October 2021

Clutha Pitcher, Christopher Dresser, ca. 1895; Dresser borrowed and abstracted decorative elements from diverse times and places in designing his work sold at London's posh Liberty and Co. department store

Antarctic Vase, Thomas Webb and Sons, ca. 1908-1911; George Woodall created this vase which shows British explorer Robert Falcon Scott on his race to the South Pole from 1901 to 1904

Milton Vase, John Northwood, 1878; shown at Paris' 1878 World's Fair, Northwood's masterwork (showing a scene from Paradise Lost) was one of the very first cameo-revival vases and helped stimulate interest in the technique

Neoclassical Candelabrum, ca. 1787; classically dressed figures who personify the seasons are depicted on each side of the ceramic base and represent the most fashionable style of the time

Candelabrum, ca. 1875; I appreciated the way in which the Chrysler organized its various glass galleries to better understand the evolution of styles and methods of production

Fairy Lamp and Epergne, Thomas Webb and Sons, ca. 1886; an epergne is a type of centerpiece that generally has a large central bowl sitting on three to five feet; from this bowl radiate branches supporting small baskets, dishes, or candleholders

Flowerform Vase, Stourbridge Glass Co., ca. 1897; the designer of this vase was working for Louis C. Tiffany who supplied his employees with photographs, specimens and drawings to help them execute his artistic vision

Bowl, ca. 1880; the most sophisticated work in British crystal during the later 1850s through the 1880s was decorated by engraving, often carried out by immigrant Bohemian craftsmen

Intruders (left, ca. 1893) and the Attack (1896), Thomas Webb and Sons; the Woodall brothers designed these plaques for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago; they had been in separate collections for 100+ years until reunited here

Cupid on a Panther, Hodgetts, Richardson and Son, 1877; this firm was based in Stourbridge (Worcestershire), center of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution; some of these cameo glass pieces sell for well over $100,000

Dragon Bowl, Thomas Webb and Sons, ca. 1885; cameo glass is created by a process of etching and carving through a layer of opaque white glass, leaving a white relief design on a darker colored glass body

Epergne, ca. 1890; during Queen Victoria's reign, England's growing middle class demanded new styles in glass for arranging flowers, setting the table and serving dinner; the abolition in 1845 of the British glass tax helped

Vase, Thomas Webb and Sons, ca. 1900; in 1889 Thomas Webb and Sons secured an American patent for their cameo glass process and exhibited with Tiffany and Company

Vase in the Chinese Taste, Thomas Webb and Sons, ca. 1885-1890; founded in 1837, Thomas Webb and Sons, considered the Crystal King of England, won top prizes at London’s Great Exhibition of 1851 and Paris’ Exposition Universelle of 1878

Before the Race, Thomas Webb and Sons, ca. 1890; the Woodall brothers, designers for this piece, were experts at the complex process required to make complicated cameo designs

Favrile Vase, Stourbridge Glass Co., ca. 1897-1899; the availability of coal (for fuel) and fireclay (for making furnaces and melting pots) made the Stourbridge area of the UK a perfect location for glass making

The Edge ranks as my favorite observation deck anywhere in the world with just phenomenal views; you're outdoors with plenty of room to explore a virtually 360 degree panorama of Manhattan

Completed in 2014, One World Trade Center dominates the skyline of lower Manhattan and is the tallest building in the country and the 6th tallest in the world; the name Freedom Tower is mainly used by non-New Yorkers

This observation deck, at 1,100 ft, opened in March 2020 and is the 2nd highest outdoor observation deck in the Western Hemisphere, after Toronto's CN Tower SkyTerrace at 1,122 ft

I enjoyed a great view of the Edge (far right) from my hotel room on 41st Street; the Edge is on the 100th and 101st floors of this 103 story skyscraper (only the 6th tallest building in the city)

The Edge is located at 30 Hudson Yards with major tenants TimeWarner, KKR, Facebook and Wells Fargo; the building is at the northernmost end of the High Line, a 1.5 mile long elevated park that has become one of the city's biggest attractions

The easiest way to access the Edge was to enter from the Hudson River side of the building where the Vessel sits; you then enter a mall with the Edge entrance located on the 4th floor (can you tell it took me forever to find the entrance?)

View of Madison Square Garden and the Empire State Building; it's still amazing that the Empire State Building was the world's tallest building from its completion in 1931 until the World Trade Center was built in 1972

The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island were easily visible as was the 42 story Goldman Sachs Tower in Jersey City designed by Cesar Pelli; completed in 2004, the Tower was the tallest building in NJ for 14 years until a nearby skyscraper dethroned it

Central Park (aka Nordstrom) Tower has the highest roof height of any building in the US at 1550 ft, surpassing Willis Tower in Chicago by 100 ft; completed in 2019, it is the tallest residential building in the world

Little Island is a new 2.4 acre park built on 132 tulip-shaped pillars in the Hudson River; the park, largely funded by Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenburg, has been very popular so online reservations are required if visiting after noon

The Edge is conveniently located at the end of the 7 subway line at Hudson Yards; the 7 train stopped next to my hotel in Times Square before continuing on out to Flushing, Queens and the Billie Jean King USTA National Tennis Center

There are great views of The Edge all along the west side of Manhattan, such as this shot from Little Island; the Edge has variable pricing on its tickets with general admission running about $40

Jersey City; TimeWarner has studios for Anderson Cooper 360, CNN Newsroom, Cuomo Prime Time, Fareed Zakaria GPS, Outfront with Erin Burnett, CNN Tonight and Reliable Sources in the building

In 1893, James H. Dooley, a wealthy Richmond lawyer and philanthropist, and his wife, Sallie, completed their elaborate Gilded Age estate on a site high above the James River; Maymont today is a 100-acre Victorian estate and public park

Maymont’s naturalistic Japanese Garden—the oldest public Japanese Garden on the East Coast (1911) - includes trained and pruned trees and shrubs, raked sand pools and multiple water areas—all designed to create the impression of an old, naturally developed landscape

The Dooleys also built a summer home on Afton Mountain, Swannanoa (SW VA), which was completed in 1913 and modeled after the Villa Medici in Rome; companies based in Richmond include CarMax, Altria and Genworth FInancial

The 1200 sq ft stone barn was completed in 1908 and is rented out for functions now; as of 2016, Richmond had the second-highest rate of eviction filings and judgments of any US city with a population of 100,000+

Behind Fountain Plaza is the Carriage House; their Carriage Collection showcases horse-drawn transportation typical of country estates in Virginia during the period that the Dooleys lived at Maymont

The Robins Nature Center has just undergone a huge renovation but it's only open on weekends (I was there midweek); the animals there are nothing special but probably interesting for kids

Maymont's gardens are popular for outdoor weddings focused around the Italian Garden, the Japanese Garden (my favorite)and numerous gazebos located throughout the grounds; there are very few famous people from Richmond

Richmond is at the fall line of the James River, 44 miles west of Williamsburg and 66 miles east of Charlottesville; the city is home to both a U.S. Court of Appeals, one of 13 such courts, and a Federal Reserve Bank, one of 12 such banks

In 1856 James Dooley enrolled at Georgetown and was the first student to rank at the head of his class during each of his four years as an undergraduate; he graduated in 1860 and joined the Confederate Army (hmm)

I've spent thousands of hours at Memorial Park over the years so I had to see the latest improvements to the park including the new 100-acre Eastern Glades which is the first major project in the ten year plan for the Memorial Park Conservancy

Gary and I visited the Buffalo Bayou Cistern to see the newly commissioned artwork by Albanian-born Anri Sala, Time No Longer; the cistern is open for art tours, historical tours and a weekly meditation group on Saturdays

