Symphony Space: A Cultural Town Square at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Of all the things I have been doing over the last couple of months, there is no doubt that organizing the exhibition at NYPL for the Performing Arts took the most time. Don’t get me wrong, it was a labor of love! You can imagine my feeling of satisfaction when the exhibition opened up last month.
Here I wanted to share with you some thoughts about the exhibition and encourage you to check it out at the Lincoln Center branch.
Look at all those Wall to Wall posters on the ground level, beginning with the Rauschenberg silkscreen for the Wall to Wall John Cage and Friends on the far right of the wall. Together those signed posters encompass such a variety of musical styles. And even then, they only tell part of the story. There was not the space to fit all 46 posters from every Wall to Wall. My favorite is the Wall to Wall Copland. What a lineup that Allan Miller and Isaiah Sheffer gathered for this event! But then again that’s my background. Which one is your favorite?
The first vitrine directly opposite the Wall to Wall posters is devoted to Thalia Theatre and film, which plays such an important role in the history of this building. In considering images of the Thalia Cinema over the years, there were so many to choose from. I settled on one from the 1980s by Carl Weber. It’s hard to believe that this was only a couple of decades ago.
Further along on this wall is a vitrine celebrating Bloomsday on Broadway. I think the designers at NYPL here did a great job capturing the spirit of this program — with those playing cards (that anyone who has been to a Bloomsday will immediately recognize), photos of Fionnula Flanagan as Molly, Stephen Colbert as Leopold Bloom, and Isaiah Sheffer in his white suit with blue shirt, plus early posters and CDs.
And round the corner is our Selected Shorts section with audio, posters, and more. A highlight for me is the special poster designed by Chip Kidd for the 20th anniversary of Selected Shorts.
Upstairs are the two statues from the Sharp Theatre, never looking better, if I may say. The staff at New York Public Library cleaned and repainted the statues for the exhibition. Those figures — who some think represent two of the muses — have watched over so many activities at Symphony Space over the years. Note the photo in the history section downstairs of Isaiah Sheffer and Allan Miller, co-founders of Symphony Space in front of one of the statues in 1979.
And there is so much more. Come down to Lincoln Center and see for yourself Symphony Space: A Cultural Town Square. It’s certainly worth the visit.
For more information:
http://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/symphony-space-cultural-town-square
