Brian Abbott’s Blog

Having largely missed the colorful leaves this year due to travel and rain, I said to myself that the next available blue-sky day, I would go out and snap some photos.

I began in Central Park, but nothing was popping out. I do like this shot of The Lake looking toward Central Park West (CPW). The star of CPW is the San Remo, a twin towered affair that is brilliant in my opinion. Built in 1930, it is the tallest building on CPW with a luring finale atop each tower. The other prominent building on the right is the Beresford, a chunky three-towered residential building on CPW and 81st Street.

Central Park’s Lake with the twin-towered apartment buildings on Central Park West.

Walking down West 72nd Street, I came across this bishop’s crook street light outside the Dakota. Several original bishop’s crooks remain around town, but most are new installations that hark back to a time when design seemed more important. In 1934, the bureau responsible for street lighting photographed and cataloged the various types of lamps. Of the 76 types they recorded, only 19 have representative samples today.

Old fashioned bishop’s crook light post.

Reflected in the last glimmer of sunlight—progress. A crane appears in the relatively new Time Warner skyscraper at Columbus Circle, where Broadway, Central Park West, 59th Street, and 8th Avenue all meet. The crane is constructing the new residential building at 15 Central Park West. Light reflected from another glass tower produces a corrugated pattern on the smaller buildings below. Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall appears in the extreme lower right of the frame.

Progress. Crane reflected in the recently completed Time Warner Center.

I visited the Norton Simon Museum while attending the Astro-Viz Workshop in Pasadena, California. What a lovely collection of art. Here are some photos:

I was most surprised by Diego Rivera’s The Flower Vendor (Girl With Lilies). Rivera painted this in 1941 and the piece was a gift from Cary Grant. How lovely!

The Flower Vendor (Girl With Lilies) by Diego Rivera

The gardens were pleasant. A nice change of scenery for a few minutes. Here is a Chinese Hibiscus and a pair of Birds of Paradise.

Chinese Hibiscus

Birds of Paradise

I was struck by this scene within the larger Marriage at Cana by Jan Steen, a Dutch artist from the 17th century. The painting depicts a wedding feast in the village of Cana in Galilee when Jesus performed his first public miracle—turning water into wine. The people here are so natural and the male and female seem to be on equal footing on this conversation. Jesus lingers behind.

Marriage at Cana by Jan Steen

The museum has a large Asian art collection. Here are two Indian sculptures from the 11th century or thereabouts. In the foreground is Shiva as King of Dance and behind her is Buddha Shakyamuni.

Shiva as King of Dance

Back in the gardens, I came across Air by the French sculptor Aristide Maillol. She appears to reject her sunny, southern California setting, and the museum curators have cruelly pointed her west toward sunset.

Air by Aristide Maillol

Finally, there is Picasso’s Bust of a Woman. Picasso’s classical works always impress me. The distortions, notably the “man hands” in this work, indicate unusual subtlety in his departure from reality.

Bust of a Woman by Pablo Picasso

This is a short, glass-curtained building in Pasadena, California. I love the lines in this image. The rigid lines of the building along with the warped, reflected lines from the building across the street.

A rather warped glass-curtain building in Pasadena, California.