
1958 Richard Neutra sketch of Gettysburg cyclorama building
It was a slow news week here at the Strawfoot. I took Friday off to rest up a bit before the spring semester begins tomorrow. The Hayfoot and I went to the Met Museum. You have until March 17 to check out Matisse: In Search of True Painting. The concise exhibit–it logs in with just 49 art works–manages to explain the evolution of Matisse’s work across the span of his career up through his death in 1954. I first grasped his penchant for painting in series after a visiting the Pompidou years ago and seeing different versions of long familiar paintings, but this show captures this tendency of Matisse’s and shows it to you in full. The Met is one of the few places in the world that could have pulled this off. Last night we watched the first episode of Mad Men. We tend to watch one series from beginning to end on Netflix before moving on to something else. A short list includes The Twilight Zone, All in the Family, The Office, Ugly Betty, and The Rockford Files. Now we’re going to sped our winter with Don Draper.
Research for the Hawley biography is slowly but surely continuing. I will undoubtedly learn a great deal along the way–otherwise why write it?–but I feel I now know what the book will say, who its audience will be, how it will “read,” and that type of thing. In some ways these hurdles seem to be the most difficult part of the project. I am finding the process scary and exhilarating in equal measure. Work continues on Theodore Roosevelt Sr. and his friend William E. Dodge Jr. as well. Civil War New York is an under-explored and misunderstood subject. I couldn’t help but mention Roosevelt to the wife when we were walking up the stairs of the Met the other day, Theodore Sr. being one of the founders of the Met Museum and all.
The last thing the world needs is more news about the old cyclorama building but here is a link to a link to what Architectural Digest has to say about it. The piece is not long. I hope they videotape the demolition of the building when it comes down this winter.
Enjoy your Sunday.
(image/National Park Service)