April Showers, May Flowers

A rainy weekend in Los Angeles is always a good thing since we desperately need the rain. In fact, we get a little giddy about it here in L.A. It rained off and on all day on Friday and Saturday. Which made me very happy as I was in the mood for a cozy weekend at home. There were so many things I wanted to catch up on. Here are a few activities that made the rain far from a nuisance, but instead a lovely accompaniment...

Watching some good television--

 "Outlander" is back. Did you watch it? Season Two began on Saturday night. If you are already a fan, then you know (not giving away spoilers here) from last season that Jamie and Claire are in in France this time. The costumes are gorgeous and of course those two are not so hard on the eyes. This is escapist television at its best.

Catching up on my reading--

I am completely under the spell of these books. The story of two women in a working class neighborhood of Naples whose lifelong friendship endures despite incredible odds has kept me enthralled through two books now. This one deals with the marriage of Lila and the continuing education of Elena and her quest to move beyond the neighborhood she finds so stifling. 

Running outside in between rain showers to take photos of the garden--

I love how it looks on a rainy day. The irises in the fountain are starting to flower!

 The David Austin roses in the front garden are looking so good right now

 These graceful and frilly ones remind me of ballet tutus. It felt good to get back into photography; it  makes you look at the world differently. My goal is to bring my camera with me now wherever I go, not just my iPhone!

Planning our trip to London--

This was a great weekend to pull out my books and notes on London and decide what we want to do this time. I am thrilled to know that Kenneth Branagh's stage production of Romeo and Juliet will be playing at the Garrick Theatre and Swan Lake in the Round at the Royal Albert Hall.  I hope to see them both! There is always something new to do in London...

Learning about this artist--

The New York Review of Books has a great article on the French artist Elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun and I want to learn all I can about her before seeing this exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Doing a little research and mulling over a fascinating lecture by Hermione Lee from last week--

I went to a fabulous event last Thursday in Pasadena. It was a lecture by renowned English biographer Dame Hermione Lee. My friends and I got a chance to meet her and say how much we enjoyed her biography of Edith Wharton. She was lovely. She has also written biographies of Virginia Woolf, Penelope Fitzgerald, and Willa Cather. Her topic that evening was "Gardens of the Mind: Writers, Gardens and Biography." Did you know that American writers such as Edith Wharton and Willa Cather featured only European-inspired gardens in their books? This was all the rage at the time. She talked about the "cross-cultural garden moment at the turn of the twentieth-century." I dipped into her Edith Wharton biography this weekend in preparation for my book club's discussion of The House of Mirth later this week. What a treasure trove that book is!

And after the rain--

 Joseph's Coat rose climbing on our porch

The sun is shining today and there is no better way to start the week than in the garden. It was a cozy and productive weekend. The rain was great and so beneficial for our gardens. The peak of the season is right around the corner. Don't forget to get your tickets for the Robinson Gardens Tour on May 14. It's going to be fabulous this year!

April showers really do bring May flowers!

Inspiring Places...The Frick Collection

Lady Hamilton as 'Nature' by George Romney

The Frick Collection in New York city is an oasis of beauty and peace for everyone who visits. Housed in the elegant Gilded Age mansion that once belonged to Henry Clay Frick, this small museum offers a lovely setting to view art as well as a comfortable place to feel in touch with history. Every time I am in New York I visit the Frick and am always happy to return. There are certain paintings that I love and check in with during my visit. In addition to its fabulous permanent collection, the Frick also has fascinating exhibitions.

One of my favorite paintings is the portrait (above) of Emma Hamilton by George Romney. I have been interested in it since I read "The Volcano Lover" by Susan Sontag. That book told the story of Emma Hamilton, Sir William Hamilton and Admiral Nelson. Emma was the muse of George Romney. She started out as the daughter of a blacksmith and went on to marry Sir William Hamilton, the British ambassador to Naples. She had a scandalous affair with the great naval hero Admiral Nelson. She was an 18th-century superstar and this painting shows her in the early days as a young, unaffected teenager at the outset of her career.

When I went to the Frick's website, I learned some interesting information about this painting. Emma was 17 years old when she posed for this portrait commissioned by her lover the Hon. Charles Greville. She was a beautiful young woman and Greville hoped to make some money by selling Romney's paintings of her. However he eventually grew tired of Emma and asked his 62-year old uncle Sir William Hamilton to take her off his hands. Hamilton did more that that; he married her. He took her to Naples where she became a sensation due to her beauty and talent for assuming "attitudes," romantic posturing achieved with shawls and classical draperies in which she became a living work of art. In Naples Emma met Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson with whom she had a notorious love affair which continued until his death in 1805. Though she inherited money from both her husband and her lover, her extravagance led her into debt and she died in poverty.

"St. Francis in the Desert" by Bellini

I also loved the exhibition a few years ago of Bellini's "St. Francis in the Desert." The exhibition was about the research that the Frick undertook in conjunction with the Metropolitan Museum into some the great mysteries surrounding this painting and its meaning. They used infrared technology to create the first complete image of the underdrawing that guided the artist's hand. I was impressed by the level of study and analysis that went into the process. The exhibition reminded me that museums are not just static institutions displaying works of art but vibrant institutions of learning where continual study and research keep the art alive, meaningful and relevant. It was inspiring to learn what goes on behind the scenes of our greatest museums.

Thomas Cromwell by Hans Holbein

Ever since I read Hilary Mantel's books on Thomas Cromwell this painting by Hans Holbein has taken on new life for me. I now check in with it each time I visit the Frick. It sits across the fireplace from a portrait of Cromwell's mortal enemy Thomas More. In fact, they hang face to face. We know from Mantel's book that Cromwell was a ruthless man. This painting shows his intensity in his face as well as his body language. He looks like a successful man, always on the alert and ready for anything. He is prepared to do the business of the king.

"Winter" by Francois Boucher

And for sheer delight and beauty these panels representing the "Four Seasons" by Francois Boucher always knock me out. They are simply stunning. "Winter" is my favorite. From the website I learned that Boucher made the panels for one of the homes of his major patron Madame de Pompadour and that they were probably intended for over door decorations. The subject of each painting is love. "Winter" depicts a snowy scene with a young man dressed in a Russian costume pushing the heroine in an elaborate Rococo sleigh. She wears a billowing fur trimmed gown and a little fur necklace, though her chest is exposed to the elements. She looks out at the viewer with a coy expression on her face. According to the information on the website, this combination of luxury and seduction is typical of Boucher.

On Sunday the NY Times had a fabulous article on an outreach program at the Frick that really excited me. Students at the Ghetto Film School in the South Bronx are participating in a yearlong collaboration with the Frick. The program draws on the museum's collection to inspire the storytelling abilities of young people while simultaneously building fine arts into the school's curriculum. The students go to the museum on Mondays, when it is closed, for discussions with its curator on art by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Fragonard and others. The students then write scripts inspired by the art or the setting. They choose one script to make into a film and do the filming at the Frick. What a dynamic way to get young people involved in the art world and bring art to the schools. Go here to read more. You'll be surprised at the paintings that inspired the winning script. Wouldn't it be wonderful if more museums did this kind of thing? 

    

Saying Good-bye To Fall

How was your Thanksgiving? Ours was very special this year with our granddaughter sitting at the Thanksgiving table for the first time. There was so much to be grateful for. And it was fun to to set the table with a tablecloth from our daughter's home goods and textiles company Heather Taylor Home. The one we used is called "Redwood" and looked very festive, I thought. Go here to see more.

Today is the last day of November and tomorrow we will officially be in countdown mode until Christmas. I am looking forward to the special moments that make this season so magical. But before we move on to the big month, I thought it would be fun to recap some highlights of the fall season so far. I'm a little sad about it coming to an end. So here are my favorite things (in no particular order) about fall this year...

Many of them happened in New York...

1. "Hamilton"

The experience of seeing the Broadway musical "Hamilton" was thrilling. From the moment the show began I felt I was in the presence of something brilliant and original. Lin-Manuel Miranda read a biography of Alexander Hamilton and was inspired to create this electrifying show. If you get a chance to see it, please do. You won't be disappointed. As soon as Aaron Burr opens the show with his fabulous and expository song about Alexander Hamilton, you will be captivated. The music is so good! It may be the best musical I have ever seen.

2. Jennie Simogyi's final performance for the New York City Ballet

It's not often that a ballet performance ends with the kind of curtain call I saw in October after a performance by the New York City Ballet. This was dancer Jennie Simogyi's final performance and when it was over the curtain call went on for at least 20 minutes. She received enough flowers to fill a small flower shop. Her fellow dancers and friends came out one by one with bouquets until the stage was carpeted with blooms. The final touch was confetti and streamers raining down on her from above. It was a wonderful send-off and I felt so lucky to have seen the farewell performance of such a talented and obviously beloved dancer!

3. "Ernest Hemingway: Between Two Wars" exhibition at the Morgan Library

I have mentioned before how much I love the Morgan Library. There is always something fabulous to see -- the building itself, the gorgeous library filled with rare editions of so many books, and the fascinating exhibitions. This time we were lucky enough to see the Hemingway show. It's up until January 31 and if you are in NYC be sure to see it. Hemingway saved everything and consequently this exhibition is filled with an abundance of photos, books, corrected proof pages and letters. They give us new insight into this literary giant. One of the observations I took away was how much Hemingway revised. It was fascinating to see the many revisions of a book such as "The Sun Also Rises." Even the famous last line. 

And in Litchfield, CT...

4. Sitting in front of the fireplace in the library at the Mayflower Inn

Especially when Los Angeles was in the throes of a major heat wave. The crisp fall weather and cozy fireplaces in New England were exactly what I had in mind when I planned our trip to Connecticut. Fall in New England is a wonderful event!

And back here in Los Angeles...

5. A Garden Book Club

Some friends invited me to be part of a garden book club and we had our first meeting in October. We discussed Vita Sackville-West's Sissinghurst by Sarah Raven and Vita's novel All Passion Spent. It was enlightening to talk about Sissinghurst with so many garden enthusiasts. We talked about the structure of the garden as well as its plants. Everyone agreed that Vita was an inspiring woman and a force to be reckoned with. She created enduring legacies with her garden at Sissinghurst as well as her writing. She led a tumultuous personal life which included a long term marriage with diplomat Harold Nicolson despite having many affairs, including one with Virginia Woolf. Their marriage survived and together they created the beautiful garden at Sissinghurst. The image of Vita striding through her garden wearing long strands of pearls and riding boots is one that will stay with me for a long time. 

6. "The Immortal Beethoven" series at the Disney Hall

In October the beautiful Disney Hall in downtown Los Angeles was the setting for "The Immortal Beethoven" series which consisted of performances of all nine Beethoven symphonies. Gustavo Dudamel conducted both the Los Angeles Philarmonic and the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela. We heard Beethoven's seventh and eighth symphonies and they were breathtaking.

7. Holiday Calligraphy Workshop at Hollyflora

Soon it will be time to send out holiday cards and since my handwriting seems to get worse with each passing year I thought it was a good idea to sign up for a calligraphy class. I have always admired this type of decorative handwriting. It was taught by Bianca Mascorro at Hollyflora studio. Her class was excellent. She is a very good teacher and the experience was therapeutic. When was the last time you held a pen dipped in ink? It felt delicious. This kind of beautiful writing is a lost art and I think we should bring it back.

8. Baking with pumpkin

Spiced Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Buttermilk Icing is one of my favorite fall desserts. I made it for my family to snack on while we cooked all day on Thanksgiving. The smell alone is reason enough to make this cake. Go here for the recipe.

9. Indian Summers on PBS

I love having a riveting drama to watch on Sunday nights and "Indian Summers" definitely fits the bill. Have you been watching this one?

10. The film Brooklyn

Each year the best films seem to be released in the fall. This year was no exception. My favorite so far is "Brooklyn." What a beautiful film!

Au revoir, November. Gingerbread season is right around the corner...

Contemplating Books

Do you know about The Grolier Club? It is a sanctuary for book lovers. I discovered it just a few years ago when they were hosting a Virginia Woolf book exhibition. I was so excited about that one. Unfortunately I wasn't in time to see the exhibition, but I went in anyway and fell in love. Now I visit every time I'm in New York.

The ground floor gallery of the Grolier Club

The space is absolutely gorgeous and its all about books. So, you might ask, what is the Grolier Club?

Here is their mission statement:

Founded in 1884, the Grolier Club is America's oldest and largest society for bibliophiles and enthusiasts in the graphic arts. Named for Jean Grolier (1489-1565), the Renaissance collector known for sharing his library with friends, the Club's objective is to foster 'the study, collecting, and appreciation of books and works on paper.' The Club maintains a research library on printing and related book arts, and its programs include public exhibitions as well as a long and distinguished series of publications." 

It's fascinating to read about the exhibitions they have put on over the years, all of them free and open to the pubic. There have been over 800 exhibitions on topics as varied as William Blake, Rudyard Kipling, chess, murder mysteries, Japanese prints, and Art Nouveau posters. There are 8 exhibitions a year, four in the ground floor gallery, and four in the second floor gallery. Anyone can walk in the door and view the exhibitions. There are lunchtime exhibition tours, afternoon lectures, and evening panel discussions. The space itself is lovely, with the coziness and intimacy of a small house. The publications that go along with the exhibitions are exquisite books. I have bought several over the years.

Last week when I was in New York, I went to the Grolier Club to see what was going on

 I took the stairs to the second floor gallery

 Where there was a small exhibition along the walls of the landing 

This exhibition was "Victorian Connections" and was about the literary and artistic circles of William and Helen Allingham. He was a poet, scholar and editor and she was a water-colorist and illustrator. They were a Victorian couple and well-connected with the great writers and artists of the time. This is the kind of thing they talk about at the Grolier Club: the Victorian literary and artistic scene in which everybody seemed to know everybody else and its celebrity couples such as Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) and George Henry Lewes. It was fascinating to think about the "rock stars" of the Victorian era: Charles Dickens, William Thackeray, Julia Margaret Cameron and others. I always learn something new when I visit the The Grolier Club. This place just exudes a reverence for the literary arts and an appreciation of the beauty of books. 

