3 Days, 3 Museums! Day 1: Picasso at MoMA

SO - I'm back from a fabulous visit to NYC, and had some luck and some misses with art museums. that worked out really well for us in our whirlwind three days.

Museum 1: we went to MoMA after-hours, to see the incredible Picasso sculpture exhibit.  It was the day we arrived in NYC, and the last day of the exhibit, and we already had matinee show tickets (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime; it was incredible and I highly recommend it).  So we picked up 1/2 price after-hour tickets to see just the Picasso show, which was fine, because I have been to MoMA many, many times, and therefore didn't need to see the rest of the museum on this trip.  The Picasso exhibit was divided up by time periods and specifics of style and medium.  The sheet metal sculptures pictured above right (Woman with Child), and directly below (Head of a Woman), are from 1954-64 and my husband who you can see in both pics, did not like them.  At all.  Luckily, he enjoyed the stuff in other rooms of the exhibit, including the Head of a Woman, above left, pictured with me so you can see its monumental size.

 I have included the guitar pictured below, because of Picasso's use of a construction method that I teach my students, when we are making cardboard sculptures or using cardboard for armatures for papier-mache.  I am referring to the method of cutting tabs on the bottom of a cylindrical item.  I love showing kids that someone famous made things the same way that they do!

We left our cat home, tended by the cat-sitter, so my husband was happy when he came across this Cat sculpture!

 Below, Woman Reading

 Below left is Head of a Warrior, and though you can't tell from the photo, it is quite large.  Below right is of course Baboon and Young.  We've all seen this one before!

 This whimsical piece, Woman With Baby Carriage, pictured below, was a crowd-pleaser.  Everyone seemed to love discovering the face on the baby!

 There was SO much more to the exhibit - it was huge - so this was just a taste for you all!!  I was impressed by the scope of the show, and how it is all so easily identified as Picasso, despite its variety.

Museum 2: we went to the Whitney, the day AFTER the Stella exhibit closed, which meant one floor of the museum was closed, so the tickets were reduced price.  The Whitney relocated 9 months ago, and this was our first visit to its new location.  I have a lot to share about this museum, so I am going to wait and put it in a separate post.

Museum 3: on our last day in NYC, after walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, we were cold and needed a small museum to tour to warm up.  We  headed uptown to MAD (Museum of Art and Design).  Again, one floor closed due to a changing exhibit, and so we paid a reduced ticket price.  Our visit there was cut short because my husband wasn't feeling well (he's fine now), but I still got to see most everything.  I just didn't have time to spend money in the gift shop!   I'm leaving this museum for another post as well!!

 Instead, I'll close with a few shots from walking around NYC, including a couple to hopefully make you think!