Culture – Writing New Jersey Life

A Cherry Blossom Spring: Branch Brook Park

On June 21, 2023

In Arts, Cherry Blossoms, Culture, Culture, Nature, Park, Travel

“Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light.” Theodore Roethke

Wandering under sunlit cherry blossoms is the hallmark of spring’s “Cherry Blossomland” in Branch Brook Park and one of life’s great pleasures. The dance of spring in the blossoms, tremulous and dainty in the breeze, signals the end of winter as much as the arrival of the blooms. So delicate, the white blossoms look like snowflakes on branches, spring having pranked winter with miraculous perseverance. On Easter Sunday, in a harmonious convergence with Purim and Ramadan, and the festive afterglow of Holi, families, couples, photographers, and worldwide visitors strolled throughout the nearly four-mile park. All were smiling, most grinning, blissed out by the breathtaking beauty and the great gift of enjoying life fully again.

Wonderful year-round, the park’s atmosphere is especially so in the spring. The park is a blossom-lover’s dream with all types of cherry trees: single blossom, double blossom, and weeping. Though selfies are the fashion, part of the fun in cherry blossom season is trading iPhones and cameras to capture happy moments. Young auteurs giving directions while photographing their parents were charming, even holding up hands for “framing” on this and an earlier visit. One, about 5 or 6, was reluctant to return the phone to parental amateurs in a hilarious and affectionate back and forth. Stay long enough, or better yet, visit often, and experience the second flowering of Branch Brook Park: blushing brides before blooms, proud young adults in caps and gowns, adorable children dressed for First Communion, lovely girls in Quince dresses, graceful women in saris and salwar kameez, and smartly dressed families in their holiday best, all posing in blossom-laden photos as everyone passes through the park with a rhythm that mirrors the flow of the Branch Brook after which it takes its name. Those dedicated to the park like the Branch Brook Park Alliance know how a shared love of beauty can bring people together.

Branch Brook Park in spring reflects the worldwide celebration of the blooms. Japanese cherry blossom festivals honor each stage of the blossom, which is reflective of life’s rites of passage with a reverence for nature that is intertwined with both Shintoism and Bhuddism. “Sakura” means not only “cherry blossom,” but symbolizes renewal. The blossoms’ brief bloom is bittersweet, reminding admirers to appreciate the fleeting flowering beauty and nature’s imperfection. How this philosophy of “wabi-sabi” (greatly condensed), which is from Zen Buddhism, manifests itself in everyday life in Japan is that family, friends, students, and co-workers gather in the tradition of “hanami,” which means flower-viewing, or what Americans might call picnicking, to appreciate the blossoms. In Japan, school begins in April and collective childhood back-to-school memories are replete with falling petals much like many Americans associate crunching leaves with the start of school. Hanami in Branch Brook Park translates into the annual “Bloomfest” and a new Cherry Blossom Welcome Center that is scheduled to open this fall.

Olmsted and Branch Brook Park history

A map of the L-shaped park of 360 acres shows its three main sections, the North, Middle, and the South with a picturesque extension in Belleville, which makes the park nearly four miles long. Branch Brook is a tributary of the Passaic River and the park includes a reservoir, a lake, ponds, streams, and the Second River in the Belleville extension. With the liveliness of the present-day park, it seems hard to believe that it is the oldest county park in the country.

Branch Brook Park reflects a history of generosity. Civil War volunteers trained in what was Camp Frelinghuysen on the former land of the Newark Aqueduct Board. The Ballantine Family gifted 32 acres, Z.M. Keene, William A. Righter, and Messrs. Heller, collectively, 50 acres, and the Newark Common Council, 60 acres. In 1924, Harmon Washington Hendricks, an industrialist from a prominent philanthropic Jewish family which dates back to the late 1700’s, bequeathed his family home and the 23 acres along the Second River, the former site of the Hendricks Copper Mill. The adjacent Hendricks Field Golf Course, upgraded in 2018, also has cherry trees.

Regarding the park design, requested by the Newark Park Commission, Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. and Calvert Vaux, well-known for Central Park (1858), envisioned a bucolic Branch Brook Park (1867) with their trademark naturalism that includes extensive rolling hills, stately tree clusters, waterways, and inviting paths. Landscape architects John Bogart and Nathan F. Barrett designed a plan with an ornamental or “romantic” style (1895), but it was the Olmsted Brothers, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., and his half-brother, John Charles Olmsted, who created the park keeping the garden-like style of Bogart and Barrett around the reservoir.

The cherry blossoms adorn the design. Branch Brook Park boasts the largest collection of cherry blossoms in the country, though the picturesque spring wonder of Washington, DC’s Tidal Basin, a gift of cherry trees from Japan in 1912, receives an applause-worthy note as do the cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. In 1927, Caroline Bamberger Fuld, who was the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Germany, brought 2,000-2,050 cherry trees of many varieties from Japan. A lovely detail of this story is that she nurtured the cherry blossom trees on her own nearby Orange, New Jersey estate to ensure their survival before having them planted in the park.

Caroline Bamberger Fuld
(Photo: Jewish Women’s Archive)

Caroline was the sister of Bamberger and Co. department store founder Louis Bamberger and the wife of Felix Fuld, another founder. After Felix passed away in January 1929, Louis sold the business to R.H. Macy & Co. a few months before the stock market crash. (Louis Bamberger gave the company’s 236 long-term employees, or “co-workers” as he called them, $1 million after the sale. Ideal bosses, he and Felix Fuld provided on-site health care, a cafeteria, a music club, a library, and classes offered through Rutgers University.) After her husband’s death, Ms. Fuld, along with Louis, carried on her husband’s generosity. Both Caroline and Louis are known today for co-founding the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, which created a place for independent thought and research and gave new lives to many Jewish mathematicians in the 1930’s who needed to leave Europe.

The original 2,000+ gift of Ms. Fuld has increased to approximately 5,200 (some sources note more) with 18 varieties with the help of the Alliance and Essex County Parks and Recreation, both of which have added more trees, preserved trees, and restored historical and architectural treasures. Various sources note that not only does the park have the most blossoming cherry trees in the country, but the greatest variety. Regarding the undertaking of planting the initial trees from Ms. Fuld, the National Park Service credits the Olmsted Brothers with returning and giving the trees a tiered-slope placement so park-goers could appreciate the blooms more completely. For those who prefer an immersive cherry blossom experience, the Belleville extension has the most densely planted blooms, which is also a wondrous experience for enjoying the light fragrance. A note here to underscore the park signs which have increasingly larger letters each year; please do not touch the trees so others may enjoy their beauty.

Architectural details

As Branch Brook Park Alliance notes, most of the “centennial” structures, those over 100 years old, are the work of the distinguished Carrere and Hastings, the most notable being the Beaux-arts Ballantine Gate, 1898. (The gates lead to the also noteworthy architecture of the Forest Hills section of Newark, where Newark Porchfest brings fun and music each fall.) There are also some Art Deco gems and the distinctive lion sculptures by Karl Bitter at the reservoir. The lions, donated by the Prudential Insurance Company from their former office building, are nicknamed “Art” and “Pat” after former Prudential CEO Art Ryan and his wife Pat, also park supporters. Prudential arranged for the planting of twenty-four cherry trees as a memorial to Kiyofumi Sakaguchi. Other elegant tributes include the Patricia A. Chambers Cherry Grove, the Althea Gibson Tennis Center and statue by Thomas Jay Warren, the Roberto Clemente Fields and statue, a Felix Mendelssohn bust, a prize won by the United Singers of Newark in 1903, and a bust of Frederick Law Olmsted, also by Thomas Jay Warren, to note a few. While setting out to write about cherry blossoms, this has turned to a reflection on generosity, which are essentially one and the same in Branch Brook Park.

Beaux-arts Ballantine Gates by Carrere, 1898, and Hastings, restored by Essex County Restoration and Open Space Fund (2020)

Art Deco Bridge, Belleville extension (2016)

One of the two 7-foot-tall limestone Prudential lions, 1901, by sculptor Karl Bitter at the reservoir with the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in the background (2018)

Althea Gibson by Thomas Jay Warren (2018)

Althea Gibson Tennis Center, which looks like a Tiffany window (2016). Louis Comfort Tiffany, a name appearing at the Newark Museum of Art, went to school and trained early on as a painter in NJ, another case for the maxim “all roads lead to New Jersey”.

Roberto Clemente statue by Roberto Clemente Field, Lake Street and Bloomfield Avenue, 2012, by Susan Wagner, a slightly smaller scale version (8 feet) of her Clemente statue at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. Made possible through private donors, Verizon, and PSE&G.

Frederick Law Olmsted bust at the reservoir (2022)

Peak blooms are usually between the second and third weeks of April which means a welcome return trip for fans of the wonderful Newark St. Patrick’s Day Parade. For blossom viewing, driving is an option to see these sights and the blossoms, though there are wheelchair-friendly trails. Light rail lines and buses also travel to the park. For the definitive history of Branch Brook Park, please visit the Alliance. Other park features include the Prudential Concert Grove near the lions and reservoir, a roller skating rink and basketball courts near the cathedral basilica, baseball fields, bocce courts, which will return when the new center opens, a playground in the Belleville extension (“excellent” as rated by peals of laughter) and the Alliance’s cherry blossom live cam for anyone who cannot make the trip (yet) along with their Bloomwatch, which is also informative about the variety of cherry blossom blooms, on social media. Though the Rutgers Master Gardeners and many other organizations volunteer to help keep the park beautiful, the Alliance always welcomes more volunteers.

Pathway in Southern Division by the cathedral (2022 in this section)

Lake in Southern Division by Roller Rink

Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart

Standing majestically on the park’s horizon is the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, graceful with its French Gothic Revival style (1898-1954). Both a National and a New Jersey Historic Site, the fifth largest cathedral in the nation is approximately 45,000 square feet, about the size of Westminster Abbey in London, and draws tourists as well as parishioners for its beautiful architecture. In 1995, Pope John Paul II conferred the title of “minor basilica” upon the cathedral, the highest recognition given to a cathedral with special significance.

Viewing the cathedral and the cherry blossoms was one of our early family traditions as Vailsburg, Newark residents, which brings to mind one special person among many, our grandmother, remembered in “Arriving Home to Sweetness”. Another early memory was seeing the first spring light shining through a window while hearing the voice of Newark’s Sarah Vaughan* from the records of “The Divine One” played often by our father fan. Newarker Whitney Houston was the great vocal artist of my generation, recalled in a visit to the former Grammy Museum at the Prudential Center, which is still home to the New Jersey Devils and the Seton Hall Pirates. The Newark Museum of Art, with its incredible collection, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), which now hosts the annual Sarah Vaughan Vocal Competition, and the Newark Library, which is a beautiful building and an excellent research resource, are also nearby.

