Celebrating ....

CELEBRATING The PJ's 48th YEAR! * www.junto.blogspot.com * Dr Franklin's Diary * Contact @ PhiladelphiaJunto@ymail.com * Join us at Facebook and @philabooksarts *Meeting @ Philadelphia * Empowered by WritersClearinghouse.

Thursday 14 October 2010

Museum Mile

On and Off Philly's Museum Row

By Richard Carreno
[Writers Clearinghouse News Service]

Stephen Starr --

At the Philadelphia Museum of Art
New * resto opens
The Philadelphia Museum of Art's restaurant has been rechristened Granite Hill, and is now open for lunch and dinner. The restaurant, formerly operated by the gargantuan New York-based caterer, Restaurant Associates, is now part of the local chain run by resto mogul Stephen Starr. On offer are 'modern twists on classic bistro fare.'
Pistoletto gets solo show
More than 100 paintings and sculptures by Italian artist Michelangelo Pistoletto will be featured in the artist's first solo show in the United States in more than 20 years. The exhibition, 'From One to Man, 1956-1974,' debuts 2 November. Pistoletto was 'at the center of sweeping change in postwar Italy, and his influence persists today as one of Europe's most innovative contemporary artists.'
Thomas Eakins in LA
If you've already seen Thomas Eakins newly refurbished The Gross Clinic, and are looking for a different thematic twist from the artist, a trip to Los Angeles might be in order. Pictures by 19th century Philadelphia artist, emphasizing the Eakins' keen interest in physical sport, will be on display through 24 October at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The show is titled 'Manly Pursuits: The Sporting Images of Thomas Eakins.' Of course, at home, the PMA also boasts many pictures along these lines in its permanent Easkins collection, the largest anywhere.

At the Academy of Natural Sciences
Philly's Best Museum?
The Academy has been voted the Philadelphia region's 'best' museum in beauty poll run by something called the 'Philly Hot List.' A total of 93,217 votes were cast, according to Philly Hot List, with Museum Mile's Academy garnering top spot. No vote breakdown was announced. Runners-up in popularity, in slots two to five, were the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology in University City, the Mutter Museum at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia in Center City, the Glencairn Museum in Huntington Valley, and, in fifth place, the Wagner Free Institute in North Philadelphia, near the Temple University campus.

At the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Art-at-Lunch Lecture Series Announced
PAFA's very popular noon-time lecture series will feature almost a dozen art talks this fall through December. A talk on Andy Warhol, 'The Artist of and his Critics,' will be held next, 20 October. Talks in the series, free to the public, are held every Wednesday.

At the Tyler School of Art
Tyler sponsors performance at PMA
A performance by Russian-born artist Yevgeniy Fiks, titled a 'Communist Tour of the Philadelphia Museum of Art' and which includes a tour of some of the PMA's permanent collection, will be conducted Friday, 15 October, in a program sponsored by Tyler, Temple University's art school. Those wishing to attend the performance should meet at 5:30 pm in Gallery 161 (Resnick Rotunda), at the entrance of the Modern and Contemporary Art Galleries. Fiks, who now lives in New York, will make connections with modern artists represented in the museum collections and 20th century Communism. The tour is open to the public and is free after paying the museum's admission fee. Admission is free to Tyler students with identification.

At the Institute of Contemporary Art
'Whenever Wednesday' sponsors 'travelog'
The ICA's ongoing 'Whenever Wednesday' program will kick off a 'staycation' lecture series of travelogs on art centers throughout the world. The first lecture, at 6:30 pm on 20 October, will be offered by Virginija Januskeviciute, a curator at the Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius, Lithuania. Also featured in the series will be arts venues in Singapore, Beirut, Paris, and in Santiago. Admission is free to all.

At the National Constitution Center
New Journalism Prize Sponsored
The NCC, in conjunction with the Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution, will sponsor a new eponymous journalism prize that honors the late television reporter and ABC news anchor. The Jennings prize, which carries a $5,000 award, will be given to a journalist whose work 'illuminates the Constitution's centrality to American identity and life,' according to NCC spokesperson Ashley Berke. The prize will be awarded annually. The deadline for entries for the 2011 prize is 1 November. The winner will be announced in March during a Jennings project program that will conducted at the NCC.