Karen and Jerry Fried visited over the past week and it was wonderful having them here. (The only drawback was that I didn’t have much time to write or paint.) Looking back, we did quite a bit, especially considering that they decided that they had already done the big tourist things. So we went out to eat at some of our favorite places (Lyles, The Rivington Grill, Dosa World, Sheekey’s Oyster Bar, The Modern Pantry) and saw some art (a display of planetary photography at the Natural History Museum and they went to see the Calder show at Tate Modern, which I had seen twice), went to the wonderful Churchill War Museum in the bunker under Downing Street and just generally walked around. It was a busy week. Some highlights follow.

Two Museums in the Park: One thing that Karen definitely did want to do in London was go to and exhibit of paintings by Hilma Af Klint at the Serpentine Gallery, which is right by the Serpentine (a kind of lake in Kensington Gardens). Hilma was a Swedish artist and mystic with a fascinating story. She was influenced by Darwin and Rudolf Steiner and went through a period where her works were the result of automatic writing. She did not allow her works to be exhibited until twenty years after her death and it turned out that the first exhibit was not until 1986, over forty years after her death. So it was little wonder that I was unfamiliar with her. The exhibit covered a period from 1905 to 1922, her most significant period. Af Klint was probably the first modern abstract painter and created art in styles that the Dadaist and Surrealists didn’t get to for decades. They really were astonishing works, which were done in four or five series of works. And the exhibit often contained the complete series of paintings. It was all extremely memorable, especially one room which contained eight huge works, depicting childhood, youth, adulthood and old age. I’m not sure the picture below really captures the work:

After than museum, we walked across the foot bridge over the Serpentine from Kensington Gardens to Hyde Park, where you find the Serpentine Sackler Museum. It had an exhibit called “Das Institut”, so we went, not expecting much. We first found a nice restaurant next to that museum. It was a lovely early spring day (perfect for a walk through the park), so we ate outside and had some very nice food basking in the sunshine. Once inside, we discovered that the exhibit was about a group of varied German artists who have joined together. Some of it was very good and some of it was of the head-scratching variety (“What is the point of this?”). There was a lot of boring neon stuff, but there were some very cool works that were made by swirling a special ink on top of water and then placing paper on top to absorb it. There was also some interesting glass art and some nice multimedia stuff. See below for a look one of those ink pieces.

    

Two Plays: While Karen and Jerry were here, we went to two plays. (This was what they had gotten as winner bidders at the UU Montclair Auction.) The first was a new play by Wallace Shawn, “Evening at the Talk House”, playing at the National Theatre. On its face, it was a play about a reunion of a theatre group ten years after they had put on a play by the playwright/narrator. But you soon found yourself in a weird dystopian world in which theatre had been outlawed by the current leader and everyone who wasn’t famous amused themselves by targeting other people for death. There was tortured speeches justifying all of this activity as protecting society from dangerous people. (It was disturbing and strange, but how far is it from drone strikes that we use to kill those deemed a danger to the US?) Wallace Shawn was in it as a derelict actor whose friends had repeatedly beaten him as a warning (which he appreciated). The play was complicated and had a menacing feel. It all made for an uncomfortable and somewhat horrifying evening of theater and the reviewers either liked it or really hated it. On balance, I liked it. It certainly made one think.

Two nights later, we went to a play at the opposite end of the theatrical spectrum. We went to the West End and saw “Nell Gwynn”, a show that had originated at the Globe Theatre. It stars the utterly delightful Gemma Arterton (who I would say is soon to be very famous). I understand it is headed for NYC shortly. (Go and see it.) Set in Restoration England, it is based on the actual story of Nell Gwynn, who literally rose from the gutter (Cheapside) in a real-life Cinderella tale. She became one of the first women to appear on stage in London theatre, where King Charles II saw her perform and fell in love with her. She became his mistress and they had two children together. (The direct descendant of one of her sons has written a biography of her.) Their love affair lasted until Charles’ death. Nell died 18 months later, having been protected by him from poverty. Aside from Arterton, there were any number of great performances, with the King (David Sturzaker) and Nancy (Nell’s dresser and friend, played by Michele Dotrice) being particularly memorable. It combined music, some wonderful bawdy humor (and a few political jokes that they may need to change for American audiences) and a sort of joyful energy. You simply had to leave the theatre smiling.

Two dinners: While we were at it, we had two dinner parties while Karen and Jerry were visiting. Our other friends from UU Montclair, Scott and Jackie Leahy, were also visiting London and we wanted to get together for a meal so we decided to invite them over to the flat. We went to Borough Market to do some shopping and had a great time. My favorite greengrocer had all kinds of wild mushrooms and obscure vegetables. We got Monk’s Beard, various mushrooms and exotic Italian lettuces with bright colors. The we stopped at my favorite butcher and got pigeon breasts, venison steaks and wild boar and apple sausages. (We went a bit overboard.) We also did some cheese tasting (there was a stand specializing in blue cheeses soaked in various Italian dessert wines) and tried some olive oils and balsamic vinegars, stumbled on an Italian honey tasting and bought fresh bread. It was quite a meal, including some nice wines and a sparkling wine from England.

Two nights later we had the New Unity minister over for dinner. I made a potato and cabbage gratin (Andy is a vegetarian) and Judie made an chicken and artichoke dish (his wife, Miriam, is an omnivore). Karen made a salad and Andy and Miriam brought a delicious cake. It was great fun and all six of us got along famously. It was nice to get better acquainted.

More to come…..