New Jersey Center for the Performing Arts

“The Cuppah” by Gianni Toso, Newark Museum of Art

Beaux-art, Tiffany & Co. , 1900, Newark. Belonged to the [Thomas and Mina] Edison, West Orange.

An appreciative Martin Brodeur in “The Salute” to fans, 2015, by Jon Krawczyk outside Prudential Center (2019). The statue’s stand contains a fans’ time capsule of Brodeur memorabilia.

Partial view of the magnificent “The Mural,” 2007, by ambidextrous sports artist Tom Mosser. Commissioned by the NJ Devils, at 200’ x 30′ it is one of the largest indoor sports mural in the country. Pictured here are Martin Brodeur, Ritchie Regan, and boxers among many celebrated state athletes and icons.

Left to right: Ken Daneyko, Tony Meola, Terry Dehere, Althea Gibson

Note: News 12 New Jersey recently reported that Newark artists Rorshachbrand, Robert Ramone and Andre Leon, have created a new, beautiful mural honoring Newark and New Jersey musical artists that will inspire performers as they take the stage at the Prudential Center.

The 22-foot stainless steel “Stanley” aka “The Iron Man” by NJ Devils fan Jon Krawczyk stands in Championship Plaza behind the Pru Center. Children enjoy sitting and playing on his foot and hockey stick in what has become a popular selfie station/photo stop. The artist drove this and “The Salute” across the country from his California studio.

Newark Library (2015) which has beautiful murals

Nature’s poetry

Central Park has a plaque with the Theodore Roethke quote note above, “Deep within their roots, all flowers keep the light,” which came up when researching it. (This calls for a visit to another Olmsted gem: “Central Park: A Template of Beauty”.) The renowned poet, who inspired generations of poets, felt a deep connection with nature from the time spent with his father in the elder’s greenhouse workplace where young Theodore observed the nurturing of beauty. After experiencing family tragedies at 14, Theodore struggled, as many young people have following the pandemic, but later found his way by writing poetry. Thematic in his work is the belief that nature has a soul, perhaps being interconnected with his own. Poet Roethke’s view of nature as holding spiritual truth complements the essence of a traditional blossom festival.

A walk in the park with nature’s beauty, fresh air, and a stretch can often make cares drift away like petals on the stream. Nature is a gift, no more so than in spring, when flowers bring joy. In the absence of the poet, deferring here to blossom eloquence.

* (No YouTube ad, hopefully; if so, worth the wait for “I’ve Got the World on a String”.)

(Sources: branchbrook.org, essexcountyparks.org, rhiplaces.com,
newarkbasilica.org/history, newarkhistory.com, newarkmemories.com, smithsonian.org, planning.org, jwa.org, loebjewishportraints.com, ias.edu, my modermet.com, loc.gov, asiasocity.org, portal.cca.edu, bbg.org, gotokyo.org, japaneseobjects.com, kenyonreview.org, poetryfoundation.org, knowingnewark.npl.org, acchamber.org, acfpl.org, tapinto.net, patch.com, jerseycares.org, tclf.org, krelickconservation.com, whom.com, bridgesnyc.com, splurgefrugal.com, emaculent.wordpress.com, dana.njit.edu, margatemasmore.com, wobm.com, cherryhill.yolasite.com, wally gobetz flickr.com, nhl.com, alltrails.com, lastleafgardener.com, nps.gov, Wiki)

“Welcome Summer at State Fair Meadowlands”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On June 25, 2021

In Culture, Family, Friendship, Lifestyle, State Fair, Travel

State Fair Meadowlands with MetLife Stadium

“Treat every day like Christmas.”

Buddy the Elf

Celebrate summer and every new day out at the State Fair Meadowlands with its welcome return. Rainbow colors, catchy pop tunes, the whirring of rides, and shrieks of delight – the fair produced by State Fair Event Management is the launch of summer fun.

Perhaps it is true to form that a fair in New Jersey is on pavement as opposed to being in a cornfield, but a magical transformation delivers both an amusement park and a Garden State country fair with face painting, a petting zoo, pig races, high dives, music (not just live music, but great bands), magic shows, and a renowned hypnotist’s act that has most out-of-staters leaving saying, “Where’s the nearest jughandle so we can turn around and do it all again?” As part of the Meadowlands dynamic, helicopter rides take the place of the traditional hot air balloon ones. The location also gives excellent accessibility, so everyone can attend.

Floating over Root Beer Floats on the Sky Ride ✨

Following so many pairs of tiny hands in big, wandering fairgoers will first encounter a cornucopia of booths with every imagined fair food favorite from cotton candy to tropical smoothies to gyros to empanadillas. (If you’re dieting, wear blinders and track shoes, or better yet, treat your loved ones.) The serene Sky Ride gives fairgoers an overview and #instagreat photos that meet classic thrill rides like the Polar Express with scares galore in the Haunted Mansion. Candy colored kiddie rides are rivaled only by the Petting Zoo. Though scaled back a bit this year, the zoo still provides enough kid to kid excitement with goats and barnyard friends to elicit happy dances from small children. The fun of rides is only part of the “feel good” atmosphere that makes this one of my favorite events in the state. Adding to the daily fair excitement are the Fourth of July fireworks on July 3^rd and 4^th.

Young Artists

Did you know that you would meet young artists at the fair? Portraiture is the new selfie, proving that everything old is new again, and fairgoers will have the pleasure of experiencing charm in person with no signal dropping. Remember making conversation? New friends will be met at the fair.

Thank you to these young artists. 🎨🌟

Travel Tidbits

To mask or not to mask? Candidly, not many wore masks on this year’s visit, but you can wear one without feeling out of place. If you are concerned, consider going early when it is easier to social distance. Everyone and everything, however, must pass through a metal detector at the entrance. Thank you to security for keeping each and every person safe. Thanks, too, to the amazing professionals calling out to come enjoy the rides and play games, whatever the weather, whatever the crowd, and to those who posed for photos taking it in faith that they were asked for those in good faith.

All smiles at the fun basketball toss at Cully’s Enterprises

Tickets for the fair, June 18^th through July 11^th, must be purchased online and a barcode downloaded for each instead of printing. A Pay One Price Fun Pass includes free admission, free shows and unlimited rides with some exceptions, and free parking. A Fast Pass, available only at the fair, entitles ticketholders to upgrade tickets and skip the lines for some rides. Children under three feet are free, a generous tradition.

As for souvenirs, the memories to take back into the workaday world are beyond compare. The fair magician conjures up children’s smiles, peals of laughter, and marvel, shared harmoniously by one and all. With this beautiful weather, what could be better than to rejoin family and friends in fun? With feet on the ground, but hearts in the air, let’s say to each other, “We’ll meet at the fair”.

(Sources: David Bernenbaum, screenwriter for “Elf”, for the opening quote and State Fair Events Management/State Fair Meadowlands)

“The National Arts Club: In Love with the Arts”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On February 15, 2021

In Architecture, Art, Arts, Culture, Fashion, Travel

“There is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.” Vincent Van Gogh

The National Arts Club earns a renown for its impressive art, engaging events, and a National Historic Landmark home in Gramercy Park, but its true vibrancy comes from its members. The Club members celebrate, promote, and educate others about the “visual arts, literature, film, architecture, fashion, photography and music” in the warm way of passing along a book that is too good not to share.

The Club that helps keep the arts alive in the city began in 1898 with Charles Augustus de Kay, the art and literary critic for The New York Times. Mr. de Kay’s goal was to look to American artists for inspiration rather than European, which was traditional at the time, and to encourage public interest in the arts and education in fine arts. With the help of philanthropist Spencer Trask, Mr. de Kay and fellow founding members like Henry Frick purchased the Victorian Gothic Revival mansion of Samuel J. Tilden, 25^th governor of New York, for the Club. Governor Tilden, who ended New York City corruption, most notably that of Tammany Hall, had bequeathed his fortune for a citywide New York Public Library. His stately home at 15 Gramercy Park South in the Gramercy Park Historic District was formerly two brownstones joined by a sandstone façade designed by Calvert Vaux, co-creator of Central Park. For the mansion’s exterior, Mr. Vaux used the Aesthetic Movement style that emphasized bringing beauty into all aspects of life, making it the ideal home for the Club. In a 2008 restoration, New York City-Brazilian artist Sergio Rosetti Morosini, active in the conservation of the city’s landmarks, added a bust of Michelangelo above the Club’s entrance. The interior includes magnificent stained-glass panels by artist John LaFarge, who had a studio in Greenwich Village, and a stained-glass dome by Scottish-born artisan Donald McDonald.

“Joyce Carol Oates,” NAC Medal recipient

The building is so elegant and distinctive that filmmakers and television producers have requested it for works like “The Age of Innocence,” “The Manhattan Murder Mystery,” “The Thomas Crown Affair” (1999), “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Billions,” “Gotham,” “Jimmy Choo,” and “Boardwalk Empire”. Even more distinctive is the welcoming of women as members since the Club’s 1898 founding. Historical name dropping of former members includes artistic greats like painters Cecilia Beaux, Frederic Remington, William Merritt Chase, George Bellows, Chen Chi and sculptors Anna Hyatt Huntington, Robert Henri, Daniel Chester French, and Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

With such names, one might mistake the Club as being pretentious, but members are there to share a genuine love of the arts. Crossing the threshold means receiving a friendly greeting not only from other members but long-time staff. The atmosphere is lively for the sociable and serene for artists at work. Dining amidst beautiful artworks, resuming again Tuesday with safety protocols, is another opportunity to connect. Lectures and events cover topics including art, fashion, fragrances, cuisine, dance and movement, film screenings, and concerts featuring jazz, classical, and contemporary music. In the past year, the Club has celebrated its fun traditions virtually with events like this month’s Bonnet Bash hat contest, the holiday concert with the Gramercy Brass Orchestra, the Halloween Gala, and Open House New York.

Membership includes worldwide access to other clubs. Additional membership perks allow access to meeting and event rooms, overnight accommodation, and Gramercy Park, the last private park in Manhattan, all the more relaxing for restricting photography.

Important traditions recognize lifelong contributors to the arts with the National Arts Club Medal and encourage new playwrights with the Kesselring Prize for Playwrighting. Medal recipients, whose portraits adorn the walls, include Anna Sui, Joyce Carol Oates, Frederica von Stade, Patricia Field, Claire Bloom, Ellen Burstyn, Toni Morrison, Nadine Gordimer, Lin Manuel-Miranda, John Turturro, Itzhak Perlman, Ang Lee, Salman Rushdie, Spike Lee, I.M. Pei, Tom Wolfe, Frank McCourt, W.H. Auden, Saul Bellow, Tennessee Williams, Roy Lichtenstein, Philip Roth, Mark Twain, Downing Vaux, Calvert’s son, and more. The Kesselring Prize awarded in honor of Joseph Kesselring, best known for writing “Arsenic and Old Lace,” presently honors playwright Mona Mansour. Selected new artists receive support as Artist Fellows which gives them a membership for one year to enhance their careers.

