Category: Exploring Manhattan

Americas Society Museum 680 Park Avenue New York, NY 10021

Americas Society Museum

680 Park Avenue

New York, NY 10021

(212)628-3200

https://www.as-coa.org/visual-arts/arts_americas_circle

https://www.as-coa.org/arts-culture-americas-society

Open: Wednesday-Saturday: 12:00pm-6:00pm/Closed Sunday-Tuesday
Varies with exhibitions

Admission: Free

http://www.as-coa.org/visual arts

My review on TripAdvisor:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d548518-Reviews-Americas_Society-New_York_City_New_York.html

The Americas Society Museum at 680 Park Avenue

I came across the Americas Society Museum when walking on Park Avenue on the Upper East Side for my walking project, “MywalkinManhattan.com”. I noticed the sign for the exhibition, “The Metropolis in Latin America 1830-1930”. The exhibition was on the transformation of cities in Latin America from their traditional path starting with Spanish colonization to a more European layout that was developed between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars with the ‘Gilded Age’ thrown in as the third generation of settlers became long time citizens and became more wealthy.

They wanted to live like they were still in Europe. It showed how the cities developed over time with planning and then with extended, unintended growth that lead to the outlaying slums. Very interesting exhibition (now closed).

A exhibition at the Americas Society Museum

In the summer of 2024, the museum had an interesting exhibition on artist Alejandra Seeber. Her colorful interactive works had some of the patrons playing golf inside of the galleries. I thought her work was vibrant and exciting. She draws you in with the bright invigorating colors and on the floor pieces of carpet whose colors lead your golf balls from hole to hole as you travel the exhibition.

The museum press release on the Alejandra Seeber exhibition:

The description of the show:

(from the museum’s website):

Americas Society presents the first solo exhibition and career survey of the Argentine artist Alejandra Seeber in New York, starting June 5. Seeber (b. 1969, Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a painter who centers representations of various spaces to explore the tension between representation and abstraction in painting. Seeber utilizes bold color and gesture to examine liminal spaces within built and domestic environments. Later work veers further into abstraction, implementing visual devices like Rorschach drawings or knit grids to structure the composition.

My favorite painting in the show by Alejandra Seeber “La Bourgeoisie”

The sign of the painting

The exhibition pairs these paintings with Seeber’s contemporary explorations of the built landscape with an installation. This survey of her work is organized around a playable golf course installed inside the gallery space in which visitors will be invited to play golf as they walk through the show. The golf obstacles become active sculptures in the exhibition, creating porous boundaries between artwork and audience. This playful environment manifests the explorations of edges, doorways, windows, and borders in the artist’s painting. As they play, visitors will be able to trace Seeber’s artistic trajectory and see how her interventions in the form and practice of painting continue to this day.

The vibrance of the art with its colorful details

The interactive art in the gallery

The art golf course

History:

The Americas Society is an organization dedicated to education, debate and dialogue on the Americas and is located at 680 Park Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The Americas Society was established by David Rockefeller in 1965. The Americas Society promotes the understanding of the economic, political and social issues confronting Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada; its mission is “to increase public awareness and appreciation of the diverse cultural heritage of the Americas and the importance of the inter-American relationship.

The buildings historical past as the Percy Rivington Pyne House

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Rivington_Pyne_I

The Americas Society Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The building was previously the Percy Rivington Pyne House before serving as the Soviet Mission to the United Nations until its current usage. along with the neighboring buildings of the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute and the Italian Consulate General, the house constitutes one of the few remaining unified architectural ensembles on Park Avenue. The Center for Inter-American Relations was later to be absorbed into Americas Society 1985.

Activities:

The Americas Society organizes interviews, speeches, podcasts, exhibitions, readings and musical performances at its headquarters and reports on Congressional updates and local events. Many events are held at the Salon Simon Bolivar, an expansive room in the building’s Neo-Federal style with wide windows, a 15 foot ceiling and wood-paneled and silk fabric walls.

An Exhibition at the museum:

The Americas Society produces the MetLife Music of the Americas (concert series) to showcase the diversity of styles and genres of music in the Americas. The concert series is held at the Society’s headquarters.

The Americas Society, together with Council of the Americas, produces the publication ‘Americas Quarterly’, a policy journal for the Western Hemisphere. The Americas Society also publishes ‘Review Magazine’, which was first founded in 1968. ‘Review Magazine’ is an English language journal for literature from Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada. ‘Review Magazine’ also helped support the first English translation of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez as well as other translations.

