The Forlorn...

My class with Monroe Denton was held at the Audubon Terrace in upper Manhattan. It was quite a trek from my adventure in Flushing, but it too was a delightful trip! The Audubon Terrace museum complex is home to the Hispanic Society of America, American Academy of Arts and Letters, and Boricua College. It used to be the home of the American Geographical Society, the Museum of the American Indian (which moved to Bowling Green and Washington D.C.) and the American Numismatic Society (now in downtown).

Our mission was to see the show at the American Academy of Arts and Letters. This beautiful venue is only open for two months out of the year for two shows. The show up right now is the Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary Art and is an annual exhibition that spotlights candidates for the Academy art awards. It is an interesting mix of painting, photography, and sculpture. The show closes April 1st.

We also dropped in the Hispanic Society of America, another amazingly beautiful venue. The collection is pretty diverse. Everything from neolithic stone tools, to Roman glass, to Medieval ceramic tiles, to El Greco, to contemporary work. Two pieces struck me, a small sculpture called, The Death of Saint Mary Magdalene, and a little perfume bottle made out of jet.

Although this place is a bit off the beaten path and carries a sense of being forlorn, it is imbued with an energy of being somewhere else. Every detail transports the visitor to another time and place. The Audubon Terrace is a definite MUST SEE!