The National Arts Club has carried on gracefully during this past year underscoring the importance of the uplifting to inspire and connect us. Artists, too, are visionaries, who give us pause to reflect. In a place where a love of art, life, people, and the city all flow together, this nonprofit’s extraordinary and newly renovated galleries are free and open to the public daily, 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. with reservations presently for safety. Additionally, gallery spaces are available for non-members. (Note: On view as of early 2022: “Art of the Abstract Mark,” Libbie Marks’ collage paintings, the “Will Barnet Student Show,” which welcomes new young artists, “Consequences: A Parlor Game,” which showcases the work of the National Academicians of 2021, and “A Century of American Landscape Art,” some landscape “treasures” from the Club’s permanent collection of more than 600 works of art.) Enjoy exhibition updates and Club news on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, which offers a virtual tour, also available on the NAC website.

“Benny Goodman,” NAC Medal recipient, by fellow medalist and Club member Everett Raymond Kinstler

While living in the city, I had the pleasure of being an affiliate member for a time through an alumnae group, which was an incredible experience. Later, I attended the most welcoming and cordial reception and tour, which included a view of The Players club for the performing arts next door, through another alumni association. A delightful lecture from curators from The Clark Art Institute and French National Heritage for the exhibition “Women in Paris, 1850-1900” marked the occasion of another memorable stop.

“Some Little Talk of Me and Thee There Was,” 1905-1909, by Harry Willson Watrous

On my most recent visit, which fell on Valentine’s Day of last year right before the pandemic began, the Media/Marketing Communications director kindly gave two talented British travel and cuisine writers and myself a morning tour. Such fans of New York City, the couple was here to celebrate his birthday. Having seen a number of the inspirational city sights on other trips, they asked me about a unique and wonderful New York City experience for which the only answer was, “The National Arts Club.” On every visit, I am thrilled by being in the company of people who also value what I love.

Valentine’s Day 2020 was a day of kindnesses, so in keeping with the true nature of the city. Though this valentine meandered en route for a while, it still arrives heartfelt.

(Sources: NAC website and social media, onthesetofnewyork,com, saxonhenry.com (member), the artstory.org, ny.curbed.com, tripadvisor.com, goodreads.com, Wiki)

Partial view of the Club’s historic brownstone home (2017)

“Christmas in Stockbridge”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On December 7, 2020

In Art, Arts, Culture, Family, Museum, Travel

“I don’t think Christmas is necessarily about things. It’s about being good to one another.” Carrie Fisher

A slightly curving panoramic shot to capture this 8 foot long painting at the Norman Rockwell Museum

At Christmastime, Norman Rockwell’s “Home for Christmas (Stockbridge Main Street Christmas),” which perfectly captures Christmas joy, comes to life the first Sunday of December with a living recreation of the painting which is now on view locally at the Norman Rockwell Museum – Home of American Illustration Art. “Gilmore Girl” fans will recognize the tradition of tableau vivant from “The Festival of Living Art” with Stockbridge’s delightful, real-life atmosphere outdoing even the charm of Stars Hollow. In a festive tweaking, the historic Red Lion Inn from the painting, now open in winter, twinkles with lights and features harmonizing carolers on the porch. Passers-by join in song with the same delight of the Berkshires proud who cheer at the words “from Stockbridge to Boston” from “Sweet Baby James” performed by their neighbor James Taylor in his summer visits to Tanglewood. Holiday concerts fill the churches and halls while both residents and visitors stroll along Main Street, closed to traffic for a few hours, each person truly part of the holiday canvas in this highlight among a weekend of events.

“Home for Christmas” and The Red Lion Inn

A real-life detail from “Home for Christmas”

Everyone from our proud veteran bus driver to the carriage drivers who smiled for the camera three times while visitors like us got photos in motion right was wonderful. The vintage car owners meet up year after year, welcoming honored new ones into the fold with a neighborly rapport. Filled with goodwill, part Stockbridge, part Rockwell, strangers offer to take photos for each other and talk about their affection for the town and their favorite Rockwell paintings as if they, too, were coming home. So warm and wonderful is the atmosphere that when looking up the photos, I had forgotten that it had rained that day just two years ago.

Though the live event did not take place this year, the good news is that a virtual version and seasonal events are online through December 31^st to plan ahead for next year. Even better news, Stockbridge is open and welcoming friends in a safe way via the Stockbridge Chamber of Commerce. The Norman Rockwell museum offers a train set replica of the painting along with the incredible art collection, both viewed on a timed schedule. Enjoy reading about one summer visit and the profile of the self-defined “illustrator” via “Frankly Norman: A Sketch” with a surprise guest. (Hint: The Hoboken, New Jersey guest’s “Christmas with the Rat Pack” had a unique holiday spin.) Fun tidbits are that Mr. Rockwell’s first Stockbridge studio was above the supermarket in “Home for Christmas” and his models, like Pop Fredericks who portrayed Santa in the artist’s “storytelling” and at events, were often his neighbors

“Couple Dancing Under Mistletoe,” 1928, from Norman Rockwell’s Charles Dickens series for “The Saturday Evening Post”

The Norman Rockwell Museum – Home of American Illustration Art

“Golden Rule,” 1961, at the Norman Rockwell Museum

Enjoy, too, the otherworldly beauty of “Winterlights” and Christmas trees at the McKim, Mead & White architectural gem Naumkeag, nearby Lenox’s virtual “A Christmas Carol” at the Gilded Age Ventfort Hall, and “NightWood” the outdoor “sound, light, and color” show at Edith Wharton’s home, all through late December – early January. With our renewed appreciation of nature, the Berkshire Landkeepers have ideas for taking in the woodland beauty. A Stockbridge Virtual Arts & Crafts Show, Gingerbread House Contest, and Hometown Christmas Light-Up Contest keep the season festive. Though the shops along Main Street offer everything from tech to nostalgia, the bow on top is the Stockbridge holiday spirit.

Sweet tree at Cramwell, a former resort, now a spa

A view to spring with Norman Rockwell’s “Spring Flowers,” 1969 (WikiArt)

(Sources: normanrockwellmuseum, newenglandhistoricalsociety.org, stockbridgeareachamber.org, saturdayeveningpost.com, thetrustees.org/place/naumkeag/, stockbridgeinn.com, antiqueshomemagazine.com, Wiki)

“Arriving Home to Sweetness”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On October 20, 2019

In Anti-bullying, Culture, Family

The most expensive piece of real estate that we may own is sweetness. As fortunate as we all may be while navigating through life, it would be far easier to let go of a quality that exudes vulnerability. Sweetness is usually not provoking, quite the contrary, but it may be catnip to some in this month of mischief. Like consideration or politeness, a kind disposition may come across as weakness to the wrong people. They see it as an invitation of an unsociable kind.

One may contemplate a life where sweetness goes underground, which could stir a Hallmark-ian imagination to think of hidden acts of charm. On the road, however, we see sweetness all the time: a father drives his dirt bike down a long driveway in South Jersey to get the mail which prompts whoops of glee with the hit of every bump from his toddler son who sits in his lap; a woman places dozens of small flags on a town hall lawn against a dewy sunrise downashore for Veterans Day unaware of passers-by; a mother alongside the Carranza Memorial in the heart of the Pinelands shares the story of the heroic aviator Captain Emilio Carranza with her daughters. Current examples come to mind: families and pets 🐾 don costumes in town-and-city proud Halloween parades, a mother listens to her child play the flute on a family farm as they keep each other company during a pumpkin sale, and green-thumbed urbanites’ window boxes overflow with autumn rainbows of flowers New York City way.

The sweetest person whom I have known, and I am fortunate to know many, was our grandmother Helen, whose name meant “light”. Though she was exceedingly shy, people gravitated to her kindness and warmth. She was a five-star baker, a reflection of her Bavarian heritage, and the house we all lived in was full of the conversation and laughter of family and friends who often dropped in to visit at the cozy home by the firehouse in Vailsburg, Newark, where our grandfather was a firefighter before he retired. Despite having a large dining room table, we all gathered around the small Formica kitchen one. While the coffee brewed, the percolator often going haywire somehow, everyone gabbed in overlapping dialogue and non sequiturs like that fabulous family in “While You Were Sleeping,” taking leave only to sing songs around the player piano in the foyer. Casey had the girl with the strawberry curls, and our grandfather had his girl with her hazel green eyes.

When a kind reserve was once mistaken as hesitation when I was a child, someone remarked to me, “You’re spending too much time with your grandmother,” meaning that I was becoming like her. My thought was and is, “I hope so.” In the way of the good having consideration over the bad in making life decisions, this is a roundabout avenue to arriving home to sweetness, no better place to be in this Anti-Bullying Month of October.

Our grandparents at our parents’ wedding at Sacred Heart Church, Vailsburg

“‘A Song for You’: The Grammy Museum Experience at the Prudential Center”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On April 5, 2019

In Arts, Culture, Music, Travel

Cherry blossoms at nearby Branch Brook Park

Photo taken before an NJ Devils’ game at the Prudential Center. The Grammy Museum entrance is alongside the building.

The Grammy Museum Experience at the Prudential Center, the first satellite of the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, is a Newark destination where you will receive a warm welcome from staff members who are proud of The Recording Academy’s East Coast home that opened in October 2017. A visit after the annual Newark Saint Patrick’s Day Parade this year added to the celebratory feeling of the awards showcase.

The museum opens with a dramatic entranceway filled with Grammy Awards through the decades. Visitors then enjoy a photo profile timeline of the Grammy Awards highlights since the start in 1958 with performing artists like Lady Gaga, Tony Bennett, Bruno Mars, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Elvis Presley, and milestones like the founding of the Latin Recording Academy in 1997.

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga, Stefani Angelina Germanotta, developed her material and onstage persona in Parsippany, NewJersey over the course of a year by commuting on buses to work with music producer Ron Fusari

There are also video interviews with singers like Halsey, from Edison, New Jersey and Ed Sheeran. Fun, interactive exhibits “Ray Charles and Raelettes” and two with Newark roots, “Drum with Max Weinberg” and “Wyclef Jean’s Rap Interactive,” are hits with children.

Bruno Mars, Peter Gene Hernandez, sang in the Super Bowl XLVIII in the New Jersey Meadowlands, has a new hit with Cardi B.

Max Weinberg interactive exhibit. Mr. Weinberg’s Jukebox Tour will make a stop in Woodbridge, New Jersey June 1st to celebrate the city’s 350th birthday

During this week’s Cherry Blossom Festival in Branch Brook Park, or after a concert, an NJ Devils match, the annual Mikey Strong Charity Game, or a Seton Hall Pirates basketball game at the Prudential Center is an ideal time to visit the modest-sized museum. Admission is $10 with discounts for youth (3-17, 2 and under, free), college students with ID, like those from Rutgers University Newark, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Essex County College, and Seton Hall Law School, $9, military with ID, $7, and group rates.