The Americas Society has also organized working groups on the topics of women’s empowerment and leadership. Cuba, energy policy, immigration, trade facilitation and Venezuela.

Council of the Americas (COA)

Is the premier international business organization whose members share a common commitment to economic and social development, open markets, the rule of law and democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere. The Council’s membership consists of leading international companies representing a broad spectrum of sectors, including banking and finance, consulting services, consumer products, energy and mining, manufacturing, media, technology and transportation.

(This information was taken directly from Wiki and Americas Society publications)

Asia Society and Museum 725 Park Avenue at 70th Street New York, NY 10021

Asia Society & Museum

725 Park Avenue At 70th Street

New York, NY 10021

(212) 288-6400

AsiaSociety.org/NY

https://asiasociety.org/new-york

Open:

Museum: Tuesday-Sunday-11:00am-6:00pm, Friday-11:00am-9:00pm

Asia Store: Monday-Sunday-11:00am-6:00pm, Friday-11:00am-9:00pm

Garden Court Cafe: Tuesday-Sunday, 11:30am-3:00pm; Reservations: (212) 570-5202

Asia Society is closed on major holidays. Please check AsiaSociety.org/NY for updates on museum, store and cafe hours.

Fee: $12.00 Adults/$10.00 Seniors/$7.00 Students with ID/Free to members and children under 16/Free Admission Fridays, 6:00pm-9:00pm

Adult, Student and Teacher tours:

For information or to schedule a tour, call (212) 327-9237

*Wheelchair accessible/available for use during visits/Complimentary cell phone audio tour available/Assistive listening devices and headsets available for many programs.

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60763-d531995-Reviews-Asia_Society_and_Museum_Garden_Court_Cafe-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

History of the Museum:

The entrance to the Asian Society Museum

John D. Rockefeller 3rd (1906-1978) , who established Asia Society in 1956, firmly believed that art was an indispensable tool for understanding societies. From 1963 to 1978, he and his wife, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller (1909-1992), worked with art historian Sherman E. Lee (1918-2008) as an advisor to build the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, which was later bequeathed to Asia Society.

The Rockefeller Collection

The group of spectacular historical objects they assembled-including sculpture, painting and decorative arts-became the core of the Asia Society Museum Collection and is world renowned. The Collection, now consisting of approximately 300 pieces, is distinguished by the high proportion of acclaimed masterpieces, to which additional high-quality gifts and acquisitions have been added since the original bequest to Asia Society. The Collection has particular strengths in Chinese ceramics of the Song and Ming periods, Chola-period Indian bronzes and Southeast Asian sculptures.

Extraordinary examples of decorative art in the acclaimed Asia Society Museum collection include a number of superior East Asian ceramics, which make up more than one-third of the Collection. A luminous pair of twelfth-century Korean bowl and saucer sets, covered with the celebrated celadon glaze of the Goryeo period and an extraordinary tea leaf jar, decorated with mynah birds and accented with silver by Japanese ceramic artist Nonomura Ninsei (active ca. 1646-1677) are among the ceramic highlights.

Walking around the museum

An exquisite solid silver Chinese stem up that dates to the late seventh or early eighth century also stands out as an exceptional masterpiece of decorative art within the Collection. The skill of the craftsman is evident in the fine embossing, chasing and engraving of the birds, flowers and scrolling vines on the exterior of the cup.

Two other great strengths of the Collection are Hindu and Buddhist sculpture from South and Southeast Asia. An eleventh-century processional sculpture of the elephant-headed Hindu deity Ganesha is an endearing example produced by the South Indian master bronze casters at that time and one of the fifteen important Chola-period bronzes in the Collection.

Another great treasure is a rare eighth-century inscribed and dated inlaid-brass crowned Buddha seated on a lotus rising from water inhabited by serpent deities (nagas) from Kashmir or northern Pakistan. A sculpture of the serene and slender Buddhist Bodhisattva Maitrya stands just over an impressive three-feet tall and represents the pinnacle of Thai metal casting during the eighth-century.

These objects and the Asia Society Museum Collection as a whole continue to be an important means for sharing the talent, imagination, and deep history of the peoples of Asia with audiences all over the world.

