Museums at Night

Here's a NYT article on New York's after-hours museum events. D.C. really needs to get some more going — Hirshhorn After Hours is the main one, but it occurs infrequently (next one is April 4), I went to one random event at the African Art Museum in September, and it seems like everything else happens in the evening is either a gallery opening, or an event that showcases one part of the museum and doesn't offer free reign of the collection.

New York Winter Restaurant Week Participating Restaurants

The list of participating restaurants for NYC Restaurant Week is up. Lunches are $24.07 and dinners are $30 for three courses and the dates are January 21-25 and January 28-February 1.

New York City Winter Restaurant Week: January 21-25 & January 28-February 1

Here you go, Internets. I did a little investigative reporting since my blog has been getting rocked with hits after people have tried Google-searching the dates for New York Winter Restaurant Week 2008.

The dates are January 21-15 and then again January 28-February 1.

The list of participating restaurants is not yet available, but it will be posted soon on www.nycvisit.com.

New York Art Weekend?

I'm really hoping to be able to schedule a trip to New York sometime before the new year, but it's not looking likely. Besides seeing my favorite paralegals, there are a few art exhibits to see, and it would be really nice to do a mid-December art weekend, with the city all decorated for Christmas. I'll keep my New York readers updated.

On the wish list:

- Martin Puryear retrospective at the MoMA
- Georges Seurat drawing exhibit, also at MoMA
- Kara Walker's My Complement, My Enemy, My Opressor, My Love at the Whitney
- The Age of Rembrandt at the Met
- The new New Museum
- Provoking Magic: Lighting of Ingo Maurer at Cooper-Hewitt

NY Fall Auctions

In the (characteristically bland) article Telltale Art in the NYT today, Carol Vogel discusses some of the big-ticket items up for sale at Christie's and Sotheby's fall auctions, including this work by Jeff Koons. But most interesting is that a gray and black Rothko painting is up for sale at each house, with a price difference of $2-$3 million between the two. Rothko is, for those unaware, one of my favorite painters, so if anyone has a few million to spare, my half-birthday is coming up next week.

Photo: Sotheby's

The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is holding a large-scale show of their entire 17th century Dutch painting collection. I don't think I have to say why this is so exciting. I adore both Rembrandt and Pieter Claesz, a Haarlem still-life painter, who I first discovered at my favorite museum ever, the Kunshistorisches in Vienna.

The exhibit is organized by names and dates of the collectors who gave the paintings to the Met. Holland Cotter, the Times critic, notes the disadvantages of this – namely the difficulty of discerning any sort of comparison or charting historical progress between artists or styles.

Still, because the Met is pulling out every 17th century piece they have, I will need to make a trip to New York before the exhibit closes on January 6.


Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)
Self-portrait, 1660
Oil on canvas; 31 5/8 x 26 1/2 in. (80.3 x 67.3 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913 (14.40.618)

The Demise of TimesSelect

TimesSelect is over. I don't know how many times I've wanted to read something with the little orange T and been denied. It's mostly been recently archived articles that I've delicioused and have been unable to go back and read, but it'll be nice to have access to Thomas Friedman and Maureen Dowd again. About a month ago I signed up for some free trial, and then was told that it wouldn't work on my Mac, which annoyed me even further. The Times is my favorite paper, and I'm glad they've finally come to their senses.

NYT Wedding Videos

Maybe if I stopped watching the NYT vows videos, I would actually accomplish some work.

It's also disconcerting how much I want a wedding announcement in the Times.

nyc this weekend

Since everyone at work is leaving the District this week/weekend, I've decided to follow suit and visit Layne and Whitt in New York. I haven't been there since September, so I'm already making a list of things I want to do.

1. Dorrian's Red Hand, my favorite preppy bar
2. Summer of Love: Art of the Psychedelic Era, at the Whitney
3. Chola, the site of many Indian gorge-fests