The art at the Prudential Center, known as “The Rock” from the Prudential Insurance Rock of Gibraltar logo, features sculptures as one enters the building: “The Salute,” honoring Martin Brodeur and “The Iron Man,” the latter on Championship Plaza, both by sculptor Jon Krawczyk, a New Jersey native and a Devils’ fan. Indoors is “The Mural,” the largest sports mural in the world by ambidextrous sports artist Tom Mosser from neighboring Pennsylvania, paying homage to New Jersey Devils Martin Brodeur, Ken Daneyko, and Scott Stevens. Commissioned by the NJ Devils, The Mural generously includes other Garden State greats in different sports like Althea Gibson, Richie Regan, Terry Dehere, Tony Meola, and iconic New Jersey landmarks: Newark’s Prudential Building, Barnegat Lighthouse, Atlantic City’s Steel Pier, and the dome of the state capitol. Mr. Mosser’s “Vintage Stadium Series” on Suite Level One, includes all four NJ Devils arenas in which the team has played. Additional works are by Samantha Wendell, Laurie Campbell, Michael Nighswonger, Dane Tilghman, Larry Ketchum, and Andy Bernstein.

“The Salute,” Martin Brodeur by Jon Krawczyk

Partial view of Tom Mosser’s “The Mural” with Althea Gibson, Martin Brodeur, and Richie Regan

Ken Daneyko, who played in the recent Mike Nichols Charity Hockey Game, by Tom Mosser. The Devils support many local, area, and national charities.

“The Iron Man,” modeled after an NJ Devil, by Jon Krawczyk is on Championship Plaza by the Prudential Center.

Children enjoy playing with their pal before games. The dazzling Iron Man is popular with Newark residents and visitors for photos and selfies.

New Jersey Legends

From the fourth smallest contiguous US state comes a remarkable amount of musical talent, reflected in the exhibition “New Jersey Legends”. The names are likely familiar: Jon Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen, the Jonas Brothers, Gloria Gaynor, Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, and Les Paul. Either they or their families have generously donated personal items from their careers for visitors to enjoy. There are also traveling photographic exhibits of Bruce Springsteen and Frank Sinatra via the Grammy Museum LA. The exhibit notes the Asbury Park dynamic with many New Jersey musicians.

Tal Farlow, jazz guitarist, left case, and South Johnny and the Asbury Jukes

Grammy winner Taylor Swift, from Reading, Pennsylvania, spent childhood summers in Stone Harbor at the Jersey Shore. Though Ms. Swift is not part of the New Jersey exhibit, a proud note for the state is that she spent childhood summers in Stone Harbor at the Jersey Shore. The museum featured her in an exhibit last year at this time.

“The Jersey Boys” Broadway sensation based on The Four Seasons (Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito, and Mark Nassi)

Kool and the Gang (Robert Bell, Ronald Bell, George Brown, Dennis Thomas, Charles Smith, Ricky West, Robert Mickens, original members) who tour with new members

Jon Bon Jovi, who has started a business with his son, is recording a new album in Nashville.

One of Count Basie’s Captain captain hats and his 1960 Grammy Award for the “Dance with Basie” album

Les Paul’s medal from the National Inventors Hall of Fame, bestowed without the sneaker reflection. Mr. Paul was one of the inventors of the electric guitar, among other things, for which he also received a Grammy Award for technical achievement.

Suit and sneakers from the red carpet donated by Nick Jonas, recently married to actress Priyanka Chopra. Nicki is also a member of the Jonas Brothers with Kevin and Joe, who just debuted a new single at Penn State University.

“Whitney!”

After writing these modest travel pieces for a few years, an impression is that for a legacy to continue, it is invaluable for the artist’s memory to have a home. Having a physical place for children to learn about the artist, inventor, or leader helps them connect through a shared experience like playing with a new interactive baseball exhibit at the nearby Yogi Berra Museum at Montclair State University, or reading about how Mr. Berra overcame bullying, which serves as an insight into his empathy for others. At their best, such visits not only inform but inspire.

With “Whitney!” at The Grammy Museum Experience, Whitney Elizabeth Houston’s legacy has found a home – at least through June of this year and hopefully longer. “The most awarded female artist of all time,” Ms. Houston remains “the only artist to have 7 consecutive U.S. #1 singles.” Known as “The Voice,” Whitney won six Grammy Awards, two Emmy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, and 22 American Music Awards. Her second album “Whitney” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the first female artist to do so. To this day, “The Bodyguard,” 1992, in which she co-starred with Kevin Costner, is the best-selling film soundtrack and “Waiting to Exhale,” 1995, is No. 8, reflecting the staying power of Ms. Houston’s talent. Whitney’s single “I Will Always Love You,” written by Dolly Parton, also a Grammy winner and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, remains the No. 9 bestselling recording in the world. Even more significantly, Ms. Houston’s success in “The Bodyguard” opened the door for African-American women as leads in blockbuster films. The soundtrack of “The Preacher’s Wife,” wonderful to revisit in writing this, went platinum three times and was and still is a best-selling gospel album.

Whitney with her mother Emily “Cissy” Houston in front of New Hope Baptist Church, Newark

Whitney, now a member of the Grammy Hall of Fame, reached an achievement even beyond multi-gold and platinum records. According to Forbes, the Recording Industry Association of America recognizes 22 artists with “Diamond certification,” that is, two albums “that have shifted at least 10 million equivalent copies between pure sales and streaming”. Whitney is one of those artists whose debut “Whitney Houston” album and “The Bodyguard” each sold more than 10 million copies, 12 million and 11.8 million, respectively. During her career, Whitney sold over 170 million “albums, singles, and videos”. What is immeasurable is Ms. Houston’s artistic influence on singers like Jennifer Hudson, whose tribute is included in the exhibit, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Adele and those still to come.

On exhibit are performance and interview videos, album covers, costumes, and designer gowns from award shows and film premieres. Charming, eclectic things like the magazine covers from Whitney’s modeling days to the fairy godmother tiara that she wore in Disney’s televised “Cinderella,” all create a warm connection with the star for visitors.

An NAACP Image Award in the foreground and American Music Award (glass pinnacle), both for “Waiting to Exhale,” and the “Cinderella” tiara is on the upper shelf

Before Whitney’s red carpet experiences, her mother Emily “Cissy” Drinkard Houston, who led the New Hope Baptist Church Youth Inspirational Choir in Newark for decades, was a Grammy winner. Cissy was part of the Gospel singing group the Drinkard Four, later the Drinkard Singers. As a founder and member of Sweet Inspirations, Cissy was a session singer, a backup singer, or both for Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Van Morrison, Bette Midler, and Elvis Presley in addition to recording her own albums. Her nieces are Dionne and DeeDee Warwick and opera singer Leontyne Price is a distant cousin.

Cissy Houston’s Grammy Awards for her gospel albums “He Leadeth Me” and “Face to Face”

The Whitney Houston exhibit opened in October 2018 attended by her family, including her cousin Ms. Dionne Warwick. Ms. Warwick grew up in East Orange as did Whitney where both had the honor of having their former grammar schools named after them, the Whitney E. Houston Academy for Creative and Performing Arts and the Dionne Warwick Institute of Economics & Entrepreneurship, respectively.

The videos of Ms. Houston’s performances and interviews with producers who worked with her underscore her virtuosity. So gifted, Whitney sang her acclaimed 1991 rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner” perfectly on the first take for Super Bowl XXV with a talent that surprised even the most experienced producers. Whitney, her arranger John L. Clayton, and anthem producer Rickey Minor slowed down the anthem from 3/4 time to 4/4, which increased the technical difficulty, but also made it more dramatic. This arrangement added to the anthem’s resonance in a time of heightened national security after the Gulf War. A few criticized Whitney for not singing the anthem live which she had done at a Nets-Lakers game, but the thought was that the cheering might not allow her to hear the first notes. Whitney did sing live, actually, though the microphone was off. An estimated 79.6 million people viewed her performance. Ms. Houston donated the proceeds of “the highest charting rendition of the national anthem on the Billboard 100 chart” to Gulf War veterans and their families.

Whitney supported many charitable organizations including her foundation. With her rendition of “A Song for You” at her “Welcome Home Heroes Concert” for those troops returning from the Gulf War, Whitney accomplished what every great singer does – each person in that audience believed that she was singing directly to him or her. We choose such songs for important life events, their words resonating with us. The songwriter Leon Russell, himself a Grammy winner, pitched it and Whitney hit it home as she did in her “One Moment in Time” video for the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.

The Sports Emmy Award for her performance of “ One Moment in Time,” written by Albert Hammond and John Bettis

The Whitney Houston Foundation has generously shared personal items of the artist reflecting her start as a soloist at age 11 in the choir of the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, the city of her birth. In the collection is her high school diploma. With such talent and natural teenage inclinations, Whitney reportedly was eager to start her career as soon as possible and took lessons throughout those years. In high school, I saw Whitney only in passing and make no claims of having known her except to write that before I heard about her singing, I was delighted to discover another tall girl at school. Whitney carried that height gracefully, and I remember a lovely, willowy girl who later blossomed into a beautiful woman. As it turned out, we both had spent our first years in Newark.

An absolute thrill was when the “How Will I Know?” video came out. My former classmates and I called each other (on landlines) in excitement. Years later, we read that Whitney was not as happy with it, perhaps not having had the creative control that she did once her career soared. Both the song and video deliver the charisma, however, of a breakout star. Being world famous, Whitney’s career in music and film were everywhere when I was living overseas.

A wise and long-time friend has shared the quote that people remain the same age for us as when we first met them. From Whitney’s amazing songbook, it would be difficult for any of us to choose a favorite, but “How Will I Know?” takes me back to the sweetness of the beginning.

You can experience the celebration of Ms. Houston, her fellow New Jersey artists, and other Grammy winners at the Prudential Center, Tuesday through Sunday, 11-6 and also find more information about Newark sights at the Greater Newark Convention & Visitors Bureau where you will receive another warm welcome.

(Sources: Grammy.com, billboard.com, whitneyhouston.com, businessinsider.com, independent.co.uk, forbes.com, nytimes.com, espn.com, nhl.com, newarkhistory.com, 101.5, cnn.com, top10hq.com, flickr.com, itunescharts.net, Wiki)

One of the signed posters in the collection of performers at The Rock

The Military Park Building with the Newark Visitors Bureau at Military Park

A walk in nearby Branch Brook Park, envisioned by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, designers of Central Park. Frederick’s son and stepson, the Olmsted Brothers, realized their vision.

The Belleville part of the park also has a similar Central Park elegance.

The center of Cherry Blossomland where (reserved) tours are available

The harmonious design like Olmsted’s Central Park

The Erie Railroad Bridge, 1932. In addition to bridges and fountains, the park also features a popular roller rink.