(From: Masterpieces from the Asia Society Museum Collection)

We are …Policy

With top-level experts and advisors-including former heads of state and cabinet officials, CEOs, civil society leaders and scholars-the Asia Society Policy Institute creates solutions that advance Asia’s prosperity, security and sustainability. Its projects include working to strengthen regional security institutions and mechanisms in Asia, assessing the impact of China’s rise and tracking its economic reform program, recommending pathways to an inclusive and high-standard Asian trade architecture, charting a path for India’s admission to APEC and designing strategies for Northeast Asian economics to link carbon markets and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Asia Society Center on U.S. China Relations seeks to build mutual understanding between the two countries through projects and events on policy, culture, business, media, economics, energy and the environment.

We are…Arts

Transforming Americans understanding of Asia through exhibitions and performing arts was at the heart of our founder’s vision. The bequest of the Mr. & Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection of traditional Asian art in 1979 spurred the building of our New York headquarters. Today, our ground-breaking exhibitions of traditional, modern and contemporary art-as well as performing arts, film and author programs-are presented to the highest acclaim at our centers in New York, Hong Kong and Houston and at venues all over the world. Global initiatives such as the Arts & Museum Summit bring together museum and cultural leaders from across Asia, the United States and Europe further appreciation of Asian arts.

The gift shop at the Asia Society

We are …Education

A rising Asia requires a rising generation of students to understand its cultures and complexities. The Center for Global Education at Asia Society has developed an internationally recognized approach to foster the global competence of students, aiming to improve the capacity of 100,000 educators to instill global competence in 4 million youth by 2030. We partner with leaders and institutions from around the world to transform teaching and develop global-ready students. We also lead a major effort to bring Mandarin language instruction and the study of China and Chinese culture to children in the United States and to bring global learning to American after school programs, in pursuit of best practices in global education.

(From Asia Society pamphlet)

Asia Society is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization offering dynamic public programming at our cultural centers in New York, Hong Kong and Houston and at our other global locations in the United States, Asia and Europe.

Asia Society appreciates the support of its members, who aid our vital mission of preparing Asians and Americans for a shared future. For more information, AsiaSociety.org.

Disclaimer: This information was taken directly from the pamphlets from the Asia Society in New York City. I give them full credit for all the information. Please see the above hours and programs and call the above numbers for more information.

Nicholas Roerich Museum 319 West 107th Street New York, NY 10025

Nicholas Roerich Museum

319 West 107th Street

New York, NY 10025

(212) 864-7752

Open: Monday: Closed/Tuesday-Friday: 12:00pm-4:00pm/Saturday-Sunday: 2:00pm-5:00pm

Closed: Major holidays

Admission: Admission is free, though donations are welcome.

http://www.roerich.org

http://www.roerich.org/

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d136141-Reviews-Nicholas_Roerich_Museum-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The front of the museum

This small museum in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattanville is easy to miss. It is in a small brownstone on West 107th Street right near Riverside Drive. You can see the plaque for the museum to the right of the building and there is a side door to get in. The admission is free but they do ask for a donation if you can do it.

The museum is a specialty collection of the works of the former owner of the house and artist Nicholas Roerich. They are mostly landscapes and religious themed that cover three floors of the museum. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half to see all the floors. A nice touch they had in the afternoon that I was there was a piano player whom you could hear play throughout the brownstone. When you go, it will be a pleasant afternoon where you are not fighting the crowds of the larger museums.

Artist Nicholas Roerich

The Nicholas Roerich Museum was founded in 1949 to house a permanent collection of over two hundred paintings by the Russian-born artist, poet, philosopher and humanitarian, Nicholas Roerich. The museum also houses a library of books and maintains an archive and a collection of artifacts relating to the areas of Roerich’s interests (Museum guide).

The Mission of the Museum:

The mission of the Nicholas Roerich Museum is essentially a narrow one: to make available to the public the full range of Roerich’s accomplishments. These, however, are not narrow; they cover the realms of art, science, spirituality, peacemaking and more. Because Roerich’s activities ranged widely, so do the museum’s.

The Museum Collection:

Nicholas Roerich is known first and foremost as a Russian-born artist. His paintings, of which there are thousands around the world, explore the mythic origins, the natural beauty and the spiritual strivings of humanity and of the world. The museum houses approximately two hundred of these works and keeps most of them permanently on display for visitors who come from around the world. Indeed, for many of these visitors, the museum is a destination of great importance; the paintings speak to them of their own inner yearnings and possible fulfillment. For them, Roerich’s paintings are a kind of teaching-about spiritual development about culture and its role in human life and about opportunities for the achievement of peace in a fractious world.

