Useful Vocabulary for Architecture Lovers

THE Streetscapes column is not big on terminology, but some is necessary; instead of embarrassing yourself by saying “those grooves on the side of a column,” impress your dinner partner and use the real term, fluting.  (Cut and paste the link below if it does not connect you to the full article.)

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Lenox Hill Hospital

Sloping mansard roofs crowned the German Hospital , later Lenox Hill Hospital, in 1868.

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John Marshall Mantel for The New York Times

Oriel windows on East 95th Street. Bay windows would not be suspended in air.

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Avery Library

Rusticated blocks at the William A. Clark house, Fifth Avenue and 77th Street.

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Librado Romero/The New York Times

A Vitruvian wave, suitable décor for the Marine Air Terminal at LaGuardia Airport in Queens.

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Avery Library

The vermiculated facade at 556 Fifth Avenue, built for Knoedler & Company, shown in 1924.

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Yana Paskova for The New York Times

Fluted columns from the Colonnade Row facades now lie in New Jersey.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/realestate/streetscapes-useful-vocabulary-for-building-watchers.html

"The Scream" by Edvard Munch

"The Scream" ,which was created by Edvard Munch sometime between 1830 and 1910, will be sold at auction by Sotheby's on May 2nd.  Bidders are advised that the painting will possibly sell for a world record amount somewhere around 80 million dollars.  If you are interested in bidding, register as a bidder at Sotheby's online.

Effort Afoot to Bring Arts Back to Public Schools

As it turns out, business leaders hiring the workforce of tomorrow don't want applicants who are really good at filling in bubbles on standardized tests.

Creativity is key, more than 1,500 executives said in a 2010 survey.

Yet California, like many states, long ago deemed creative arts a luxury, one that few schools could afford. And so, with the backing of business, state officials have formed Create CA, a statewide initiative they hope will restore art in schools, so that paintbrushes and even pirouettes are once again as important as No. 2 pencils.

The idea is to bring together those who have labored independently for arts education. Participants want to pass legislation, increase funding and raise public awareness.
Those behind the effort - including artists, educators and executives - believe California now has enough supportive policymakers and the right mix of corporate backing and political will for the idea to succeed where similar efforts have floundered.
Gov. Jerry Brown wants it. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson wants it. Business leaders and politicians want it. Nonprofit groups focused on the arts want it and are lined up to help.
Parents have always wanted it, but have had to depend on parent groups like the PTA to pay for most of the arts programs still in schools.
"Right now - and this is an ugly truth - art is kind of going to those who can afford it," said Kris Murray, executive director of Northern California's Young Audiences, which funds artists in schools. "The current system is not good enough."


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/23/MN5Q1O6PMP.DTL

History: Elizabeth Humbarger--Haggin History Lesson

. . .-----On Saturday April 14th, 2012 saw the dedication of the Elizabeth Humbarger Tolerance Garden and Counseling Center which is located behind the new De Ricco Student Services Building at San Joaquin Delta College Campus. The garden commemorates the live and achievements of Elizabeth Humbarger who was a teacher.

. To understand her life it should be remembered that she was teaching school in Stockton where her classes included many Japanese-American students. After the Pearl Harbor Attack, the United States Government ordered all persons of Japanes descent to be interned at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds where temporary barracks had been set up. Mrs. Humbarger was only partially finished teaching her students in subjects such as English language. After her students were taken from her and sent to the fairgrounds, she gathered a large amount of teaching materials, books, etc. and placed them into a trailer. She and a helper took the trailer to the fairgrounds and succeeded in gaining teaching access to her students. From then on, she continued them in their lessons and helped them complete their studies for that year.
.  To some, Elizabeth Humbarger was considered traitorous for the work she peformed. Regardless, she remained steadfast in her dedication to Japanese American students.  Her efforts continued during the post war years, assisting students during their relocation back to California and eventual return to school.  Ms. Humbarger went on to work at San Joaquin Delta College as a guidance counselor, inspiring students with her commitment to their academic success.
.   The speakers at the Delta College event included persons with strong Haggin Museum attachments, including Mel Corren and Sandi Cruz.  Mel and Sandi were on the naming committee at the time when the De Ricco building was looking for a name.   Both Mr. Corren and Mrs. Cruz lobbied hard for having the building named for Elizabeth Humbarger but in the end, the committee chose the De Ricco name.  Mel and Sandi then pushed for a compromise that would give the garden space the Humbarger name.  They succeeded and then further pushed for naming the adjacent counceling center after Elizabeth as well.  The college accepted this and the garden now features a bronze plaque with her likeness and biographical facts.
 . She individually imposed her will on scores of students and advised them to improve their English and to plan for college.  She personally encouraged Stockton's first Asian-American elementary school teacher and is called a hero by everyone in the Japanese-American community in Stockton. 

How To Visit World Wide Museums

Google's Art Project adds major world museums

From San Francisco Tuesday April 10, 2012

Google Inc. has expanded its virtual tours to more than 150 of the world's major museums, featuring high-resolution close-ups of masterworks by Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Botticelli - but not the "Mona Lisa."

The latest additions that went online this month include the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and Jerusalem's Israel Museum. But the Louvre in Paris, home of the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece, hasn't taken part in the website, called Art Project.

Internet browsers can tour galleries from 40 countries - including the de Young Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - as they would neighborhoods on Google Street View. Google is seeking more partners in the United States, Europe and emerging markets. It says the service won't generate revenue, including through advertising, though it gave no figures.

"Everyone asks me if we have Leonardo's 'Mona Lisa,' " said Amit Sood, who heads the project. "We're talking to people from the Louvre. Maybe they'll be part of the next phase," he said of the world's most visited museum.

The Louvre press office declined to comment.

The Israel Museum already had the Dead Sea Scrolls online; they were viewed by 1 million visitors from more than 200 countries in about three days. The next step in collaboration was "almost a marriage of the moment," said James Snyder, director of the Israel Museum.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/09/BUEK1O0QMA.DTL#ixzz1retExFsd

Colorful Realm: Japanese Bird and Flower Paintings by Ito Jackuchu (1716-1800)

To view more of these images and other events going on there, visit the website for the National Gallery of Art at (see link below)

http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/jakuchuinfo.shtm

Celebrating the centennial of Japan's gift of cherry trees to the nation's capital, this exhibition features one of Japan's most renowned cultural treasures, the 30-scroll set of bird-and-flower paintings by Itō Jakuchū. Titled Colorful Realm of Living Beings(J. Dōshoku sai-e; c. 1757–1766), these extraordinary scrolls are being lent to the National Gallery of Art by the Imperial Household. Their exhibition here—for one month only—provides a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: not only is it the first time all 30 paintings will be on view in the United States, but it is also the first time any of the works will be seen here after their six-year-long restoration.

Colorful Realm stands as the most dynamic and comprehensive—yet meditative and distilled—expression of the natural world in all of Japanese art. Synthesizing numerous East Asian traditions of bird-and-flower painting, the set depicts each of its 30 subjects in wondrously meticulous detail, but in such a way as to transcend surface appearances and capture the otherwise ineffable, vital essence of the cosmos, the Buddha nature itself. To present the full significance of Colorful Realm, the exhibition and its catalogue reunite this masterpiece with Jakuchū's triptych of the Buddha Śākyamuni from the Zen monastery Shōkokuji in Kyoto.