by Florine Stettheimer, 1871 – 1944
Post - Holiday Chat With a Friend
K: Here is a copy of the card I mailed you, featuring a painting of New York City by one of my new favorite artists, Florine Stettheimer. I love all the pinks & yellows, don't you?
N: Ooh! I love Florine’s artwork! I’d never heard of her so thanks for introducing her to me. I look forward to receiving your card. Her style kind of reminds me of Maira Kalman’s. Are you familiar with her? I fell in love with her when I read her Principles of Uncertainty column in the NYT years ago. It’s now published in a lovely book form (and more recently, an hour - long choreographic collaboration). By the way, I learned while listening to an interview with her that her name is pronounced “Myra” (not “Mayra," as I had been saying in my head).
K: Thanks for telling me about Maira Kalman. I looked her up on amazon and already ordered the book you suggested -- Principles of Uncertainty, plus another one -- And the Pursuit of Happiness. When I googled her name, I immediately recognized one of the New Yorker covers, a woman wearing an Easter Bunny Bonnet (filled with tiny Chagall - like figures), that I had years ago in a box of note cards featuring several different artists -- but I didn't really pay any attention at the time, just used up the cards without thinking or remembering. So, thanks to your tip, now I know!
N: I hope you enjoy Maira Kalman as much as I do. She has also done illustrations for a new publication of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style that you might enjoy (required reading in my 9th grade English class). She’s actually done many books since that first one. She just might be a new favorite for you, too!
K: Here's another Florine, from the Chicago Art Institute:
N: I thought that painting looked familiar! I, too, took a picture of it when visiting that museum in 2014! I just didn’t make note of the artist because I’d never heard of her. See my close - ups:
K: How serendiptious that we were both so drawn to this painting, in the same location but at different times!
N: By the way, I was just looking through some photos from a brief weekend in NYC years ago, and came across these ones I took at the Met! Can you believe it? Apparently, I’ve been admiring Florine’s work for years without even realizing it!
N: So many synchronicities! Florine seems an unusual name and yet a little girl in our neighborhood has this name! Also, I had just been reading The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali translated by Swami Vivekananda and the same day, when leaving the museum, I looked up and saw this road sign! I thought it unusual enough to photograph it:
K: Amazing! I love these three Stettheimer paintings that I have never seen before! And how amazing that you saw "Swami Vivekananda Way" on the same day that you were in Chicago, and that you know another "Florine"! I like the way you express it: "So many synchronicities!" That's what I love writing about on my blogposts -- all the daily connections and coincidences!
SEE YOU IN TWO WEEKS ON MY
Next Fortnightly Post
Thursday, June 14th
Between now and then, read
THE QUOTIDIAN KIT
my shorter, almost daily blog posts ~ Kalman & Stettheimer
www.dailykitticarriker.blogspot.com
Looking for a good book? Try
KITTI'S LIST
my running list of recent reading
www.kittislist.blogspot.com
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