and the 30 ft. ceilings created plenty of space for viewing the art. The outdoor stairs were like an elegant fire escape with viewing platforms on each level and seating on several levels.
Everyone hung over the railings capturing views of the Hudson River and The Highline.
As we’d once been New Yorkers and had been at the old Whitney many times, this time was like visiting old friends. Some favorites were Charles Burchfield’s Noontide In Late May, 1917 and George Tooker’s Subway 1950, a much smaller painting than I remembered.
One of John Chamberlain’s crushed car sculptures, Velvet White 1962 captured my attention with its wonderfully contorted metal. And I stood for a long time wondering at Jay DeFeo’s The Rose, 1958-66. Weighing one ton, this work was built up out of layers of paint and carved.
Loved the building, the art and the restaurant, appropriately named Untitled. After lunch we took the Highline for a little way and then got off to see galleries in Chelsea.
Looking back at Whitney from The Highline
We’d read about an intriguing installation in Washington Square Park and visited that another day. Only half installed with completion due by June 1, it was wondrous nevertheless. Entitled Fata Morgana, the work is a creation of Teresita Fernandez. Consisting of many mirror-polished irregularly shaped discs suspended in the leafy canopy in a metal framework, the work alters one’s perceptions and does create a mirage-like environment.
