There is always a lot of excitement when a new art exhibition is ready to open. It is even better when the museum opens it to its members first before the public gets a glimpse. It gives a chance to see the exhibitions before it opens to the public.
The long line of MoMA members waiting to get into the museum for the opening night of Artist Ruth Asawa’s exhibition
I noticed this year especially and right before Thanksgiving, all the museums are throwing open their doors for Member’s Nights. I have been invited to five Members Nights at museums all over the City. You can’t attend them all.
The excitement the museum creates for these evenings
Video of entering the museum at the start of the opening with 80’s Japanese Pop Music
I think in an economy like this, these Members Nights are one of the best ways to engage with the membership for both donations and renewals of memberships especially before the holiday season. Plus it gives the members a wonderful night out to see the exhibitions ahead of time and enjoy the evening after a long week at work.
Born on a farm in Southern California, Asawa began her arts education when she was a teenager and she and her family were among the thousands of persons of Japanese descent who were forcibly incarcerated by the US government during World War II. It was at the internment camp that Asawa began taking classes in painting and drawing. After her release, Asawa studied to be a teacher but was unable to get a license because of her Japanese heritage, so she enrolled at Black Mountain College, an experimental art school in North Carolina. Asawa took classes from and worked alongside fellow artists Josef Albers, Robert Rauschenberg, Merce Cunningham, and R. Buckminster Fuller. Black Mountain was also where she met her husband, the architect Albert Lanier.
I loved her wire woven sculptures.
The wire woven sculptures were the standouts of the exhibition
I thought these were a unique design
I liked here colorful paintings, these are of her child’s footprints. I loved the idea that her children were involved with the art
The patrons enjoying the art
The display of the wire art
The displays were impressive and graceful
The colorful faces looked tired
The look of nature in the wire art in the form of trees
I loved her works of food
At the end of the exhibition and the evening, I joined everyone on the main floor where the bar and gift shop were located. The main floor was the busiest part of the museum. I wondered if some of these people even went upstairs to see the exhibition or just stayed downstairs to socialize.
The main floor of the museum is always packed with people
Share in the excitement of the Membership opening
These evenings always get my mind off the stress of life. It is nice to just be in Midtown Manhattan and be in the moment. It is nice to see art, hear music and walk through the museum.
The view from the top of the hill on Governor’s Island.
When I was touring Governors Island for my blog, “MywalkinManhattan.com”, I explored the Fort Jay complex which is located on the northern end of the island just past Castle Williams. This fort is mostly in a state of ruin and is currently being restored at various stages all around the complex. The decorative entrance with its statuary is being cleaned and the entrance fixed on one side of the fort and the walls and some of the interior space is being repaired inside the fort.
The main entrance to Fort Jay (currently under restoration)
This fort and Castle Williams were built to protect the City of New York between the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. After that these forts fell out of use as the times and technology changed .
The decorative statuary is being repaired on the fort (currently under restoration)
Now the fort is used for art exhibitions in some of the interior hallways and grass has grown over most of the walkways. Still it is interesting to walk along the pathways near the walls of the fort and see how they were once used. It is interesting to see how far we have progressed in warfare.
The entrance to Fort Jay
The History of Fort Jay:
Fort Jay is located on Governors Island in New York Harbor, one half-mile from the southern tip of Manhattan. No defensive works are known to have been erected on the island during its early history. Defensive earthen works were first erected on the highest point of Governors Island by Continental troops in 1775-76. The island and its fort were occupied by the British during the American Revolution until 1783, when it surrendered, along with several buildings to the Governor of New York.
More than ten years passed before renewed tensions with Great Britain resulted in funding from both the New York Legislature and the United States Congress in 1794 to reconstruct the works on Governors Island. This part of a larger national effort to fortify ports that later became known as the First American System of coastal fortifications.
Design of the New York Harbor defenses was assigned to French engineer Charles Vincent. The works on Governors Island had been completed by 1796, described in January of that year by the Secretary of War as “a fort made of earth and two batteries under its protection, partly lined with brick masonry, two air furnaces, a large powder magazine and a barrack for the garrison.”
The inside of Fort Jay.
Fears of a French invasion in 1797 resulted in a second phase effort funded by additional appropriations to complete and enhance the coastal fortifications, including those on Governors Island. The fort is said to have acquired the name “Fort Jay” in 1798 for John Jay, then the Governor of New York State. Governors Island and its fort were conveyed to the federal government two years later in 1800, by an Act of the New York State Legislature.
The inside of Fort Jay
A plan of the fort as it existed that year shows it as a four-bastioned form surrounded by a ditch with a parapet having 51 embrasures, a gate and bridge on the east side and a large magazine in the northeast bastion. The fort was still incomplete and incapable of defense in 1802 according to a written report, although it was then equipped with a “handsome Gateway with a Corps de Garde” or guardhouse, that survives today.
Fort Jay had fallen into ruinous condition by 1806 when a second national campaign to strengthen the coastal defenses of the country, now known as the Second American System of fortifications, was implemented. This effort differed from the first by employing American engineers and using more durable masonry construction.
The outside wall of the fort.
The engineer chosen to design and oversee the defenses of New York Harbor was Colonel Jonathan Williams, Chief Engineer of the Corps of Engineers and first Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point. Reconstruction of Fort Jay, renamed Fort Columbus about this time, began in July 1806 and was completed by December 1809. The only components of the old fort judged worth saving were “the walled Counterscarp, the Gate, the Magazine and the Barracks,” according to Colonel Williams in a report dated November 1808.
The completed fort was described in a later report to Congress as “an enclosed pentagonal work, with four bastions of masonry, calculated for one hundred guns, fifty-five mounted with brick barracks for two hundred and thirty men, including officers. The earliest known plan of the completed fort is a plan by Joseph Mangin drawn in 1813.
The walkway between the forts.
The first significant repairs and alterations were made to Fort Columbus in the 1830’s, resulting in the overall appearance of the fort as it exists today. The stone retaining walls were extensively rebuilt at this time, including the scarp that was faced with granite and topped with a new brickwork parapet. The old magazine in the northeast bastion was demolished and replaced by four new magazines erected in the north ravelin. Finally, the four existing brick were replaced by four new barracks with flanking triangular structures and outdoor courtyards.
Later changes have been made to the barracks by the U.S. Army over the years, including interior remodeling and replacement of the flat roofs with hipped roofs in 1855-57, incorporated of five of the triangular buildings as additions in the 1860’s and 1898-99 and reconfiguration of the buildings as officers’ apartments in 1921-22 and again in the 1930’s. Paint was stripped from the exterior brick buildings in the 1930’s, the sodded glacis of the fort was converted to recreational use as a golf course by 1940 and the flagstaff was moved from the northwest bastion to the north ravelin by 1953.
The lawn on Governor’s Island overlooking Lower Manhattan.
Jurisdiction of Governors Island passed from the U.S. Army to the U.S. Coastguard in 1966. Improvements made by the Coast Guard to Fort Jay, whose name was officially reinstated in 1904, included expansion of the golf course; remodeling of the barracks with new kitchens, bathrooms, heating and electrical systems and storm windows and doors and erection of chain-link fencing on the glacis. Fort Jay sat vacant with minimal upkeep since the closure of the Coast Guard in 1997.
Fort Jay was recorded by the Historic American Buildings survey in 1934 and in 1982-83. The fort was individually listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It was included in a National Historic Landmark District designated in 1985 and a New York Historic District designated in 1996. The fort is also located within the boundaries of the Governors Island National Monument, established by Presidential Proclamations in 2001 and 2003.
(This information I credit to the National Park System-Division of Culture website)
Castle Williams Fort as you enter from the main walkway
I have toured Castle Williams several times when visiting Governors Island over the last two years. The fort sits at a strategic site on the island facing Manhattan. The fort was originally built to protect New York City from the British during the War of 1812. The British knowing that the City had been fortified for battle never attacked New York.
The historic plaque
The tour takes place twice a day for about an hour and you tour the first two levels of the fort. There are all sorts of signs around to show the history of the fort and its uses over the years. The one thing they don’t like is you touching the walls as the fort is still pretty fragile.
The entrance to this historic fort.
The nicest part of the tour is the observation deck at the top of the fort and the views of the Lower Manhattan skyline. It is a spectacular view of the harbor. You can see by the view why the fort was built where it was built and for its purpose before the War of 1812.
The sign welcoming you to the fort.
It really is a treat to see how fortifications mattered for cities in this time of history in this country.
The History of Castle Williams:
The model of Castle Williams inside the fort.
Castle Williams is a circular defensive work of red sandstone on the west point of Governors Island in New York Harbor. It was designed and erected between 1807 and 1811. It was designed by the Chief Engineer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Lieutenant Colonial Jonathan Williams for whom the fort was named after. It was considered a prototype for new forms of coastal fortification.
The fort from the outside
The castle was one component of a larger defensive system for the inner harbor that included Fort Jay and the South Battery on Governors Island, Castle Clinton at the tip of Manhattan, Fort Gibson at Ellis Island and Fort Wood, which is now the base of the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island. This system of forts came to be known as the Second American System of coastal defense and existed to protect harbors like the one in New York from British interference with American Shipping.