Park patron Caroline Bamberger Fuld brought 2,050 cherry tree saplings from Japan in 1927 and nurtured them on the grounds of her estate in Orange until they were ready for planting in the park. Today there are 5,300 trees, the most in the United States.

There are 14 varieties of cherry blossom trees in Branch Brook Park.

The French Gothic Revival Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart next to the park. There is a beautiful view of the basilica across the lake.

Every shade of pink. There are three types of blossoming trees: single blossom, double blossom, and weeping cherries.

Beautiful white blossoms with more at Branch Brook Park Alliance

“Hyde Park: The Year from the Top”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On February 10, 2019

In Architecture, Culture, Family, Museum, Travel, US History

December and the holidays bring joy and sometimes reflection, but it is January, the heart of winter, that can become the month of rumination. The start of the year, however, is also when the days grow longer, and we appreciate the sun in a bright blue sky glistening on the snow – usually. If accustomed to snow, the absence of it offsets in that inexplicable way that setting the clocks forward and back sometimes does. January can become like this one a month played in minor key depending upon where our paths take us. With travel, like life, we may say that the timing is not right and never go, but think of 2019 as the year of heading out.

One such trip would be to the Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Parks in Hyde Park, which offer not only history but the beauty of the Hudson Valley. For those interested in history, Ken Burns’ “The Roosevelts: An Intimate History,” brings home the relatable parts of the family story as well as world events: Teddy, a young man who lost both his wife and mother within a day, Franklin, a favorite son of a doting mother and the privileged man struck by illness, Eleanor, a girl who felt that she never fit in with her peers, and Eleanor & Franklin and the dynamics of a marriage.

Franklin, Eleanor, Anna, and Franklin’s mother Sara (Springwood)

Springwood, FDR Library and Museum, and Top Cottage

Springwood estate in Hyde Park, New York is the birthplace and home of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which the family referred to as “Hyde Park” and the “Big House”. The house is impressive, but the sweeping view of the Hudson River rivals it. One could see why FDR returned to Springwood often during his three terms as president. On the grounds are also the FDR Presidential Library and Museum and the burial site of the president and first lady. The estate is beautiful with trees that FDR, a conservationist like his cousin Theodore, had planted. Top Cottage, the president’s retreat, is about two miles away and accessible via the park shuttle.

Eleanor and Franklin welcome park visitors

Our first visit was on an impromptu stop while traveling to the Berkshires where my friend spent summers as a boy and enjoys returning as we both do. Hyde Park in Dutchess County, part of the Mid-Hudson Valley, however, is a destination in itself with FDR’s home, the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Park and the nearby Sixteen Mile Historic District in Columbia County, all part of The Hudson River National Landmark Historic District, the largest historic district in the continental US.

Side view of Springwood with floral trellises and ivy

On this initial Springwood trip in June, we had a chance to tour FDR’s home. Among the fascinating accounts that the park ranger shared on the tour, a few stood out. Sara, Franklin’s devoted mother who owned the house and Franklin’s New York City home, interestingly, revamped Springwood to look more “presidential” years before Franklin was president with an idea like dressing for the job to which one aspires. Franklin assisted with the designs that transformed the exterior of Springwood from a pleasant “clapboard farmhouse” to Colonial Revival Style. Visitors, many political allies, could easily envision FDR in the White House.

Hudson River view from Springwood, now somewhat obscured by the trees FDR had planted, but still beautiful

The president, the “Great Communicator,” delivered two of his famous fireside chats from Springwood with his Scottish Terrier Fala, a favorite of children across the country, including our mother, by his side. Grown-ups, too, seemed to enjoy Fala. The FDR Library blog shares that sailors got the idea of cutting off locks of Fala’s fur for good luck on one of FDR’s WWII battleship visits. Fala had a habit of dashing off to the decks below to get treats, and he slipped by his “walking officer” on the USS Baltimore. The sociable Fala did not bark while being clipped, but FDR had to put a stop to this as the terrier looked quite shorn.

Fala depicted with FDR at the wonderful Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, DC, sculpted by George Segal (Wiki photo)

Before Fala’s antics, along the tree-lined driveway to his boyhood home, the 39-year-old Franklin pushed himself to walk farther and farther each day after being stricken with polio. Researchers speculate that the president may have had Guillain-Barré syndrome, which is a nerve disorder and not a viral disease, but that did not change what FDR dealt with in 1921. Franklin never made it to the end of the driveway, but he continued to try.

For our mother and many of her peers, FDR was president throughout their childhoods. Our mother recalls that Mrs. Branigan, a Vailsburg, Newark neighbor and an Irish immigrant, got off the bus from work one day and walked along the street sobbing. When Mrs. Branigan passed our mother’s house, she saw the little girl sitting on the porch glider, and between tears, said, “Our president is dead.” Hearing this, our mother, too, burst into tears feeling a family attachment to the man whose voice had come into their homes to reassure them during the Great Depression and World War II.

A familial warmth is part of the delight of visiting historic sites in Hyde Park and the area. Many residents knew the families who were also part of their community, and they shared life stories. After each winning election, neighbors carried torches up to the front of the house at Springwood to wish FDR well. The wonderful feeling of community in Hyde Park remains to this day.

A radiant young Eleanor proud of her accomplishment (Springwood)

An impressive collection of Roosevelt family equestrian prizes

Horses had names like “New Deal,” “Lady Luck,” “Pal O Mine,” and “Patches”

The elegance of the Rose Garden, here blooming with peonies, befits its stately purpose as the resting place of Eleanor and Franklin. The beloved Fala is also buried nearby and daughter Anna’s German shepherd.

FDR bust and FDR Presidential Library, the view from Freedom Court. FDR bust by Walter Russell.

On another visit, we enjoyed exploring the FDR Presidential Library and Museum, the first US presidential library, which we enjoyed exploring ohas the compelling pull of history. Seeing the president’s memorabilia from his White House years has a resonance beyond his delightful boyhood collections and the family photographs in his home. Historic photos come to life in the library. FDR was the first president to donate his letters to the public, leaving them to the National Archives. The innovative design of the entrance celebrates this historic boon. At FDR’s request, the library also includes the letters of the First Lady. The library also has virtual tours. Given park budgets, Top Cottage has limited tours, and after our wonderful library visit, we looked forward to seeing FDR’s retreat another time.

The library notes that Fred Relyea, a Poughkeepsie mechanic, adapted the car for FDR’s use

Top Cottage was the second home that FDR designed with architect Henry Toombs with the thought that the president would retire there after his second term. The fieldstone Dutch Colonial Revival home, in keeping with the historic houses in the area, is one of only two buildings designed by a US president and one of the first in the United States with wheelchair accessibility. Primarily, it was a peaceful getaway. Springwood was often hectic during FDR’s presidency, and well-wishers entered the grounds hoping to see the president, unimaginable with 21st-century security.

Like Springwood, Top Cottage had many famous visitors: Winston Churchill, Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and Princesses Juliana and Beatrix, Norway’s Crown Prince Olaf and Crown Princess Martha, and interestingly, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek. On the first visit to the US by British monarchs, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth were guests at the celebrated Top Cottage “hot dog summit,” where the president introduced the royal couple to American dishes at a picnic and took the king and queen on one of his hurtling car rides. The picnic had a serious and successful purpose in making the British monarchs seem relatable and more democratic as they ate and drank beer with Hyde Park staff. Months later, FDR was able to send supplies to help England after their declaration of war on Germany. All of FDR’s guests appreciated this woodland retreat from the public eye as he did and the warmth of being entertained in a home.

Winston Churchill by Oscar Nemon in Freedom Court

The Four Freedoms: A sculpture based on FDR’s “Four Freedoms” speech that inspired Berkshire neighbor Norman Rockwell. Mr. Rockwell’s famous paintings, now on tour, but based at the Norman Rockwell Museum, raised money for war bonds on exhibit around the country. Speech admires May also enjoy the FDR Four Freedoms Park in NYC.

If we drove like FDR, we may have made it on time to tour Top Cottage, but missing the shuttle bus went from our running joke about timing, somewhat akin to having missed the rocket launch for life, to a lesson in saying good-bye to perfectionism, a good resolution. Travel writing should make people want to go to a place and enjoy it – informative fun does not have to be a dutiful treatise. And yet, we still tried. Top Cottage closes in the winter, another discovery on a different visit, which meant a great excuse to enjoy the beautiful tulip poplar trees outside the library and have lunch in the café before driving home. Other trips to the FDR historic site have brought more walks and gift shop stops for ornaments at the holidays. So a missed shuttle bus here and there has led to making the FDR historic site a regular stop like walking the grounds at the Vanderbilt Mansion.

Posting, too, went the way of the elusive Top Cottage. Even with the buffer of history, a post in the fall of 2016 was not the best time. Over the holidays, rethought this with the idea for Top Cottage as a metaphor for new beginnings, still the timing was not right, but better now with thoughts of spring visits.

Val-Kill, the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site

Stone Cottage, Eleanor’s residence at Val-Kill

Val-Kill, Eleanor Roosevelt’s historic site, is two miles from Springwood and a little over four miles from Top Cottage. Perhaps that is part of how Eleanor and Franklin’s marriage lasted or that the demands of public life required personal space. A warm June sun, chirping birds, and beautiful flowers, show the simple residence as what it was, a haven for the first lady. With the exhibits planned by the park rangers, visitors feel Eleanor’s uplifting spirit. Practically, Val-Kill gave the first lady opportunity to work on her own projects including the development of off-season jobs for local residents, which became Val-Kill Industries. The name “Valley Stream” is from the Dutch for both the valley location and the wonderful stream that offered the Roosevelt family swimming in the summer. The grounds are beautiful with a charming footbridge and a wonderful garden with peonies in season. Val-Kill later went to Eleanor’s son Elliott, who had attended the Hun School in Princeton, New Jersey, a Garden State connection.

Eleanor’s photo at The Poughkeepsie Post Office

Vanderbilt Mansion

If you enjoy history, the tours are where you get the great tidbits. Our park ranger, part of the esprit de corps of rangers like those at Springwood, brought the beautiful mansion to life.

Frederick Vanderbilt, grandson of Cornelius, along with his wife Louise commissioned Charles McKim, a name partner in the country’s top architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, to build their Neoclassical-Beaux Arts home. As the Historic Resource Study for the site notes, the elegant architectural combination was unusual for a country home and is the only one of its kind in the Hudson Valley. With a newly restored exterior, visitors can now enjoy river views from the balcony in warm weather. Completion of the 54-room mansion brought the top craftsmen for woodwork and stone design, many from Italy, Germany, and Switzerland. The interior is incredible as you can see from the photos. Much of the furniture and art was brought from Europe, a trend at the time, and Stanford White was Frederick’s antique dealer. James Greenleaf designed the Italianate garden, which we look forward to seeing on another trip.

The Neoclassical-Beaux Arts mansion designed by Charles McKim

During the two years it took to build the mansion, 1896-1899, Louise and Frederick periodically stayed in the Pavilion, now the Visitor Center, to oversee building. The Gilded Age families were the generation that spent the fortunes that their grandparents had made. In the case of Frederick and Louise, they were generous as opposed to frivolous. Frederick had architect McKim build the Howard Mansion at Hosack Farm across the road for his niece Rose Anthony Post Howard and her husband Thomas Howard, a descendant of the founder of Rutgers University and Revolutionary War general, John Neilson. Rose and Thomas were the maternal grandparents of Thomas Howard Kean, the Governor of New Jersey. Well-liked in Hudson Valley, Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt did not have children and enjoyed giving gifts to those of their staff in addition to showing their appreciation for their work. Though they had their bedrooms designed as if they were European royalty, the fashion of the day, the Vanderbilts were warm and accessible. Louise herself oversaw gift-giving for the staff. They left a great deal of their fortune to charity, loyal staff, and a niece. The ultimate donation of the mansion to the public, like that of Springwood, was FDR’s idea.

The Pavilion was once a guest house for gentleman visitors

Play garden gift from Louise and Frederick. Many gifts generously make their way back to the mansion museum for the public’s enjoyment.

The estate provided local jobs year-round with the mansion, the grounds, garden, greenhouses, dairy, vegetable garden, orchard, and a dock where guests could arrive on their yachts. The ice box is representative of how eco-friendly the property was. Long after the invention of refrigerators, Frederick kept these efficient ices boxes in use. Not only did the ice boxes operate without electrical power, but the staff who maintained the ice remained employed.

The beautiful holiday welcome, done at the initiative of the park rangers, is breathtaking. Like other Gilded Age families, the Vanderbilts had several homes where they usually spent different seasons. The mansion was their country home where they celebrated Easter and visited in the fall, though they did give Christmas gifts to staff. New York City was their primary residence and Newport, Rhode Island, Bar Harbor, Maine, and the Adirondacks, their summer retreats. (Springwood also has Christmas decorations.) In warmer weather, visitors may go out on the balcony, opened after the restoration.

The beautiful decorations by the park rangers

Hyde Park

The Hyde Park Drive-in, opened in 1950, is across the street from Hyde Park. An in-season classic, it is another reason to stay over in the area to enjoy the sites and charm. If you enjoy these drive-in photos, you may want to follow the wonderful Cinema Treasures on Instagram, which documents movie venues all over the country.

The appropriately patriotic diner across the street from Springwood

Poughkeepsie

At the Vanderbilt Mansion, a number of loyal Poughkeepsians talked up their town, which called for a return trip first to enjoy the Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park. The views matched “The Queen City of the Hudson,” as Poughkeepsie on the east bank is also known, which is across the river from the charming Kingston. Even on a minus-degree wind chill December day, the Hudson River was spectacular. An active park group takes year-round advantage of the trails and you can connect with them on their social media. During the holidays, the nearby Franklin D. Roosevelt Mid-Husdon Bridge is lit in red and green lights at night.

Hudson River view of FDR Mid-Hudson Bridge from Kingston side of Walkway

The all too brief visit to the City of Poughkeepsie led to stops to admire the fine architecture and an informal tour of Vassar College. Look forward to visiting the charming Mid_Hudson Children’s Museum and more on the next visit to the city, which also has a drive-in, the Overlook.

The charming yellow building is the Children’s Museum

A delight of the December return trip was the holiday cheer and navigational expertise of the area toll takers. GPS is not the same as directions shared with smiles and the admiration of a cheerful holiday pin or Santa Claus gel nails. Our family knows the area from growing up, a story for another day, but these quick chats were not only helpful, but reminders of nice visits and family stories.

Johnson-Iorio Memorial Park and the FDR Mid-Hudson Bridge

Riverside park sponsored by Scenic Hudson, this one dedicated to the conservationist

Teddy Roosevelt display at the Poughkeepsie Post Office. Looking forward to seeing his historic homes.

Vassar College

As a Seven Sisters graduate, it was delightful to visit V assar College campus in Poughkeepsie. Now coed, the beautiful campus has a wonderful atmosphere and delightful shops and restaurants nearby.

Milton

Named after English poet John Milton, the hamlet in Ulster County delights with historic homes, churches, and welcoming shops in a scenic setting. With such a brief visit, look forward to another. A fun tidbit is that Marlon Brando’s “A Fugitive Kind” was filmed here in 1959. Enjoyed spectacular river views from the Milton Landing Dog Park with a truly merry Christmas tree out on the dock.

A delightful surprise on the dock at the Milton Landing Dog Park

Rhinebeck

Rhinebeck charms in every season. The former “Violet Capital of the World,” later renowned for its anemones, Rhinebeck is known for its hospitality, and to this day, a warm welcome awaits visitors. FDR gave campaign speeches from the porch of the historic Beekman Arms, 1766, which hosted everyone from Founding Fathers George Washington and Robert Livingston to New Jerseyans Frank Sinatra and Jack Nicholson. A further New Jersey connection goes back to Robert Livingston’s brother William, who signed the Constitution and was the first governor of New Jersey during the Revolutionary War. William resided at Liberty Hall, Union. Liberty Hall, now part of Kean University, was sold to Kean relatives, family of New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean on his father’s side. Alexander Hamilton was a guest at both Liberty Hall and the Beekman Arms.

German settlers from the Bavarian Palatinate named the beautiful area “Ryn Beck” in 1714, because it reminded them of their Rhine Valley home. Rhinebeck dates back to the Sepasco and Eposus, Lenape Native Americans who were later joined by Dutch settlers in 1686. The Dutch brought the Sinterklaass tradition now celebrated in an annual December nondemoninational festival. Well-known residents like John Jacob Astor IV followed the Dutch and Germans to what became “Rhinebeck”. The village, a National Historic District, is remarkable in that so much of its original architecture remains.

The photos here are from a December trip to the Village of Rhinebeck within the larger town both within the “Sixteen Mile Historic District”.

A well-known resident, Hilarie Burton, who stars in one of my favorite holiday movies, “Christmas on the Bayou,” is an active sponsor of a local charity Astor Services for Children and Families and has invested in a town business, Samuel’s Sweet Shop, both co-starring her husband Jeffrey Dean Morgan and friends Julie Yeager & Paul Rudd. Rhinebeck is also the hometown of Rufus Wainwright, whose performance at the Asbury Park Convention Hall on his tour for “All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu” was so incredible that it was like being transported out of time and place. In real time, however, my friend stepped out for a snack on the boardwalk and returned for the encore. Mr. Wainwright was in competition with the PGA Tour, which is not to slight a true artist who had sold out the venue, but it helps with perspective when putting work out there.

Wilderstein and the Hudson Valley

A brief moonlit stop with just a hint of the “Central Park serenity” of the Calvert Vaux design

The Hudson Valley has so much to see and do that we may never make it to Top Cottage. We look forward to discovering other sights that range from the High Falls Conservation Area to the Culinary Institute of America, which our mother has enjoyed with friends. Wilderstein, where FDR’s cousin, confidante, Fala gift-giver, and one of the first archivists of the FDR Library, Margaret “Daisy” Suckley lived, was and is on the visit list. Though arriving after dark on the most recent Mid-Hudson Valley visit, still took a loyal fan photo at the Victorian mansion with its grounds designed by Calvert Vaux, because all roads lead to Central Park and New Jersey at one time or another.

Home Travels with You

Once in a surprising turn of events, while traveling with a summer study group, we rode in a boat taxi along the Grand Canal at sunset in Venice. The sun splashed a million shades of gold along the colorful palazzi in “La Serenissimo,” the “Most Serene Republic of Venice”. Inexplicably, most of the students were arguing over the rooms, but the wonderful sound of rushing water and the steady hum of the engine could still be heard between sharp words. Looking across the boat, another classmate, like me, marveled at the panoramic beauty before us. She smiled serenely. We did not know each other well. From our remarks in class, we had different opinions on things, but we both had an appreciation for our good fortune. Our classmates missed the sunset, not having noticed, or not having minded. Later, when we all returned to school, work, and occasional turmoil, my fellow traveler and I would sometimes look at each other and smile. We had shared a love of beauty.

People will surprise us. Before going on the trip, our Uncle Ray, a comedy writer for Steve Allen, Bob Hope, and Phyllis Diller, and at times, presidents of both parties, whose favorite movie preferences were lighthearted ones featuring Laurel & Hardy and Hope and Crosby’s “Road pictures,” suggested, “Watch David Lean’s ‘Summertime’ before you go. Venice looks like a dream.'” The film, if you have not seen it, is a visual love letter to the city as much as it is about lost opportunity and timing. For our uncle who was so talented that he did not easily fit in, which ultimately led to full-time work in a factory, the film may have had a particular meaning. Generous, his career advice was his life advice, “Cheap shots are easy, it’s the clever jokes that are hard.”

In a pessimist’s theory of reductionism, Serenissimo is overcrowded, Fala was the invention of wartime propaganda, and Teddy’s bad side is on Mount Rushmore. On a certain level, these assertions may seem true, but it would be like describing Venice without the light. Happy New Year.

Eleanor Roosevelt stamp First Day of Issue, a gift along with a collection from Uncle Ray

Note: Intended for posting in January 2019.

(Sources: nps.gov, fdr.blogs.archives.gov, c-span.org/video/?429257-1/franklin-d-roosevelts-top-cottage “American History TV,” history.com, health.heraldtribune.com, hvmg.com, forbes.com, smithsonianmagazine.com, whitehousehistory.org, ushistory.org, poughkeepsiejournal.com, hrvh.com, rhinebeckchamber.com, rhinebeckmuseum.com, beekmandelamaterinn.com, wilderstein.org, usatoday.com, c-span.org, tripadvisor.com, winstonchurchill.org, providencejournal.com, aboutfranklinroosevelt.com, Wiki)

“Imagination: Isamu Noguchi”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On October 14, 2018

In Architecture, Art, Culture, Travel

“The Letter,” 1939, Haddon Heights Post Office

“Everything is sculpture. Any material, any idea without hindrance born into space, I consider sculpture.”

The Artist

Isamu Noguchi, 1904-1988, was a Japanese-American artist who felt most at home in New York City. His neighboring New Jersey legacy is one of sublime beauty, “The Letter,” a WPA era sculpture at the post office in Haddon Heights, near Philadelphia. The elegantly simple figure of a reclining woman writing a letter floats cloud-like above the grounded, wooden post office decor, reflecting her dreamy reverie as she writes what may be a love letter. Mr. Noguchi’s work conveys mystery, sharing his imagination while he challenges ours. The letter writer has a serene smile that suits the friendliness of the town-proud residents by an artist who loved creating work for the public to enjoy. This included sculpture, gardens, fountains, playgrounds, and furniture. His art combined the best of American and Japanese aesthetics.