Publications & Booklist:

The museum also keeps in print a number of books by and about Roerich and his life and work and a substantial stock of postcards and reproductions of his paintings. These too are seen by many as more than just prints; they are hung in homes with a degree of appreciation that is not often given to such things.

Cultural Events:

In addition to these functions, the museum also maintains an active schedule of cultural activities. It was Roerich’s fervent belief that the role of cultural development in the peace and evolution of the world is fundamental and that it is therefore the responsibility of those who work in creative and cultural fields to strive always for that peace and evolution and for those goals to be the chief impulses guiding their creative work. Information about these ideas is always available.

The Roerich Pact & the Banner of Peace:

The museum sustains an ongoing effort to spread public awareness of the intermingled roles of peace and culture and the ways in which each sustains the other. Information and materials about The Roerich Pact and the Banner of Peace are always available. Throughout this century of wars and national struggles, the yearning of the public for ways of achieving peace has been great; the ideas of the Pact and the Banner provide a welcome answer to those yearnings.

As Roerich’s ideas become better known around the world, attendance at the Museum grows and requests for information and materials about him and his art and social achievements increase.

*This information is from the Museum’s website.

Disclaimer: This information was taken from a combination of the museum’s website and from the biography of the artist.

Bard Graduate Center Gallery 18 West 86th Street New York, NY 10024

Bard Graduate Center Gallery

18 West 86th Street

New York, NY 10024

(212) 501-3023

gallery@bgc.bard.edu

https://www.bgc.bard.edu/gallery/27/exhibitions

https://www.bgc.bard.edu/gallery/

Open: Tuesday, Friday-Sunday: 11:00am-5:00pm/Wednesday-Thursday: 11:00am-8:00pm/Closed on major holidays

Fee: Free Admission Hours on all Wednesdays and Thursday evenings from 5:00pm-8:00pm.

December 26th (Boxing Day) : Free

General Admission: $7.00 and Students & Seniors (65+): $5.00

Subway: B, C, and 1 to West 86th Street

TripAdvisor Review:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d309306-Reviews-The_Bard_Graduate_Center-New_York_City_New_York.html?m=19905

The Bard Gallery at 18 West 86th Street

I took some time out from “MywalkinManhattan” project to visit the Bard Gallery for the afternoon and was pleasantly surprised by this little ‘gem’ located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. This Graduate Center focuses on small exhibitions with interesting themes and not so over-whelming shows that tax your brain like some of the bigger museums in New York City.

The embellishments at the entrance to the Bard Art Galley

Their exhibitions are compact and detailed on the subject matter and the objects they have on display are interesting. They also have lectures and gallery talks for more detail on their displays. The Bard Graduate Center Gallery, founded in 1993, occupies a six story townhouse near Central Park West and houses not just the gallery but the academic programs, lecture hall and library.

The center has pioneering exhibitions on decorative arts, design history and material culture. The research driven exhibitions are organized with leading scholars, curators and institutions worldwide and showcase a rich array of objects comprised of loans from public and private collections, many never before on view in New York City.

Walking the permanent collection

With a commitment to investigating under-recognized topics in the history of design, the exhibitions provide a critical framework for understanding the context in which historical and contemporary objects were made, used, collected and displayed. These lead to a fuller understanding of the present through the lens of the past (Bard College website).

Displays in the permanent galleries

A full slate of public and research programs, public tours and opportunities for school groups and educators compliment each exhibition. Video and new media interactives enrich the visitor experience in educators compliment each exhibition (Museum website).

Items in the permanent collections

The Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture is a graduate research institute and gallery located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It is affiliated with Bard College, located in Annadale-on-Hudson, NY. The gallery occupies a six story townhouse at the 18 West 86th Street location while the academic building and library are located at 38 West 86th Street.

Students at Bard Graduate Center focus on the study of the cultural history of the material world. The institution is committed to the encyclopedic study of things, drawing on methodologies and approaches from art and design history, economic and cultural history and history of technology, philosophy, anthropology and archaeology.

Students enrolled in the M.A. and PhD. programs work closely with a distinguished faculty of active scholars in exploring the interrelationships between works of art and craft, design, places, ideas and social and cultural practice in courses ranging from antiquity to the 21st century (Wiki Bard College site).

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