The Bronx Journal/May/june 2002 A 12 E N T E RTA I N M E N T Revisiting hat better time for a Paul the Ordrupgaard Collection, Copenhagen”) Gauguin exhibit than the that runs contemporaneously at the Met. beginning of summer, when A great deal - too much, probably - has the mind turns to thoughts of escape and been made of Gauguin’s association with paradise? Van Gogh and their brief and tragic sojourn Half of the great French painter’s popular in Arles, a story that focuses on Van Gogh. appeal is in the legend: the stockbroker and But Gauguin was the stronger, the more family man who gave up the conventional confident artist. His art was as passionate as life to be an artist in Paris, then gave up civ- Van Gogh's but more learned in its combi- ilization entirely to be a primitive in the nation of rare and exotic elements and more South Seas. broadly decorative. He came up with a But he was one of the big three - along highly original synthesis of Eastern, with Cezanne and Van Gogh - who rein- European, and primitive art that artists are vented art in the late 19th century. Out of still responding to today. Cezanne came cubism; out of Van Gogh, Art was far more than a career or vocation expressionism; and out of Gauguin, sym- for Gauguin. It was a way of life. He was a bolism. And today, like his contemporaries, restless adventurer who absorbed the cul- he still looms a giant. ture and subjects from his travels and trans- Next to him, Picasso was a trickster, lated them, not only into paintings, but into Matisse a clever designer - great artists, but utilitarian objects. In Brittany, he carved RAFAEL MIESES inhabitants of a lesser age. There hasn’t and decorated his own wooden shoes as Entertainment Editor been anyone of comparable stature to well as the cupboards in his quarters, with Gauguin in the 99 years since he died of local motifs. In Tahiti and the Marquesas he heart failure on in the Marquesas carved his own doors and tables - and even rich Kunzel & the country of writer James Joyce and its Islands. coconuts -with exotic imagery. neighboring lands. This album of 16 He’s long overdue for a New York show. In addition to major oil paintings, such as Cincinnati Pops tracks was recorded live at Cincinnati The exhibit that opens at the Metropolitan “Ia Orana Maria” from the Met’s own col- Orchestra Music Hall in March 2001. It also includes Museum June 18 isn’t the retrospective lection and “The Yellow Christ” and “The prominent performers of traditional and we'd get in a perfect world, but it should be Spirit of the Dead Watches (Manao tupa- popular Irish music such as the Chieftains, head and shoulders above anything else pau)” from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery “Celtic Spectacular” (Telarc) Ireland tra- Irish tenor John McDermott and flutist you’ll see this summer. It consists, oddly, in Buffalo, the exhibit will feature drawings ditional music has undergone a major James Galway. Other guests on Celtic only of paintings from within New York and prints, including a complete series of revival in the last decade. Spectacular include violinist Liz Knowles State. But that turns out to be quite a few. zincographs on canary yellow paper that he Its popularity extends to countries as dis- and Irish-American bagpipist Kieran “Gauguin in New York Collections: the showed at the Universal Exposition of parate as the U.S., Japan and Germany. O’Hare. The album includes two tracks Lure of the Exotic” will have more than 00 1889, and the suite of woodcuts that he The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra conducted from the show “The Lord of Dance,” one works. Adding depth are another eight carved in a crude and primitive style to by Erich Kunzel offers some of the most from Riverdance on Broadway and one Gauguin oils from an exhibit drawn from a illustrate the largely fictional journal of his beloved songs and dances associated with from the blockbuster film “Titanic”. Danish collection (“The Age of first trip to Tahiti, “Noa, Noa.” Impressionism: European Painting From The show will also feature examples of his sculpted marble, wood, and earthen- ware, including a stoneware piece, “Vessel BRIDGE: Oh no! It’s a misfit Decorated With Goats and a Girl From Martinique.” Relief carvings will include a panel from Gauguin's tropical open-air din- JULIAN LADERMAN He won the queen of spades and overtook ing room, a double coconut from the NORTH the jack with