“News,” 1940, stainless steel bas relief, 50 Rockefeller Center, the former Associated Press Building

As one of the great figures of the twentieth century whose 84 year-long life spanned the globe and whose artistic work included Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism, there is so much to learn about Isamu Noguchi. His mother, Leonie Gilmour, from New York City, was a Bryn Mawr graduate who once taught at the Academy of Saint Aloysius in Jersey City. While later working as an editor in New York City, Leonie met the Japanese poet Yone Noguchi. After the relationship ended, Leonie joined her mother in Los Angeles where Isamu was born in 1904. A few years later, following Yone’s invitation, Leonie and Isamu moved to Chigasaki, Japan, where Isamu grew up in a house with a garden by the sea while his mother supported them with teaching. By that time, his father had begun a relationship with another woman. When Isamu was 14, Leonie sent him to the US to attend a progressive school in Rolling Prairie, Indiana, while she remained in Japan with his half-sister. The school founder and a host family in La Porte, Indiana befriended Isamu, and he later graduated from the local high school. Though his childhood was far from traditional and included the disappointment of a distant father, Leonie encouraged his artistic talent and was a devoted mother.

Excelling as a student, Isamu enrolled in pre-med studies at Columbia University. Once introduced to sculpture, he had such a natural ability that he pursued art exclusively. Ironically, his skill was so incredible that it held him back initially, his work criticized for being too perfect. With a Guggenheim Fellowship that funded an apprenticeship with the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi in Paris, Isamu’s work became more personal, which freed him from previous criticism. Interestingly, both sculptors had no mutual language in common except art, but understood each other perfectly, a welcome experience after Isamu’s fraught apprenticeship with Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore. Perhaps reflecting a longing for the father whom he never truly knew, or asserting a new identity, Isamu dropped his mother’s surname “Gilmour” and took “Noguchi” when he became publicly known as an artist. Incredibly, widespread recognition did not occur until Isamu was in his early 40’s. Unfortunately, when traveling to Japan as an artist, Isamu learned that his father did not want him to use the Noguchi surname. On Isamu’s last visit to Japan, while his father was still alive, he did not contact him.

“Childhood,” rough-hewn with a smooth heart, Noguchi Museum

Worldwide travels over six decades as a working artist included friendships with Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo in Mexico and Arshile Gorky and Willem de Kooning in the US, Greenwich Village neighbors, and collaborations in Japan and Italy. His global works include architecture, perhaps most meaningfully, his design for the Peace Bridges at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, one symbolizing the past and the other, the future. To his disappointment, his design for the main memorial could not be accepted because he was American.

While maintaining a studio in the village of Mure on the island of Shikoku in Japan, where he received inspiration from the Zen gardens, he fell in love with the beautiful actress and singer Yoshiko Yamaguchi (known in the US as “Shirley Yamaguchi”) whom he married in 1951. An anecdote in the museum’s excellent film shares that Isamu wanted the worldly Yoshiko, who worked with Akira Kurosawa and US filmmakers, to wear a kimono at home. She found these uncomfortable, so he designed her a type of pantsuit that had the look of a kimono, but offered more modern comfort. Clothing styles aside, they spent several happy years together in Japan. Sadly, upon their return to the United States for professional reasons, their careers drove them apart.

One account that may best describe the complexity of Isamu’s life was his noble impulse to join fellow Japanese-Americans during their internment in World War II. Living in New York, and not on the West Coast, Isamu, whose name means “courage” in Japanese, was free from this but volunteered to go with the thought of teaching art to boost spirits and develop talent as Brancusi had done for him. The day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Ginger Rogers, who had commissioned him to create a bust of her, invited Isamu to her home for an initial sitting. He stayed on the grounds for a month as a guest in a studio she had made for him. Isamu finished the movie star’s sculpted portrait in pink marble while living in the Poston, Arizona internment camp on the Colorado River Indian Reservation. During this time he wrote two letters to Ms. Rogers about the work’s progress. As The Washington Post notes, his work may have come to the dancer’s attention through his set designs for the Martha Graham Dance Company where his sister, Alies Gilmour, was a dancer. Despite his good intentions, Isamu found that he had little in common with the farmers, shopkeepers, and laborers in the camp and asked to leave, a process which took several months. One detainee recalled how Isamu would wander out into the desert alone to collect wood to carve. Ginger Rogers treasured her Noguchi portrait, which was a centerpiece in her home until she died, and now is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.

“White Sun” 1966, Firestone Library, Princeton University, one of the artist’s favorite sculptures

The Noguchi Museum, New York City

Art at its best is transporting like incredible music, film, or literature that takes us out of ourselves and into the world of the artist’s imagination. As someone who experimented throughout his life by expressing different styles and working with a range of materials (marble, basalt, ceramics, steel, cement, paper, wood, aluminum), Mr. Noguchi risked failure and experienced rejection, but his striving makes the successes soar in a way that defies time and space. Ideal, then, that the complementary works of Spanish sculptor Jorge Palacios, are presently on view along with Mr. Noguchi’s in the latter’s museum in Long Island City, Queens.

Noguchi Museum banners

Jorge Palacios sculpture “Link” at Flatiron Plaza North, sponsored by Noguchi Museum

Second floor museum gallery with view to Akari light sculptures

Second floor museum gallery

At The Noguchi Museum, which the sculptor founded and helped plan, many of the National Medal of Arts recipient’s sculptures relate to time. The Zen Garden, rooted in a serenity that stands outside of time, is beautiful and enjoyed by visitors. One can also admire it from the staircase exit on the second floor as well as from eye level. Flowing water, important to Isamu, creates serenity with the fountain. Central, too, was the artist’s relationship to the material, including an almost spiritual connection to natural elements like wood, clay, and stone, describing carving as a “process of listening,” a quote from his obituary in The New York Times.

There is so much to take in at the museum that it calls for at least a second visit. Everyone will find pieces that stand out. The impermanent works with their interplay with light, water, and nature, appealed to me most on this first visit, perhaps because they are so novel. The beautiful trees are interwoven with Mr. Noguchi’s art.

Zen Garden

View into the garden

Partial garden view from upstairs

The museum’s film about his life features interviews with people who knew Isamu, including a befriended half-brother, and that is also worth a revisit to see in its entirety. A common touching thread in the interviews was that being American and Japanese in the era when Isamu Noguchi grew up, and later, as a citizen of the world, were both often lonely paths for the artist. By living in New York City, however, he returned not to another place, but a home with fellow artists and kindred spirits in the realization of the life he had imagined for himself.

Akari light sculptures

Going up the stairs, where you will find the film, and entering into the world of Akari light was a heavenly surprise. These lamp creations use “electrical light as a sculptural element”. For those interested in reading more about his life, Mr. Noguchi wrote an autobiography Isamu Noguchi: A Sculptor’s World with a foreward by his close friend architect R. Buckminster Fuller. This is available at the museum and on Amazon, which is on order and calls for an Isamu Noguchi 2.0 revisit in “Writing New Jersey Life” and #FridayReads. There is, however, momentum with things, and better to post an introduction before the flurry of the holidays and the Akari and Palacios exhibitions end on January 27th.

“The Kite” stainless steel and reminiscent of “Bolt of Lightning,” 1984, Philadelphia, in honor of Benjamin Franklin. Mr. Noguchi’s plans were on hold for years until a 1979 retrospective of his work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art renewed interest in his art.

Whether visiting as a family, a couple, or on one’s own, and there were one and all, the Long Island City museum is a delight. There is a pleasant café with a select, good menu including coffee and beverages. You can reach the museum by public transportation or car. For those driving, there is street parking, and someone kindly suggested finding parking in a nearby store lot, which you did not read here, but a good faith purchase will put you in good standing. The Socrates Sculpture Park across the street has a free exhibit through March 10th. A blocks up is a new, charming neighborhood place, Flor de Azalea Café, which has some Wifi in a pinch, and thank you to the museum staff for mentioning it.

For travelers, Isamu’s former Japanese studio is now The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum Japan. Other notable public works include the UNESCO Gardens in Paris, the Billy Rose Sculpture Garden in Jerusalem as well as works throughout the United States pictured in the online gallery of The Noguchi Museum in Queens.

The nearby Socrates Sculpture Park

Socrates Sculpture Park views

Backpack book exchange

The Letter

As the museum notes, “The Letter” is a “mural relief” in magnesite, once again displaying Isamu Noguchi’s versatility as a sculptor. The post office has a display case sharing information about what we might call a “3-D mural”. There is a wonderful atmosphere in places that preserve their treasures. Both their appreciation that they are such and their pride in them emanates in a generous spirit. The US Post Office itself released stamps of Isamu Noguchi’s works in 2004, which are still in use.

Under the New Deal, the Public Works of Art Project that brought about “The Letter” and through which it came to my attention, aimed to give work to artists in the Great Depression and existed under the supervision of the US Treasury’s Section of Painting and Sculpture. The intent was for the art to reach as many people as possible, which brought the commissioned artists to the WPA’s newly constructed post offices throughout the country to share their work for the public’s benefit.

“The Letter” in context with a display case (right)

Haddon Heights still charms on a rainy day

Halloween spirit in Haddon Heights

Out and about in friendly Haddon Heights with thanks for the cafe and dining friends’ permission

Town clock, Haddon Heights

Named to honor Algonquin chief and meeting place of New Jersey legislature, historic site, Haddonfield

Cabana Water Ice, Haddon Heights

Halloween spirit, Haddon Heights

Returning to South Jersey, picturesque Haddon Heights where “The Letter” floats timelessly, shares a scenic beauty with Haddonfield and Haddon Township, all the namesakes of Elizabeth Haddon. An English-born Quaker, she sailed to the Colonies alone to begin the settlement of a large area of land in Southern Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, and Delaware, bought by her father who had envisioned a peaceful new start for Quakers, unwelcome in England at that time. Too ill to make the journey, his dream was realized by Elizabeth and his name carried on with “Haddon’s Field” where she and her minister husband created a beautiful home and helped to establish the Quaker community. Their courtship, brought to the public’s attention by Lydia Marie Child, a writer and abolitionist who authored the Thanksgiving poem “Over the River and Through the Wood” that became the popular Christmas song, inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to write “Elizabeth,” part of a long poem “Tales of a Wayside Inn”.

