The Era of Eero

The ever-on-the-ascendant Museum of the City of New York pulled back the curtains on its Eero Saarinen exhibit last night with a gala preview. The famed architect, whose work is the stuff of legend (the TWA terminal at JFK airport, the Gateway arch in St. Louis), is celebrated in grand style at the exhibition, with large-scale mock-ups, architectural drawings and film footage aplenty.

Although he handled commissions throughout the United States, two of Saarinen's most notable works (the aforementioned Terminal 5 and CBS headquarters, not-so-affectionately known as "Black Rock") are both in New York City, a metropolis that clearly nurtured and appreciated his vision.

Fans of all things mid-century will also appreciate the display of Saarinen furniture at the musuem, including his famed Womb Chair and single-pedestal tables, designed for Knoll.

The exhibit runs through January.

Going Dutch

Manhattan recalled its Dutch roots last night—with a contemporary twist—at the opening of Dutch Seen: New York Rediscovered. The new exhibition, which will be on view at the Museum of the City of New York through mid-September, features contemporary works by Morad Bouchakour, Misha de Ridder, Wijnanda Deroo, Rineke Dijkstra, Charlotte Dumas, Hendrik Kerstens, Arno Nollen, Erwin Olaf, Jaap Scheeren, Danielle van Ark, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, and Hellen van Meene.

Staged to coincide with the quadricentennial of the Dutch arrival in New York, the exhibition is one of the highlights of NY400 and was graced with a visit by Frans Timmermans, Dutch Minister for European Affairs. The NY400 celebrations will conclude in November, with the annual Peter Stuyvesant Ball.

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Life is a Cabaret

In song, life can be a cabaret. Rarely is it a cabaret in reality. But last evening, at the Museum of the City of New York, guests were transported to place where one could truly believe life is a cabaret. During a rousing night of song, headlined by Blithe Spirit's Christine Ebersol, performers Nancy Anderson, Stephen Bogardus, Brigid Brady, Karine Plantadit and Michael Winther lit up the stage with Irma la Douce, Folies Bergères, The French Song and Find Me a Primitive Man, among other classics.

It was a fitting celebration of musical history for a museum that contains a Tony Award-winning collection of theater artifacts, including handwritten manuscripts by Eugene O'Neill, costumes from musicals including A Chorus Line and Fiddler on the Roof and documentation that chronicles the complete history of New York City theater from the latter part of the eighteenth century through the present.

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