52 on 57Th That Were Established Long Before the by RAYMOND J

Inside: Raleigh on Film; Bethune on Theatre; Behrens on Music; Cole on Picasso; Gallery Night on NYC’s 57th Street; Seckel on the Cultural Scene; Lille on the Tango; New Art Books; Short Fiction & Poetry; Extensive Calendar of Events…and more! ART TIMES Vol. 26 No. 6 May/June 2010 52 on 57th that were established long before the By RAYMOND J. STEINER Art Students League moved onto the FOR ALMOST AS long as New York Street, Babcock Galleries for instance, City wrested the title of “art capital among the oldest still surviving that of the world” from Paris in late 19th/ opened some forty years before that early 20th-Centuries, it has been 57th school opened its doors to students Street in its midtown location that from around the world. The fact is, it took the reins as the epicenter of the was this street and its environs that “artscene”. To have one’s work exhib- became the goal of artists the world ited in Manhattan is to have arrived; over and the symbol of success if they to have one’s work on 57th Street, the could make it. (I hear strains of Sina- coveted goal of most serious artists. tra’s “If I can make it there…” from The mid-town artscene — roughly New York, New York thrumming in between 8th Avenue and Lexington my head.) and including a short distance up “Gallery Night on 57th Street”* was or down 5th Avenue — has been a inaugurated last year, but this time — steadily shifting scene of prestigious with fifty-two galleries keeping their exhibition spaces as galleries have doors open to the public from 5:00 to come and gone, some closing perma- 8:30 pm on Thursday, May 6th — it nently, others morphing into “newer” heralds a city-wide “Gallery Night” manifestations (and new names) as that includes Chelsea, SoHo, and both economics fluctuated, all the while Lower and Upper East Sides of Man- steadily increasing in number as the hattan, a four-day event of exhibitions, years have gone by. Hard to believe tours, films, talks, performances, and that there was a time when there were book signings, which will begin on the but a handful of galleries in all of New following day, Friday, the 7th, and run York City — not so hard to see that it on through Monday, May 10th. To be has fully grown into its “art capital of featured, then, in any of these “hap- the world” status. penings” — even if not on the coveted Why clustered in an easily-reached sidewalks of 57th — would be quite a walking distance? And why 57th feather in the cap of aspiring artists. Street? The first is easy — to make it In our own quarter-century-plus simpler for art buyers and patrons to presence on the New York City “shop”. The second? Perhaps because artscene, we’ve personally witnessed the Art Students League of NY has a lot of its history, a lot of its ongoing been on 57th since October of 1892, transformation, with places like SoHo moving in for business at 215 West — and now Chelsea — vying for status 57th just a bit short of its 18th Birthday that competes with Midtown Manhat- — and already attaining a world-wide tan. We’ve noted galleries — and, for reputation as a formidable addition to that matter, arts publications — come the world of art-instruction. As the old into being, blossom, and fade away. joke goes about how to get to Carnegie Some of the galleries listed on the 57th Hall — also on 57th Street — “Practice, Street May 6th event are new to us, practice, practice! — so also young many old and familiar places. I’ve been art students at the League had their And, of course there were galleries dreams of some day having a show 57th Street, New York City Continued on Page 3 just down the street and practiced, practiced, practiced under teachers was seen by most artists as a “special who shared the same dream. Rosina place” and to have one’s work seen in CSS Publications, Inc. the window of a gallery on 57th was, Support the Arts; Florio, the late director of the League, PO Box 730 once had a dream of convincing the for many, a sign of growing reputation Enrich your Life — to have a solo show in one of these Mt. Marion, NY 12456-0730 municipal planners of transforming www.arttimesjournal.com 845-246-6944 the length of 57th Street into a French- galleries, the sure stamp of having style Boulevard complete with a cen- become a “star”. ter mall of greenery — a bona fide art On the other hand, maybe it was th promenade to outshine all others. It just because 57 Street sat plump in Subscribe to ART TIMES never happened, but still, the street the middle of a burgeoning