A Non-Photography Post

This past Saturday I happened to be near the Museum of Modern Art in midtown Manhattan. For this past week the museum has been having a members' preview of a new show that opens to the public on Saturday, March 8th entitled Gauguin: Metamorphoses. Being a member, I decided to stop in to see the preview, what a wonderful way to warm my body and soul. Gauguin is one of my two favorite artists (the other is Pierre Bonnard). The show is centered around his work in mediums other than oils, although there are a number of stunning oil paintings from which he borrowed motifs and figures for his other work. Prints at different stages of production are sequenced along with the woodblocks from which they are pressed, stunning wood sculptures, ceramic sculptures, oil transfers .... the man was an obsessive worker. His output was prodigious.

Since it was Saturday the gallery was quite crowded, even though it was members previews I didn't have a chance to see all the work on exhibit. I was in the neighborhood again on Wednesday and went back to see the exhibit again and confirm that my original impression was valid. The work was more stunning the second time I saw it.

I grabbed this shot on the corner of Fifth Ave and 53rd street, near the museum. There was a brisk wind and the person in the center was struggling to get that cigarette fired up. Just when I lifted the camera to get the shot, the girl next to him turned her back to me and nailed the composition.