Northern Italy then and today

Alain De Botton, philosopher and writer of 15 books, one of which 'How Proust can change your life' I read.  It's considered witty.  Me, eh. I barely remember it.  It was Proust finely strained to extract the author's views.  Today in the NY Times his article titled 'Camus on the Coronavirus' is about Camus' book "The Plague" which I read 40 years ago, and I remember, especially the image in the beginning of the book of finding one dead rat and then another and then another.
In this piece Botton mentions the Italian plague of 1630, 300 years after the infamous Black Plague. Never heard of 'The Italian Plague'.
So I googled.
It occurred from 1630 to 1633 and hit Lombardy most severely killing 25% of the Italian population.  The plague resulted in the decline of Venice as a commercial and political power.  Venice lost 33% of its population.
It is believed to have been spread by French, German and Venetian troops returning from the 30 years war and it is now identified as the Bubonic Plague.
Today we are hearing about infected asymptomatic individuals with Covid 19 unwittingly spreading this present day pandemic.
Today there are 650 cases of bubonic plague reported annually, with 10% mortality rate with treatment [antibiotics], 30 to 90 % if untreated.
So my takeaway is keep to the basics: always wash your hands for 20 seconds, cover your coughs and sneezes, eat right, exercise, and get plenty of fresh air which by the way right now in New York City is at its best.  And don't go reading Camus' 'The Plague' now.  Another time most definitely. And this

  relax.

Meanwhile back at the Whitney

Covid 19 has shut down virtually everything in the city so I thought I would return to The Whitney.  I have some more photos and more to say.
I think I made it plain in the last post that the inspiration for the artists' work was political.  It was to represent the glory of the common man and woman.

 These are excerpts from Eisenstein's film of a local wedding.  The headgear the villagers are wearing is from a sunken ship.  The containers listed them as children's clothing.  The villagers thought they were too pretty for children so they turned them into head ornaments.

This is a portrait of a worker by Marion Greenwood [1909-1970] of Brooklyn and Woodstock New York.  From 1932 to 1936 she lived in Mexico and studied with Rivera.  This is a detail from the Red Hook Housing Project commissioned by the Federal Art Project. Her work is in the public art collections of a dozen museums including the Smithsonian.
And on another floor of the Whitney in the exhibition 'Craft In Art' were these:

                                                                       embroidery

VIDA AMERICANA

The 2020s are off to a roaring start with one of the best exhibitions that I have seen in a long time.  Not just because of its variety of artists:
Ben Shawn
David Alfaro Siqueiros
Eitaro Ishigaki
Marion Greewood
Diego Rivera
Sergei Eisenstein
Jacob Lawrence
Everett Gee Jackson
Jackson Pollack
Jose Clemente Orozco
Charles White
Alfredo Ramos Martinez
Frida Kahlo

But also its presentation of Culture, Radical Politics, the influence they have on the artist and artists influence on each other.
Such as the relationship between David Alfaro Siqueiros and Jackson Pollack.

David Alfaro Siquerios was born in Camargo, Chihuahua on 12/29/1896. Died in Cuernavaca, Mexico on 1/6/1974
Jackson Pollock was born in Cody, Wyoming on 1/28/1912. Died in Springs, NY on 8/11/56.

At 15 Siqueiros was involved in a student strike. At 18 he was fighting with the Constitutional Army against Victoriano Huerta [military officer & president by coup].  After the fall of Huerta his Constitutional Army fought against both Zapata and Pancho Villa.  After his Army gained control he moved to Paris and met Cezanne where he absorbed the influence of Cubism.  In 1921 he wrote 'Vida Americana' having been exposed to Marxism and the life of the rural poor.  The new government after Huerta planned to educate the masses through public art.  Siqueiros, Diego Rivera and Jose Orozco were hired to work together to create murals in prominent Mexico City buildings.
Siqueiros later went to Los Angeles to work with others on public murals.  Because of the politics they were painted over.  He was deported in 1932 for political activities but came back in 1936 to New York to work on the General Strike for Peace and the May Day Parade.  Then he went to Spain to fight in the Spanish Civil War against the fascists.  He was also involved in an attempted assassination of Trotsky. 
In 1936 Jackson Pollock was in NYC and attended a workshop of Siqueiros to help create floats for the May Day Parade, his only 'political' work.  That workshop, Siqueiros' Experimental Workshop, used modern devices such as airbrushes, spray guns and projectors.  It was here that Pollock was introduced to liquid paint and it was in the early 1940s that he started using it in his paint pouring works.
To be continued 

George Washington drank here

Fraunces Tavern

His birthday was Sunday so I visited here where George Washington headquartered for peace negotiations with the British.  Also because it was raining.  Nice place with a museum which I didn't visit.

I had an Irish Coffee.  What can I tell ya?  It was raining.

The Man In The Red Coat

John Singer Sargent [1856-1925] is one of my favorite painters because of his wonderful and interesting portraits.

From his watercolors

from his oils.
The first gentleman with that challenging stare is a Bedouin of North Africa.  Sargent traveled North Africa and did many portraits of the native men and woman.  The Brooklyn Museum had an exhibition of his watercolors and that is where I met him.
The second gentleman was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I found both fascinating but especially 'The Man In The Red Coat'.  Let's say he looked familiar.
He is Samuel Pozzi 1846-1918] who according to a new biography by Julian Barnes used his charm and wife's money to become the most prominent MD in Belle Epoque France, the first professor of gynecology in France, heterosexual, lover of Sarah Bernhardt and others.  An extraordinary life that did not end well. Pozzi was shot 4 times by Maurice Machu; a patient he had refused to operate on because the condition varicocele of the scrotum had become inoperable.
What a different impression the portrait gives.
P.S. I apologise for the quality of the photos.  They were taken from postcards I bought at the time of the exhibition.  Tried downloading from the internet but the skill set isn't there yet.

Fires

I was sitting at the table on hold with my health insurance provider when I heard the sirens.  I looked out the window and saw this on 2nd Avenue and 6th Street.  I haven't gotten out to the street to see the damage but it looked serious, about 7 fire trucks serious.  There were firemen on the roof when flames coming through the roof where visible from my window.  I may find out more when I tune into 'NY 1' but then again I may not because as of last counting which was in 2018 there were over 40,000 fires in NYC with 300,598 medical emergencies and 73 fatalities  according to nyc.gov.  There is now a helicopter over the site.  If it's 'NY 1' they're too late.  Just an hour after the sirens started up First Ave. it's all over; not even smoke to see.
This city is amazing.

The big cloud that has kept me from blogging was caused by glitches in downloading photos from my phone and camera.  Today the camera worked and I got some photos but not the ones I wanted.  Above is an old photo of my view that's indicative of my last weeks efforts.
Here is a photo of a subject I will explore at another time.  It was taken when I went to chinatown to meet friends for DimSum.  I was early and walked around and found this church which looked interesting. 
They didn't download and I have to get ready for Restaurant Week luncheon with friends and they're shutting off my water at 10 AM to do some repairs.
Some more: