Recent museums' visits

1- Cindy Sherman; 2- Print/Out; 3- Diego Rivera; 4 The Steins Collect; 5- The Ungovernables

I haven't had much time to write here lately and to share my cultural outings. So I've decided to dedicate this post to all the exhibits I have been in the past month, and, if you care, of course, my take outs.

• Cindy Sherman - I love artists retrospectives, because you can see the evolution of the artist throughout the years and understand him/her a little bit better. The first time I saw Cindy Sherman's work, it was many years ago, when I first visited the permanent collection of the MoMA. I was a teenager, so still trying to redo the whole World, contesting everything and thinking that nothing could shock me. The good thing about getting older is that you realize that some things will never change (and you actually don't want them to change) and that some other things have changed and are the way they are because they were part of an evolution. I still don't really like Cindy Sherman's clowns series (this is maybe more personal, because, since I was a child I just hate clowns), but I've became pretty fond of her work. As soon as you realize that for each and every photograph she's been the photographer, the actress, the hairstylist, the make-up artist, the stylist and what not, you just can't ignore her talent. Cindy Sherman's retrospective is being presented at the MoMA and it goes until June 11th. 

• Print/Out - Very interesting exhibit about prints. However, I felt a little bit lost and overwhelmed with the amount of information. There were prints literarily everywhere. It's one of those exhibits that need to be revisited many times and preferably with someone who knows well on the subject. I went with a group of friends and a guide. It was really helpful and I would love to go back with more time. Also showing at the MoMA and it runs until May 14th.

• Diego Rivera: Murals for the Museum of Modern Art - Loved it. I wrote a post about the exhibit. If you are in New York, run for it, because it only goes until May 14th.

• The Steins collect: Matisse, Picasso and the Parisian Avant-Garde - wonderful exhibition at the MET, about the art collection of Gertrude Stein, her brother Leo and Michael and Michael's wife Sarah. The exhibit is rich on details about their story and their relationships with artists like Picasso and Matisse and how they discovered new talents. It's incredible how they knew all the best artists of the 20th century. The exhibit that shows works from Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picabia, Bonnard among others, is on display until June 3rd. 

• The Ungovernables: 2012 New Museum Triennal - not really my thing. The kind of contemporary art that I have a hard time understanding and that I can't usually link to the "message" of the artist. The exhibit reunites about 34 young artists from countries that used to be colonies and it goes until April 22nd.

I still have a lot of exhibition to catch up. But I'm glad I had time to see all the ones above, because they were all really worth the visit (apart from the "The Ungovernables").

If you have the opportunity to see one of the, I really hope you'll enjoy them as much as I did!

Books of the week - Nursery rhymes

F has been learning and playing around the traditional nursery rhymes at school. And even though we were already familiar with them and had a couple of books at home, I decided to buy a new one. This version is quite complete and nicely illustrated by Scott Gustafson. The book was recommended by F's teacher when we went to visit Books of Wonder with the school, which is a very nice children's bookstore here in New York.

Every night, F asks to read one or two nursery rhymes. I can't complain, I think is great. And they say nursery rhymes help to improve children's vocabulary and, of course, is a great memorizing exercise. 

P.S: If you have babies and you are completely lost (as I was when F was born) with the traditional English songs for children, I really recommend this book. It comes with a very nice CD with the most popular songs and in the book you'll find 80 nursery rhymes, explained with a lot of humor. The first part of the title, Humpty Who?, couldn't have been more appropriate for me, given that I had to sing this song every week in our mommy and me swimming class and I had no idea who that Humpty Dumpty was. Having received a French education, I grew up with La Fontaine's Fables, as opposed to, the Mother Goose rhymes. Never too late to learn new things...

Indoor picnic for breakfast

The day is absolutely gorgeous today here in New York. The kids wanted to have a picnic this morning, however I didn't have time to take them to the park. The solution? An indoor picnic. They helped preparing everything, we put our blanket on the wooden floor and that's it. Sometimes, we just need a little imagination (and lots of patience) to entertain the little ones.

Have an excellent week!

Happy Easter!

Have a great chocolate egg hunt!! Happy Easter!

Books of the week - The Story of the Easter Bunny

This week I bought to the kids this very nice story about how the Easter Bunny started to exist. It's very simple, with nice illustrations and it nicely fed my children's imagination. They are now anxiously waiting for their Easter eggs.

Preparing for Easter

We've been busy coloring our eggs this week. We used this non-toxic, all natural coloring kit do dye the eggs. And with some additional touches here's the result!

New York is just special

From top left hand corner: Jazz at Lincoln Center, Puss in Boot at Puppetworks, Central Park, ceiling decoration at McNally Jackson's bookstore's cafe, New Museum

Everybody agrees that New York is a special city, right? Whether you like the city or not, there is always something to do and that's true for any taste or age.

Nonetheless, a lot of people still find it hard to believe when I tell them that I would probably never find the kind of life that I have here, somewhere else. To which I usually hear back that New York will always be there and that I could come and visit often. True. But, what those people don't get, is that the things they can enjoy when they come to visit (even if they come often), I can have them everyday, all year long, without having to wait for a trip.  

Last weekend, for example, some of our activities included a puppet show* at Puppetworks in Brooklyn, a visit to the New Museum, a jazz concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center featuring Wynton Marsalis and his band, not to mention the restaurants and the simple strolls around town admiring the blossoming trees (although the weather wasn't great). And I'm not talking about a special weekend or anything, this is normal for us. Where else can you have all this, with the same variety, the same quality, at the tip of your fingers all the time? 

My weeks are also usually full of various activities. I get to talk and be with different people as well. This is something that I think is really hard to find somewhere else. Maybe in Paris or London or a place that I don't know (but would love to)? Certainly not where I have lived before. 

I'm organizing my week with the kids now. As always, there is too much to do and not enough time. New York is just special.

Have a great week!

* We went to see Puss in boots and I really recommend it. They are having their last presentation next Saturday, April 7th. If you can, don't miss it!