the ace in order to enter his Marquesas, and a dramatic horned-head A misfit is a situation that occurs when one Q J hand and hopefully run the spades. When with the face of the artist. player has two long suits and two short A Q J 10 spades broke 4-2, declarer was doomed to The other big event this summer will the suits, and his partner also has two long 8 6 defeat since he could only win eight tricks. June 29 debut of MoMA QNS, the tempo- suits and two short suits, where the long A 7 6 3 2 Declarer could not have avoided the rary outpost of the Museum of Modern Art, suits in either hand correspond to the short communication problem by ducking the which is closing its 53rd Street building for suits in his partner’s hand. In effect, this is WEST EAST diamond king, since the defense would three years of renovations. The Modern is a situation where there is no fit. 7 5 10 9 8 2 have continued diamonds for a second fiercely beating the drums, not just for the When a misfit occurs a partnership might 9 8 5 3 2 K 7 4 round. If the declarer were to duck that sec- 7 4 K Q J 10 new museum, but for its new neighborhood possess the high card values for game but ond round of diamonds, the defense would K J 10 5 Q 9 in western Queens, in an effort to overcome no game contract is makable. Since that have had to shift to a different suit, since a the reluctance of museum-goers and pair will lack an appropriate trump suit SOUTH third round of diamonds by the defense tourists to leave Manhattan. Shuttle buses they often will have no recourse but to AK 6 4 3 would have enabled declarer to develop a and an “Art Loop” map have been set up to attempt a notrump contract. Unfortunately, 6 second diamond trick. bridge the cultural divide and attract people a notrump contract is far from a safe haven A 9 5 3 2 Declarer’s mistake took place on the first not just to MoMAQNS, but to a scene that on misfit hands. A potential major problem 8 4 trick. He should have won the opening lead is being promoted as something akin to the is communication between declarer and with the heart ace, cashed the queen and next Soho or Tribeca. dummy. DEALER : WEST jack of spades, and then played the hearts The illustrated hand was misplayed by an BOTH SIDES ARE VULNERABLE until the defense took the king. With this Reprinted with permission from The Bergen Record experienced duplicate player. The bidding line of play, declarer would not have been West North East South SOLUTION TO PUZZLE FROM PAGE A-11 sequence revealed the values for game, but Pass 1C Pass 1S vulnerable to the communication problem. the hand was clearly a misfit. During the Pass 2C Pass 2D The finesse was pointless. Even if it had E W E P T A B C bidding, the search for a reasonable trump Pass 2H Pass 2NT been successful, it could not have been N A G L O U I S F E E fit forced both North and South to face sev- Pass 3NT Pass Pass repeated. So, unless the lead was from Pass 0 E S D eral awkward bidding situations. king-doubleton, a heart trick would still D R N E A T E When declarer saw dummy and the Opening lead: heart 3 have to be surrendered. That lead would O A T H A D D S opening lead, he was extremely pleased never occur. B I R D O T T O with the contract. In spite of the misfit, er. The ace of diamonds was a crucial entry A recurring theme in my columns is to K I T E V E R N E W S with proper technique this hand plays nice- to declarer’s hand. Declarer had hoped to plan a whole hand, before calling for a card I K E R E E S V I A ly in notrump. Declarer expected to win 10 first win the queen and jack of spades in from dummy on the first trick. Even expe- D E M O I S E E E S P tricks providing that spades did not break dummy and then use the diamond ace as an rienced players get sloppy. Always consid- worse than 4-2: 1 club, 1 diamond, 3 hearts entry to his hand in order to cash at least er potential communication problems, par- A L L S V A L E and 5 spades. He quickly called for the two but more likely three additional spade ticularly when you face a misfit. S A R A T H E M heart 10 based more on instinct than analy- tricks. Instead, he won the diamond king T A R T O E R A S E D sis. East won that trick, and played the dia- with the ace and had no recourse but to Professor Julian Laderman (Math and Computer Science) E L K E L L A S U N O is a Life Master of ACBL mond king. This was a fatal blow to declar- pray for a 3-3 spade break(36% chance). E E E A R E G G