Ye Olde Photographer doesn't get to The Big Apple as much as he might, but this gallery began with a bus trip sponsored by Greater Norristown Art League, one of the clubs YOP belongs to. We traveled east on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, through the connection across the Delaware River to the New Jersey Turnpike, thence north to the Lincoln Tunnel. Having arrived a bit early, we took a quick loop down around the new World Trade Center where there is still work being done to the surrounding land. Quite an awesome building. Please pardon the bus window reflections and tinting, that is the trade-off for letting someone else do the driving!

NOTE: Neither of the venues permit photography of the displayed work.

Our first actual stop was at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, around 90th Street and 5th Avenue, overlooking Central Park along the "Museum Mile." There were two major exhibits there, one which really impressed Ye Olde Photographer was three decades of work by Carrie Mae Weems. The show contained photographs, screen printed text panels and video. A fair majority of the photos were done with traditional gelatin silver material, the rest inkjet printed. Besides beautifully executed technique, the work was from a series of projects taking a deep and occasionally uncomfortable look at societal issues of race and attitudes toward women. This was truly a powerful presentation.

The second exhibit filling a goodly bit of the Guggenheim was work of the Italian Futurists, a movement active in the early twentieth century Italy. The Futurists issued manifestos and celebrated progress in art, architecture, theater, etc. while interacting with the Fascism of Mussolini. There were a number of interesting examples of experimental photography in this exhibit. Some of it echoed the earlier work of Muybridge in recording moving objects with multiple exposures.

From the Guggenheim we traveled down to the Greenich Village end of the island where we visited the Salmagundi Club, an art club founded in 1871 and housed in an historic brownstone mansion. There we had a private lunch, which in truth was more like dinner, quite a nice meal. And then we were free to explore the 2014 American Watercolor Society Exhibition, an inspiring array of work from over 130 artists across the country and around the world. The weather was great, the trip well organized and our highly capable driver had us back at the starting point before 7:00 pm; a pleasant day.