Elizabeth Haddon had a shared world view with fellow Quaker Sarah Norris, who renamed her establishment “The Indian King” in gratitude to the “Sachem” in Algonquin, the elder or chief of the Unlachtigo Lenape, the southernmost of the three Lenape tribes in the state. With their knowledge of survival skills, the Lenape, particularly Sachem Ockanickon, were responsible for keeping the Quakers alive through their first winters. Later, when that generosity was not reciprocated, Sarah called her establishment “The Indian King” in gratitude and posted a highly visible sign as a reminder to the settlement of its debt to the Lenape. It was here at the Indian King Tavern that the New Jersey legislature read the Declaration of Independence into the minutes in 1776, and New Jersey became a state on September 20, 1777, with the changing of “colony” to “state” in its Constitution. On this site, the legislature adopted the Great Seal with the cornucopia for the bounty of the Garden State, designed by a Swiss-born artist Pierre Eugene Du Sumitiere.

In the Empire State, the path to find Isamu Noguchi’s works in the New York City he loved started with chats with people uptown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park to midtown to downtown in Manhattan. These began with directions when the iPhone map app slowed with the number of photos, which led to the delightful surprise of fireworks downtown and the Diwali Festival. There was the added warmth of Long Island City, people smiling on the streets, leafy parks, roses and flowers growing skyward through garden gates, and Halloween decorations set up early in happy anticipation. Queens visits were welcome excursions in my Manhattan shoebox apartment days and still are. Being able to dine anywhere in the world in Astoria and shop working my way out from Broadway, especially at the holidays, was a Saturday well spent. Thank you to all the gracious navigators along the way and the staff at the Noguchi Museum.

(Sources: Noguchi Museum, “Central Park: A Template of Beauty”, WashingtonPost.com, pcf.city.hiroshima.jp, Princeton.edu, Rockefellercenter.com, Haddonfield history: @kathleenhelen15, now @kathleenlevey, 2015, theartstory.org, muse.jhu.edu/article/686375/, nytimes.com, summarylevins.com, IndianKingfriends.org, njwomenshistory.org, Avalon.law.yale.edu, A-Z Quotes, Wiki)

Sunken Garden at the former Chase Manhattan Bank Plaza, downtown

Fireworks, Festival of Lights, South Street Seaport

Diwali Festival, Southstreet Seaport

Noguchi’s “Landscape of the Clouds,” 666 Fifth Avenue

“Unidentified Object,” 1979, basalt sculpture created in Shikoku, Japan, at the Met and Central Park

“Red Cube,” 1968, downtown

Jorge Palacios sculpture “Link” with a view of the Empire State Building

Long Island City, Queens

“Bolt of Lightning,” a tribute to Ben Franklin and a welcome to Philadelphia (The Noguchi Museum)

“‘Work Lovingly Done’: Two Exhibitions at The Clark”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On July 14, 2018

In Art, Culture, Travel, US History

The Clark Art Institute viewed from one of its mountain trails.

The Clark Art Institute, nestled in the Berkshires in Williamstown, Massachusetts, has four summer exhibitions: “Women Artists in Paris, 1850-1900,” “The Art of Iron,” “A City Transformed: Photographs of Paris, 1850-1900,” and “Jennifer Steinkamp: Blind Eye,” the first two shared here from a June visit.

“Women Artists in Paris, 1850-1900”

Each of the featured 33 female artists has her story, but striking similarities run throughout those, primarily, each woman’s commitment in relocating to the Parisian artistic epicenter to develop her talent and to connect with other artists. In 1857, the School of Fine Arts (Ecole des Beaux-Arts) opened its doors to women, creating an unprecedented opportunity. Whether the women were students at the school or protégés of great artists as Berthe Morisot was of Camille Corot, their collective style had a profound influence on Realism, Impressionism, and later, Symbolism.

Works in each room revolve around themes like “The Art of Painting,” “The Lives of Women” and “Picturing Childhood”. Themes such as “History and Everyday Heroism” marked departures from traditional subjects for female artists. Some of the artists like the crowd-pleasing Mary Cassatt and Morisot are familiar names today, the equally successful Rosa Bonheur, a Swiss artist, who favored realism in her painterly style, perhaps less so, though she was also the daughter of a well-known artist Oscar-Raymond Bonheur. New for this visitor were the Scandinavian artists like Anna Archer, Denmark, and Elin Danielson-Gambogi and Ellen Thesleff, Finland. Many of the artists continued to paint after returning to their home countries, a number teaching to support new, young artists. Some found encouraging partners in marriage, others discovered that painting was not complementary to domestic life. A common thread is that most of them found a way to continue to do what they loved. For a complete list of the artists, visit Women In Paris.

A successful Danish artist, Anna Archer, lived in the northern artists’ colony Skagen, with her painter-husband Michael. At the time Anna began her career, the Royal Danish Academy did not admit women, which led to her discovery of the works of Vermeer abroad, an influence here in “The Harvesters,” 1905, where she depicts a family.

In the innovative “History and Everyday Heroism,” this military portrait by Eva Gonzales inspired by Edouard Manet’s “The Fife Player of 1866” is striking.

Berthe Moriset, French, Impressionist scenes were often from daily life. Here are her husband and daughter: “The Lesson in the Garden,” 1886.

Mary Cassatt, “The Reader,” 1877:

Elin Danielson-Gambogi, part of the Finnish “painters sisters” generation along with Helen Schjerfbeck, painted “Girl and Kittens in a Summer Landscape,” 1892.

Ellen Thesleff, “Echo,” 1891, in which a young girl finds her voice

Notable American painters were among the group. Elizabeth Nourse, Cinncinati, Ohio, detail from “A Mother,” 1888. The depiction of a working class mother and child was a bold statement at the time.

And self-portrait, 1892.

“Ernesta (Child with Nurse)”, 1894, by Cecelia Beaux, both student and instructor at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Lilla Cabot Perry, from Boston, Masschusetts and Hancock, New Hampshire: “Open Air Concert,” 1890.

Rosa Bonheur, painted by her partner Anna Elizabeth Klumpke, San Francisco.

“The Art of Iron, Objects from the Musee Le Secq Des Tournelles, Rouen, Normandy”

As the exhibit notes, at a time when many people could not read, ironwork signs for shops had a practical purpose. Pictured in the forefront of the exhibit is “At the Two Fish,” 1750-1800, from Alsace. The details and craftsmanship of these works for everyday raise these works to an artistic level. One person who appreciated this was artist and photographer Jean-Louis Henri Le Secq Destournelles, 1818–1882, who began to collect these often cast aside wrought iron works in Paris. His son Henri continued this, ultimately donating their collection to the city of Rouen in Normandy, France, where they are on display in a former Gothic cathedral converted into a museum.

Both The Clark Art architecture and nature contribute to showcasing the works.

“Work lovingly done is the secret of all order and all happiness.” A few months ago, The Clark posted this wonderful quote by Pierre Renoir that describes fulfillment in art and life. The shared artist’s spirit that transcends gender and life station as seen in “Women Artists in Paris: 1850-1900” and “The Age of Iron” resonates with visitors. For more information, visit The Clark.

Museum Building

Campus reflecting pools outside Clark Center

Museum Building extension

Campus life: outside Manton Research Center

On the way up the hillside

View from artist Thomas Schutte’s Crystal

“Work lovingly done is the secret of all order and all happiness.” Pierre Renoir

(Photo credit: “Apples in a Dish”, The Clark)

The Clark grounds, referred to as the “campus” are beautiful with trails to enjoy as part of the visit. “Women Artists in Paris: 1850-1900” is through September 3rd and “The Age of Iron” is through September 13th. (Sources: Clark Art, Wiki)

“Courage: Paul Robeson”

By Kathleen Helen Levey

On February 17, 2018

In Arts, Culture, History, Theater

Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, home of Arts Council of Princeton, designed by Michael Graves

In the New Jersey chapter of his legendary life, Paul Robeson, the son of a former slave, was born in Princeton. His father, William Drew Robeson I, also an accomplished man, was the minister of Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church for 21 years. Through the Underground Railroad, William had escaped from slavery at the age of 15, later serving in the Union Army as a laborer and graduating from Lincoln University with a Sacred Theology degree. Paul’s mother, Maria Louisa Bustill, was of African-American, Native American, and Anglo-American descent and brought up in a well-known Quaker family of abolitionists. One of her ancestors founded the Free African Society in Philadelphia in 1787. Though Lincoln University accepted only men at the time, Maria and her sister received permission to attend classes, and Maria later taught and tutored in the Princeton community.

Tragically, when Paul was six, his mother died in an accident at home and shortly after the remaining Robesons, Paul, his father, and four siblings, moved to Westfield, also in Central New Jersey. Unfortunately, differences of opinion about the direction of the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, founded by what was the First Presbyterian Church, had also led to Minister Robeson’s move to another congregation, initially in Westfield and then in nearby Somerville, where the family settled. Paul attended Somerville High School and then Rutgers University, 1915-1919, the only African-American at the time, the third in its history. At Rutgers, he played four varsity sports, earned 15 varsity letters, won speech and debate competitions, and was a glee club soloist. Despite resistance from some football players, he was twice All-American, a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the Cap and Skull Honor Society, and class valedictorian. He went on to receive a law degree from Columbia University while playing for the NFL.

Paul Robeson excelled at everything he did, which for an African-American man at the time was not always the blessing one might have hoped. Opportunity for him to practice law in New York City proved limited, so he developed his artistic talent as a singer and an actor, becoming a star of the stage and screen as well as a renowned concert artist. Paul possessed a remarkable bass voice, which he described as a baritone. Of his versatile creative roles, concert performer allowed him the most artistic control. Over a remarkable life, the world citizen who was fluent in many languages lived in England and did travel the world. His compassion made him a lifelong advocate not only for civil rights but human rights through avenues of change that were available to him at the time. Paul Robeson was possibly the person whose view of the artist – through the roles they chose and the publicity they garnered – who created a template for our time of artists as people who bring attention to those who are suffering.

Today, the Arts Council of Princeton preserves Paul Robeson’s legacy as an artist in the Paul Robeson Center near his childhood home in addition to schools in his name throughout the state and the Newark Rutgers Campus Center. For the Arts Council’s extensive classes, programs, exhibits, and events, visit: Arts Council of Princeton or @ArtsCouncilofPrinceton on Facebook and Instagram with Twitter updates @ArtsPrinceton Twitter.

The Robeson family home, once owned by the church, is now undergoing a renovation by the nonprofit The Paul Robeson House of Princeton. Pictured also is the Paul Robeson Center, designed by Princeton architect Michael Graves. Prominent sculptor Jacob Epstein created the bust of Paul Robeson that welcomes visitors.

Writing New Jersey Life

People and places of New Jersey…with some travels.

Category: Culture Page 1 of 2

A Cherry Blossom Spring: Branch Brook Park

“Welcome Summer at State Fair Meadowlands”

“The National Arts Club: In Love with the Arts”

“Christmas in Stockbridge”

“Arriving Home to Sweetness”

“‘A Song for You’: The Grammy Museum Experience at the Prudential Center”

“Hyde Park: The Year from the Top”

“Imagination: Isamu Noguchi”

“‘Work Lovingly Done’: Two Exhibitions at The Clark”

“Courage: Paul Robeson”

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