metropolis. ART-LITERATURE-DANCE-MUSIC-EXHIBITIONS-THEATRE-FILM-ART-LITERATURE-DANCE-MUSIC May/ June 2010 ART TIMES page 2 Peeks and Piques! ART TIMES WHILE VIEWING THE exhibit, ground that underlies all art criti- of their careers as arbiters of cultur- Commentary and Resource for the Fine & Performing Arts “Giovanni Boldini in Impressionist cism — in brief, that it is an art and al taste, it is not difficult to imagine ART TIMES (ISSN 0891-9070) is published bi- monthly by CSS Publications, Inc. with copies Paris” at The Sterling and Francine not a “science” — and, as I often do what they might have in store for us. distributed along the Northeast Corridor primarily Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, in my presentations, made it a point Who can fault the confused woman throughout the Metropolitan and Hudson Valley up at The Clark Institute who sim- Regions, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Massachusetts, I overheard a wom- to remind people that we give pic- Jersey each month. Copies are also available by an say, “I know I’m not supposed to ture books to children because they ply did not want to come across as mail to subscribers and arts organizations through- do not know how to read — because “fusty”, “stuffy”, or “sleepy”? Since out the US and abroad. Copyright © 2020, CSS like them, but I love Boldini’s paint- Publications, Inc. ings!” I kid you not! How did we get looking at pictures is an inheritance Boldini is anything but “cutting Publisher: Cornelia Seckel to this pass? Just how far have we all humans enjoy. Why have we for- edge” it would be gauche — or even Editor: Raymond J. Steiner undermined the confidence of ordi- gotten that picture-making precedes worse, “old-fashioned” — to admire Contributing Writers: nary people to make them think that by centuries word-making? Or that his work, would it not? But, I wanted Henry P. Raleigh Robert W. Bethune Ina Cole Dawn Lille they cannot view art on their own looking at and interpreting images to shout out to this woman, “Please! Frank Behrens Francine L. Trevens terms? Unfortunately, although she has been going on since mankind Please! Enjoy the work! Trust your Subscription Rates: might have been outspoken about became “mankind” — some even ar- own sensibilities. It’s OK to be a bit USA: $18 /1 year $34 /2years fusty now and then! Really it is!” Of Foreign: $35 /1 year $45 /2 years her uncertainty on whether or not guing that we became homo aesthe- course, this squarely plumps me into Contact for Print and Online Advertising Rates: she “ought” to like the work of Boldi- ticus simultaneously with becoming CSS Publications, Inc., PO Box 730, Mt. Marion, ni, she is surely not alone. Many are homo sapiens? Why have we lost one of those “sleepy” and “stuffy” cat- NY, 12456. Phone or Fax (845) 246-6944; simply more hesitant to boldly state sight of the fact that looking at im- egories…but then I am that. Still, I email: [email protected] ages (“art”) is a “built-in” skill we all was 30 once — knew infinitely more Web site: www.arttimesjournal.com opinions and views on art — espe- Deadline for Advertising is June 15 for Jul/Aug; cially on art that they do not quite enjoy? As I emphasize in my lecture than I know now — so who am I to Aug 15 for Sep/Oct; Oct 15 for Nov/Dec; Dec 15 for understand, or “get”. In fact, in the on Art Criticism, there simply are point a finger? Of course there are Jan/Feb; Feb 15 for Mar/Apr; Apr 15 for May/Jun. new trends, new tastes, new things Items for inclusion in the Calendar and Oppor- past 25 years or so that I’ve written no infallible “experts” in the busi- tunities section must be emailed, mailed or faxed to for ART TIMES, I come across an in- ness. Kathleen Arfmann, Executive to engage the mind. And our institu- the ART TIMES office by the 12th of the preceding Director of the Salmagundi Club, tions are correct to allow for these publication month. Email for guidelines. creasing number of people who have NYC, recently directed my attention new points of view to be encour- ART TIMES solicits short fiction and poetry — see opted out of dropping into art gal- our listing in Writer’s Market, Fiction Writer’s leries and museums altogether sim- to an article in the New York Times aged, touted, even supported. But is Market, Poet’s Market and other trade magazines ply because they claim to feel “con- (March 13, 2010), which featured the it necessary to peremptorily invali- or send a legal-sized Self Addressed Stamped Envelope (SASE) for Guidelines.

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