Guggenheim Pop

I went over to the Guggenheim Museum last week to check out the Pop Art exhibit.

As has happened since the first time I visited back when I was in the single digits, I was more mesmerized by the building than the art.

It is so magical.

 

The highlight of the exhibit is Claes Oldenburg’s “Soft Shuttlecock.”  Its immense size means it probably isn’t exhibited much and they posted an Instagram video about its arrival and installation.

Since the exhibit includes examples of Pop Art from the 60’s to the present there’s enough of a range to provide something for everyone.  

Richard Hamilton’s “The Solomon R. Guggenheim” – Spectrum, Black & Black and White.

I particularly liked this drawing by Marta Minujin “Statue of Liberty Covered in Hamburgers.”  She envisioned this as an outdoor art piece with free lunch.  More here…

https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/33112

And this one, by Daniel Gordon “Still Life with Fish and Forsythia.”

But in my eyes, they couldn’t beat the pieces on display from the permanent collection.  

Henri Rousseau’s “The Football Players.”

And Edouard Vuillard’s – “Place Vintimille.”

But the surprise of the day was this piece.  Can you guess who the artist is?

Remembering this piece from the D’Orsay in Paris, I guessed Renoir. Wrong.

Remembering this piece from the National Gallery in London, Edward guessed Manet.  Also, wrong.

It was painted by Picasso!!!

When my mom introduced me to Picasso’s abstract work, I was not impressed and asked why he didn’t just paint things the way that they looked.  She replied ”Because he could already do that when he was young, so he had to do something new.”

He was 19 when he did this painting.

Moms are always right.

Here are some other modern art blogs…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2019/03/warhol-at-whitney.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2023/10/robert-indiana.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2025/02/banksy-museum.html

Cheers!

PJ

 

The Museum of Broadway

For our 39^th wedding anniversary, Edward and I decided to visit the Museum of Broadway.

 

We’ve wanted to check it out ever since it opened, but somehow never got around to it, so it finally made it to the front of the list.

It’s a fun museum.

Filled with Broadway memorabilia from various eras.

So, there’s something for everyone.

 These costumes from Hair spoke to me.

And Edward was quite taken with the Chorus Line mirrors.

Some costumes came with sketches.

There were also photographs, music scores, playbills and scripts.

And selfie stations. Lots of selfie stations.

So be sure to bring someone who loves to pose with you when you visit.

Here’s a blog from a Jerome Robbins exhibit at Lincoln Center…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2019/04/jerome-robbins.html

 

Cheers!

PJ

© 2026 PJ Lehrer

New York Public Library

 

I’ve been meaning to visit NYPL ever since I read about the Polonsky Exhibition a while back.

https://www.nypl.org/spotlight/treasures

It’s an incredibly eclectic collection ranging from a Gutenberg Bible – one of 21 surviving copies – (the Morgan Library actually has three – making it the only institution in the world with multiple copies.)

- to a page from Jerome Robbins’s trip diaries.

A fan favorite is the Winnie-the-Poo collection that once belonged to Christopher Robin Milne.  Last April, Queen Camilla gifted the library with a bespoke replica of “Roo,” which had been lost since 1930.  It’s the really small one on the bottom left - easily lost because of its size I would imagine.

The supersized “Birds of America” from 1827, features Audubon’s illustrations of 435 birds, 25 of which were previously undocumented, and six that are now extinct.

Not surprisingly this extremely large woodcut by Albrecht Durer is one of the largest prints ever made. It was commissioned by Emperor Maximilian in 1517 to be pasted on the walls of city halls or palaces of princes.  This copy is from the third edition printed in 1799.

Charles Dicken’s desk and chair (1859/70) from his office, and later moved to his home, may have been where he wrote some chapters of “Great Expectations.”

But what finally drew me to the library was a special display of a Jefferson copy of the Declaration of Independence.  It’s not the original manuscript with the edits made by the Continental Congress’s – that one is in the Library of Congress.

This hand written copy is one of the five to seven fair copies (only two exist today) that Jefferson made in which he included and underlined the passages that had been removed – a director’s cut!  You've got to love that.

Finally,  it’s worth mentioning that on the first 100 degree day that NYC has had in 14 years (the last one was July 18, 2012) the library was blissfully cool.   And definitely worth a visit.

Here are some other NYC museum exhibits – the Jerome Robbins one includes more of his diary pages 😊

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2019/04/jerome-robbins.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2019/06/mucha-at-poster-house.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2019/07/mucha.html

Cheers!

PJ

© 2026 PJ Lehrer

Gingerbread Houses p2

 

This year’s display of gingerbread houses at the Museum of the City of New York is wrapping up today, so I thought I’d post a second set of photos.

I’m not sure why someone decided to build a power plant, but it does have some cool structures.

Could anything be more NYC than Santa stuck in traffic on the Brooklyn bridge?

Maybe Broadway dancers?

The Bronx Botanical Garden is a favorite of course. 

 Here’s a link to the pics from this year’s Van Gogh sunflowers exhibit.

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2025/09/sunflowers-nybg.html

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2025/11/nybg-sunflowers-2.html

 

And one of their waterlilies.

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2025/10/water-lilies-nybg.html

But probably what hit me hardest was this one of the Christopher Street subway station complete with homeless person.  Sadly, I have often seen them at this stop.

The Westside tennis club in Forest Hills is another NYC classic.

And you can never go wrong with a lighthouse.

But this Santa caught my eye because it reminded me of the window display I did for the bookstore at Northeastern while I was in graduate school.  Someone asked me if I could make Santa Black and I said “Sure.”  (He is a fictional character after all. 😉)

All in all, I enjoyed the exhibit so much, that I am thinking about going again next year if the stars properly align.  Fingers crossed.

Here’s the link to the first set…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2025/12/gingerbread-houses.html

Enjoy!

PJ

 

© 2026 PJ Lehrer

Gingerbread Houses

 

The Museum of the City of New York holds a yearly gingerbread contest.

Begun in 2022, it invites people to submit their own takes on NYC in gingerbread.

After reading about the yearly event, I tried to check it out once before,

but ran into what appeared to be a bomb scare that closed down not just the museum but also 5^th Avenue. 

(The museum is on 5^th Avenue and 103^rd Street.)

I had better luck this time. 😊

This year’s theme was “Iconic New York.”  The exhibit runs until January 19^th, 2026.

The sculptures were extraordinary, and the entire room had a delicious gingerbread scent.

While some of the entries tackled typical gingerbread themes.

Others focused more on the icon theme.  Like this award winner.  😉

Cheers!

PJ

 

© 2025 PJ Lehrer