A Night At The Museum

The Met Museum is definitely my favourite museum in the world––and no doubt one of my favourite places in New York! Although I could visit pretty much any day of the year and spend hours there, I particularly enjoy it after hours, when there are not so many people visiting, and when I have the time to admire the wonderful works of art in it.

At the beginning of the week, I had the chance to spend a sweet little evening at the museum, and it was nothing but wonderful. Not only did I get the chance to have a quick look at the Greco-Roman gallery, but I also spent quite a while visiting the Cubism exhibition––which I sincerely recommend seeing! I also paid a visit to their Christmas tree and the Nativity scene, and wandered around the shop, trying to get started on Holiday Shopping!

Love,

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio

"Helena Rubinstein: Beauty is Power" at the Jewish Museum

I went yesterday to the Jewish Museum to see the exhibition Helena Rubinstein: Beauty is Power. Although it showed a wonderful array of the artwork collected by Rubinstein throughout her life––including some beautiful portraits of her by the most relevant artists of her time, amazing sculptures from Gabon, and a few of her miniature rooms, which I totally want to have in my home––I must say that the exhibition was far less than I expected.

I arrived to the exhibition because I have to write a review about it as part of my Fashion History coursework... So I did expect some fashion. And although the exhibition contained a wonderful Bolero jacket by Elsa Schiaparelli––which is probably one of my favourite garments from the designer, only because I am obsessed with elephants––that was pretty much it. No fashion at all...

But what is even more surprising is the lack of talk about beauty. Being Rubinstein the absolute beauty master, I really expected to see more beauty-related content, and not just a few seconds of her advertising videos at the end, and less than a dozen samples of her beauty products. Although the curator did seem to admire Rubinstein for being a genius marketer and challenging the stigma associated with makeup in the early twentieth century, these issues were left mostly untouched, and nothing other than her art collections was shown.

I've experienced this kind of bias––showing Jewish "heroes" without elaborating on the reasons for their importance––in the past at the Jewish Museum, it hit me harder this time. As much as I value Jewish pride––or any type of pride, to be honest––I also like arguments with a basis. And I like going to museums to learn and be informed... Something I feel lacked this time.

I did enjoy seeing the beautiful portraits, though... And the art, especially when artworks from Picasso, Kahlo and Miro were juxtaposed to tribal sculptures from Nepal, Gabon and Ivory Coast. Oh, and the beautiful creations that Rubinstein's collection of miniature rooms are––trust me, they are breathtaking! I really recommend paying a visit to the museum if you're interested in any of these... But if you want to learn about this genius of the beauty industry, I wouldn't say this is the place to go.

Love,

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio

Vivian Maier Exhibition Opening at Howard Greenberg Gallery

One of my favourite things to do on Thursdays in New York is attending to gallery openings! I truly admire people who dedicate their lives to art, and I really enjoy seeing their creations. Last Thursday, I went to the opening of Vivian Maier exhibition at the Howard Greenberg Gallery (located on 57th and Madison) and loved it!

One of the things that I value the most about this amazing photographer is how she brings attention to the most ordinary objects of our everyday lives and turns them into amazing works of art. I also adore her use of rhythm in her pictures. This exhibition was absolutely stunning and I am really glad I went to see it. I truly recommend visiting if you're in New York!

Love,

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio

Killer Heels at the Brooklyn Museum

Last week, I visited the Killer Heels exhibition at Brooklyn Museum, and I loved it! I barely leave Manhattan, but when I do, I like going to Brooklyn––unless I'm out in Princeton visiting my friends... Brooklyn Museum, especially, is one of my favourite places in the borough because it's super pretty and it has a very wide collection, with all sorts of events going on all the time.

Right now––and until February 15, 2015––they're hosting an exhibition called Killer Heels. When I first heard of it, I was a little reluctant to go because, as much as I love heels––you barely need to throw a short glance at my closet to notice that––I wasn't really sure about going to an exhibition about heels. I felt it was not worthy at all...

But thank God I was convinced to go. The exhibition hosted a quite large collection of high heels from different periods in history and coming from different parts of the world. Of course, I would say that more recent types of high heels were more common, but they had some amazing oldies. To be honest, I would have liked to see more writing about the actual history of heels––rather than just showing an artfully arranged collection––but I still liked what they had. There were also videos and posters to top up the exhibit. One of my favourite videos was an excerpt of the movie Some Like It Hot––which I totally want to see!

I didn't take any pictures of the exhibit at all because––as usual––lightning was not the best. I also really want to encourage those of you who can make it there to go. If you're not that into heels, I guess you can scan through it and go off to visit other parts of the museum!

Love,
  Photography: Laura Belru

Short Escapes: Princeton

After having the longest week last week, I decided to run away of the city and take some time to breath and be happy in Princeton with one of the people I love the most in the whole world.

Although my Princeton escape lasted only two days, it was absolutely amazing! We walked around this beautiful place on Friday, had our little picnic in the gardens, and then went for some delicious ice cream. There was also time to visit the museum and have dinner with the family. After dinner, we had our little GNO and went for drinks and dessert––I promise I'll share the recipe for my perfect-for-fall drink if I ever manage to discover how to do it––and then cuddled in bed and watched Disney movies at the end of the night––although I must confess I slept probably for half of the movie!

On Saturday we slept in, and went for some fluffy and delicious pancakes. My choice was banana, strawberry, and chocolate chips pancakes, naturally. I then had to run back to the city, to a conference about Luxury on MAD Museum. Spending some quality time with one of my best friends was something that I really missed, and it was more than incredible! I probably didn't realise this until I was there, but sometimes I get lonely in the city. Even if I'm constantly surrounded by people––and I love it––I still miss my family and friends!

Love,
  Photography: Laura Beltran-RubioPS. Sorry my pictures weren't that good this time... I just forgot to bring my camera!

A Day At The Museum

The summer is reaching its end and that means I'm now back home for some time... I'm back in uni, meaning I need to start focusing on my studies and do some work! Although there are some lucky ones who still have quite a long time of holidays left, I'm pretty sure that many of you are in my situation. But if there's something I can say about it, is that it's absolutely not an excuse to stop having fun!

Being back home has meant seeing some of my friends again and, what's best, getting to hang out with my lovely sister again! And that's exactly what we started doing last week, as soon as I arrived from New York: we went to the Colombian National Museum, where they're showing this amazing exposition about the gods, myths and religion in Greece, showing a ceramics collection from the Louvre Museum.

The exposition is only one room, but it was pretty enjoyable, although, to be honest, if you've been to the Louvre, it won't change your life. However, I wanted to go and see it, as my own way to support art here in Colombia. I've always had the impression that it's one of the things that people don't really appreciate that much here and, although it's improved in the las few years, we still have a long way to go in such cultural aspects...

What I did find amazing in the exposition was another room –especially designed for children– full of didactic activities designed to teach them how the Greeks lived. My sister and I decided to just be us, and lost our mind there! We were the happiest "kids" there! Among the different activities, we got to play with the Greek alphabet, send sand messages to the gods, and swing to avoid becoming crazy!

Love,

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio

Travel Diaries: See You Soon, Florence!

In the morning of our last day in Florence, we hired a tour guide to take us around the place. We decided this is the perfect city to walk around with someone who can tell you about the history of the place! You might thing it was my idea –yes, we all know I'm the geek one here!– but it was actually my mum's. She decided she should get cultured by someone who knew better than any of us...

Our tour began at the Duomo, and then we walked all the way to the Galleria dell'Accademia, where Michelangelo's David lies. I don't know if any of you has ever seen it before, but it's amazing how Michelangelo managed to sculpt these amazing pieces. I honestly couldn't do it myself and, to tell the truth, I doubt anyone but Michelangelo would actually be able to do it!

One thing I loved about visiting this place was a group of students that was drawing the sculpture from different perspectives. If I had the time, I would've probably joined them... Although they shouldn't expect much of my work! I guess that's why I'm not an Art student!

After visiting the museums, our tour guide took us on a short road trip all the way across the Arno river, to a place called Piazzale Michelangelo. Here lies a bronze version of the David, but the main attraction of the place is the amazing view you get from Florence. It's truly breathtaking!

After the tour ended, we went for lunch at some Trattoria in the city center. I decided to have the penne della casa, which had tomato, basil (as usual!), olives and eggplant. To be honest, it wasn't that delicious, but it tasted like home. And after all this time travelling, some home-made food seemed just perfect!

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel and checked out. We then took the train to continue on our way south! So expect posts from a different location starting tomorrow!

Love,

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio

Travel Diaries: Paris Day 5

Our fifth day in Paris was mostly about the shopping, although there's always time to do some proper tourism. We woke up early to go to the Musée de l'Armée. There's something about it I really like, and it probably comes from the long hours spend discussing war propaganda for my GCSE History Exams! In any case, although I'd never like to have a war again (yeah, BIG dreams there!), it's fascinating to see how all this propaganda worked!

By the way, have you ever seen that even Vogue Magazine covers were full of nationalist ideas during the wartime? It's absolutely amazing!

We then had lunch neat Galeries Lafayette (nothing amazing, so I'm not posting food pictures this time), and then spend the rest of the day shopping. I also had to do some work (a super long paper about Microfinance and Women Empowerment), so I spent most of the afternoon writing it.

Love,

Photography: Laura Beltran-Rubio