at the whitney . . and afterwards . .

greg and i visited the whitney specifically to see the grant wood exhibit. this room displays a border painting (upper right) that his junior high schools students did in 1929. 

it was interesting for me to see his work, as i've never really liked the painting american gothic and so never paid attention to the artist.

as often as i've read that the painting depicts a farmer and his daughter, i always think of the couple as husband and wife. wood used his sister as a model along with his dentist. i think it's interesting that the painting, which was first displayed in 1930 at the art institute of chicago, became so popular and sparked so much commentary. most people found it to be a satire of american farm life, but wood claimed that wasn't his intention and that he had a deep appreciation of the hardworking iowa farmers' life.

anyway, i found i liked his work, especially this one of the daughters of the american revolution having tea with george washington crossing the delaware behind them.

before starting his landscape paintings in oil, wood would first render full scale drawings that were detailed and consisted of many small pencil strokes. above is january, done in charcoal and graphite on paper . . 

and again in oil on masonite (which is a type of hardboard made of wood fibers steam cooked and pressure molded . . according to wikipedia).

a portrait of his sister nan, who is also the model for american gothic . . 

and a 1936 book publication with his illustrations.

 we're now in a zoe leonard exhibit titled you see i am here after all from 2008.

 it's comprised of 3,883 postcards of niagara falls from the artist's collection . .

 she has collected all of these postcards . . 

 as i viewed the exhibit and took these pictures of people viewing the exhibit . . 

 all i could think of was, how did she find all of these cards? i imagined her stopping at garage sales tucked away on narrow country roads; or passing tables of old glassware and water pitchers in peoples' driveways along busy state roads with old bicycles strewn over the dirt and grass . . 

we visited the main collection on the seventh floor after the postcard exhibit . . 

and i went outside because the light was so extraordinary, but i almost got blown off the terrace because the wind was so strong. 

we then walked to chelsea along the high line . . 

where the redbud trees are beginning to bloom . . 

taking pics of fourteenth street . . 

the view of fourteenth street . . 

 we left the high line on twentieth street . . 

 passing the guardian angel school . .

on our way to twenty-third street . . 

and chelsea square diner . . 

 matzoh ball soup . .

and an omelette . . 

 heading home past billy's bakery (chanda and i used to always stop at the one in tribeca after her ballet class at gelsey's . . here and here . . )

i couldn't resist stopping at this one either!