Art and Museums
Gold, Jasper, and Carnelian: Johann Christian Neuber, Master Craftsman and Court Jeweler
Val Castronovo writes: "The one-of-a-kind exhibit of one-of-a-kind objects showcases some 35 gold and bejeweled snuffboxes (steinkabinetts), candy boxes (bonbonnieres), chains, buttons and other accessories decorated with colorful, Saxon gemstones (agate, carnelian, jasper, lapis lazuli), each rimmed in gold and numbered." more »
Museum Shopping: Noctural and Tide Computer, a Shakespeare Toy Duck, a Mrs. Delaney Pink Botanical Mug,
Since London will be the focus for the Summer Olympics, we thought we'd explore the British Museum Shop's offerings and, yes, there's no end of the intriguing and unusual. more »
Youth and Beauty, The Art of the American Twenties
American artists of the Jazz Age struggled to express the experience of a dramatically remade modern world, demonstrating their faith in the potentiality of youth and in the sustaining value of beauty. They took as their subjects nudes and portraits that celebrated sexual freedom and visual intimacy, as if in defiance of the restrictive routines of automated labor and the stresses of modern urban life. more »
A Favorite Shopping Source: The National Building Museum
Almost a quarter of a century ago (we tend to round up numbers) we made the first of many visits to the National Building Museum — and its shop — in Washington, DC. Today we eat daily on flatware designed by Robert Venturi for Swid Powell that we acquired on a sale at the shop. more »