The inside courtyard of the fort.
Its usefulness as a fort began to end in the 1830’s, so Castle Williams subsequently served as barracks for the island’s garrison and new and transient troops. The castle was then remodeled by the U.S. Army for use as a prison in various forms during the Civil War and through the first half of the 20th Century.
In 1901, Secretary of War Elihu Root, who worked hard to modernize the Army, made a commitment to preserve the castle and overruled army leaders who wanted to demolish both it and Fort Jay. By 1903, the castle was fitted up as a model, state of art prison facility. In 1947, extensive renovations were carried out with the wooden catwalks replaced by concrete enclosed walk ways, hiding the beautiful stone arches on the third level and resulting in the industrial appearance of the courtyard today. Castle Williams ceased operations as a military prison in 1965 just before the U.S. Army left Governors Island.
The inside of the prison cell.
The Castle again faced a demolition challenge as Coast Guard officials in Washington DC, who took control of Governors Island in 1966, wanted to demolish it. Instead, the castle was remodeled as a youth community center with a nursery, meeting rooms for Scouts and clubs, a woodworking shop, art studios, a photography laboratory and a museum. By the late 1970’s, the community center moved to another location and the fort became the grounds-keeping shop for the Coast Guard base.
Over time, the roof failed and broken windows allowed serious water damage to occur inside the castle. In the mid-1990s, the roof was replaced and new windows stopped further water damage to the structure but the interior remains closed until it can be made safe for public access. The National Park Service proposes to stabilize and restore the castle and eventually provide access to the roof, allowing the public to admire the harbor and the modern skyline of the great city (this has since opened on my last visit).
The view from the top of the hill on Governor’s Island.
Castle Williams was individually listed in the National Register of Historic Placed on July 31, 1972. It was recorded by the Historical American Buildings Survey in 1983. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985 and the New York City Landmarks Historic District in 1996. It has been part of the Governors Island National Monument by Presidential Proclamations signed in 2001 and 2003.
(This information was provided by the National Park System Division of Cultural Affairs).
The lawn of Governor’s Island overlooking Lower Manhattan.
The Soldiers & Sailors Monument in the Fall of 2024
I had passed the Soldier’s and Sailors’ Monument when I was walking the Upper West Side of Manhattan for my blog ‘MywalkinManhattan.com’. It sits in an almost graceful state of disrepair behind fencing protecting it from people. It seems that it had been in a state of decay since the start of construction in 1900.
The monument is still under renovation and you can only walk around it
I walked all around the monument while walking Riverside Park thinking it was a small copy of a Greek Temple or another smaller burial site like Grant’s Tomb. You could see where the gaps in the structure were and the need for repair from the stairs to the platform. Still there is a beauty in its details.
The monument in the late afternoon
Reading in a recent issue of The Spirit, it seems that the New York Landmarks Conservatory and the local government officials want to put money into its repair. This beautiful landmark is going to need a lot of time and care in the future. Let’s hope they agreed to it.
The monument still under renovation
History of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument:
(from the parks website)
The monument was first suggested in 1869 after the Civil War and was put on the back burner until 1893 when a nostalgia for the Civil War sweep across the country. The State of New York established a Board of Commission to create a monument to the soldiers’ and sailor’s who had served in the Union Army during the American Civil War (Wiki).
The ground was broke for the monument in 1900 and was completed in 1902 and it was dedicated on Memorial Day in 1902 with President Theodore Roosevelt officiating and a parade of Civil War veterans parading up Riverside Drive (Wiki).
The Monument when it opened
The monument was designed by architects Charles and Arthur Stoughton and the ornamental features were carved by architect Paul E. M. Duboy. The monument takes the form of a peripteral Corinthian temple raised on a high base with a tall cylindrical rusticated cella, that carries a low conical roof like a lid ringed by twelve Corinthian columns. The entrance has the names of the New York volunteer regiments and the battles in which they served as well as the Union Generals . The monument was designed a New York City landmark in 1976 and a State landmark in 2001 (Wiki).
The monument has been plagued with repairs since it was built and according to reports it is in need of desperate repairs. I could tell by the cracks and missing marble that their were flaws in its construction since it had been built.
Still it graces the entrance of Riverside Park with it’s beauty. Look at its details in the carvings and it look of a Greek temple. It is really impressive especially in the summer months with the park behind it in full display. You can’t get too close to the monument in its current state.
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 