The second floor gallery

In their ground floor gallery was the exhibition: Aldus Manutius, A Legacy More Lasting Than Bronze. I learned that Aldus Manutius, the greatest scholar-printer of the Italian Renaissance, founded the Aldine Press in Venice in 1494. He was the first to print the canon of Greek classics -- Aristotle, Thucydides, Herodotus and Sophocles, the first to print in italic type, and the first to publish books in a portable format, thereby making great literature available to a mass audience for the first time in history. He developed a new type face for his publications that was originally called "Aldine" type; we know it today as italic. Publications of the Aldine Press were treasured and collected even while the Press was still in operation. This exhibition contains more than 130 books published by the Press. It was fascinating to learn about the birth of reading as we know it today. 

But, my very favorite exhibition was one I saw two years ago -- Gardening by the Book -- which combined two of my loves: books and gardens. It was an exquisite show of rare botanical books as beautifully curated and arranged as any garden. I read that the curators hoped we would "lose our cares and delight our senses in the contemplation of books and gardens." That is definitely what happened to me. Take a look:

The exhibition was in the beautiful first floor gallery and contained a wonderful display of rare old books

It celebrated The Garden Club of America's extensive collection of garden books and prints. The theme was the love and knowledge of gardening and the collecting and preservation of garden literature. It was also a tribute to the 100th anniversary of The Garden Club of America. The unique beauty and individual characteristic of each book was highlighted in the wonderfully designed exhibition cases. Each one was a visual feast.

There were gardeners' tales

Books in bloom

Writers in the garden

The language of flowers

More than125 illustrated volumes about flowers and gardening were presented

Each one a thing of beauty

 It was a celebration of the beauty of botanical books and the joys of gardening

Anyone who is passionate about books would love the Grolier Club. It is a cultural treasure in the heart of NYC. This organization celebrates reading and the written word and values the intrinsic worth and beauty of books as something to be displayed and enjoyed by all. Every time I visit I am inspired. Be sure to visit next time you are in New York. Go here to learn more.

The Orchid Show: Chandeliers

The Enid A. Haupt Conservatory at the New York Botanical Garden

I just got back from a wonderful week in New York where the weather was beautiful. The week was filled with great theatre, interesting art, fascinating book exhibitions and many fabulous meals. And there was walking! A lot of it. New York is such a walker's city; spring has definitely arrived which makes walking around the city delightful. The highlight of the trip was going to the New York Botanical Garden to see The Orchid Show: Chandeliers. Some of you may have had a chance to see this stunning exhibition, but if not, here is a little photo tour. I was in awe of the New York Botanical Garden -- this was my first time visiting -- and absolutely wowed by the orchid show.

The NYBG sits on 250 acres and the extensive grounds are an oasis for the weary urban dweller. I can imagine going here as a retreat from the city. There wasn't time to see everything, but on the walk to the orchid show I noted many cheerful signs of spring and several examples of garden beauty.

I loved the poetry quotes that are scattered throughout the grounds, making me think that every garden should have poetry. Gardens and poetry just go together!

The magnolia tree along the way is magnificent -- I overheard someone say "I could live in there!"
It was a bit like a small house.

 The white blossoms made it look like a wedding

Inside the conservatory, we were greeted by floating islands of orchids

The reflections added to their beauty

We began in the conservatory's aquatic collection, a magnificent room overhung with vines 

There was so much to look at

This is an elegant place

And there were orchids adorning every possible surface

On the ground next to the pool

On the higher ledges

And up in the air

Where we saw the centerpiece of the show -- a three-tiered, star-shaped chandelier that overflowed with blooms hanging from the dome in the central room of the conservatory.

There were signs telling us to look up which was a very good idea

Orchids were growing on trees

Hanging in baskets

And enveloping us in garden rooms

Wherever you looked, you were surrounded by the intoxicating sight and smell of orchids

At every level

In trees

In flowering columns

Mixed in with ferns 

And hanging in incredible baskets up above

The beauty was simply off the charts

Everyone had their cameras out

There were so many photo-worthy moments 

I read that this exhibition was especially beautiful and romantic at night. And that there have been dates and proposals amidst the orchid show. Not surprising. I spotted a bride being photographed and thought what a storybook setting this would be for a wedding. 

If you missed this exhibition, don't despair. There is an orchid show every spring. And now the hardworking staff at the NYBG is getting ready for the next blockbuster exhibition: Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life. This one also sounds wonderful. It's a good reason to plan another trip to New York!