Day 7: Philadelphia

Day 7: Philadelphia

QOTD:

Mike Schmidt:  Pete Rose is the most likable arrogant person I've ever met

Pete Rose:  Mike Schmidt is the best player in the National League today.

Weather: Overcast, with intermittent light rain in afternoon, temps in high 50s to low 60s

Pics: Palomar, The Barnes, Marketta in the Barnes, Snyderman Works, more Ani Kasten work, Hap Sakwa wooden bowl (similar in shape to one THB and DB own), view from Brian’s roof on a very clear Philly at dusk, Talula’s Garden and Jughead by Hank Adams

FitCtr and a waffle with plain yogurt, huckleberries and walnuts in Palomar Square 1682 restaurant.

The biggie: a return to the Barnes Collection, this time in its new downtown location. The Barnes has a long backstory which THB will relate here in short form: doc sells faux medicine and becomes a millionaire with a grudge, buys tons of great impressionist and post-impressionists paintings, creates “teaching” school and leaves will saying nothing can be touched or sold and gives to small black college in Philadelphia. Many years later, head of board, governor and mayor break the will and move the collection and now many more people can see the work and the college got a lot of state aid. Watch the Art of the Steal for more details.

If you like Matisse, Renoir, Soutine or to a lesser extent Picasso and few other of the big names and a number of the not-so-big names, all crammed together with African tribal figures, hinges, Native American rugs and pottery, and some odds and ends of furniture, this is your place.  Since THB is a huge Matisse fan, this is a real treasure. Our guide does a very good job of explaining the logic behind some of the grouping of pictures (for the teaching purposes of Doc Barnes), Highly Recommended, and buy your tix way in advance.

A lousy lunch at the Water Works Restaurant (a lot of the Philly trip is out of the hands of the leaders/planners because a local organization arranges access; the local guide provided, Marketta, is terrific).

After lunch, a visit to the Old City part of Philly which contains lots of galleries and a visit to a local collector, Brian Harding, who has the most amazing two-story loft (yes, THB has loft-envy), complete with steel panels on top of huge pull-out drawers, lots of steel and brick, and great views of the city from his roof deck. Oh, and he also collects Ani Kasten and other quiet “potters” and fabric guy named Collingwood (British, like Brian).

This is followed by another collector visit, to Jill and Sheldon Bonvitz’ house, whose primary focus is outsider (untrained) artists. THB had seen a big chunk of the collection (and the old Barnes) with OMCA group in 2009 at Sheldon’s law firm. Fascinating to see it in their home, mixed in with a few of Jill’s own work and a couple of other “trained” artists.

Dinner with E&J (of Japan fame) and Hank Adams (a glass artist and long-time friend of E&J’s as well as one of the artists in THB and DB’s collection) at Talula’s Garden. Share a cheese plate (they have quite a few different compositions to choose from), THB has cucumber and radish salad (big portion) and boneless pork chop with kuri squash and crispy confit of spare rib (yes, sort of a dried and crunchy piece of bacon without any fat…great!), shared dessert of PB&J donuts (very good and very rich), beer, drinks, zinfandel, $80pp (and the four of us pick up Hank’s portion).