The new Botanic Garden still has some growing to do and suffered from last winter's cold; a significant amount of money has gone into the Garden and I hope its location away from other attractions can be overcome

My first stop in Houston was to remember my friend and fellow Ironman, Mark Brooker, who was killed while biking last year in a residential neighborhood; Mark had just turned 52, was smart and a phenomenal athlete

The 4th most populous city in the country, Houston had 2.3 million residents in 2020 with the metro area having 7.1 million people (5th highest); it is the largest city in the US by total area, whose government is not consolidated with a county or borough

Admission to the Botanic Garden was $15; there were a few unique pieces of art (like this one) with special seasonal attractions like Lightscape (running Nov 20 through Jan 2) drawing visitors to this nice addition to Houston

Memorial Park, established in 1924, is 1500+ acres (more than twice the size of Central Park in NYC) and an oasis in the heart of the city; the park is currently being transformed thanks to $100+ million in private funds

The Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern is a former drinking water reservoir built in 1926; it held 15 million gallons of water, is 87,500 sq ft and has 221 25-foot tall, slender concrete columns

Everywhere I turned in Houston new high-rises are going up (mostly residential); Houston is the most diverse metropolitan area in Texas and has been described as the most racially and ethnically diverse major metropolis in the country

The 132-acre Houston Botanic Garden, carved from the old Glenbrook Golf Course, straddles Sims Bayou just off Interstate 45 at the Park Place exit (on the opposite side from Hobby Airport)

View of downtown from the museum; the museum's original collection of 300+ works of art by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell was assembled by Fort Worth newspaper publisher and philanthropist Amon G. Carter, Sr.

Woman Standing, Holding a Fan, Mary Cassatt, 1878-79; this work was likely done as Cassatt prepared for her debut with the Impressionists at their fourth exhibition, held in Paris in 1879

Edwin Booth, John Singer Sargent, 1890; Booth was one of the most famous actors of his day but is better remembered as the brother of John Wilkes Booth who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln

New England Landscape, Frederic Edwin Church, ca. 1849; in 1844, at the age of 18, Church left his family to become the first pupil of renowned landscape painter Thomas Cole

Sunrise, Yosemite Valley, Albert Bierstadt, ca. 1870; Bierstadt wrote of Yosemite - We are now in the Garden of Eden ... the most magnificent place I was ever in

Wrapped Oranges, William McCloskey, 1889; the vibrancy of the oranges is striking against the crisp white wrappers and the rich glow of a gem-blue backdrop

The Hunter's Return, Thomas Cole, 1845; in his 1836 Essay on American Scenery, Cole lamented the ravages of the axe that were destroying the wilderness; ironically, many of his patrons were responsible for America's industrialization

Thunder Storm on Narragansett Bay, Martin Johnson Heade, 1868; Amon G. Carter contributed greatly to Fort Worth as publisher of the Star-Telegram, founding board member of American Airlines, and owner of the first radio station in the city

Two Hummingbirds above a White Orchid; Martin Johnson Heade, ca. 1875-90; Heade's intricately detailed paintings transported the viewer from the everyday to faraway lands

Series I, No. 1, Georgia O'Keeffe, 1918; the artist taught in TX for 18 months before returning to New York City where she painted this piece; O'Keeffe always asserted herself at a time when it was not considered proper for women to work outside the home

New England Landscape II, George Morrison, 1967; inspired by his friend Louise Nevelson, Morrison created this imposing landscape from driftwood he found along Cape Cod

Marion Crossing the PeeDee, William T Ranney, 1850; General Francis Marion (aka the Swamp Fox) was a hero of the American Revolution, second only to George Washington in the popular imagination

Neighbors, Valton Tyler, 2016; born in Texas City, Tyler was considered one of the state's most independent visionaries; this was the last painting he made, with his death coming the next year

The Council of War, John Rogers, 1868; the sculptor sold his work through mail order catalogs (this one was $25 and shows General U.S. Grant, President Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton)

The County Election, George Caleb Bingham, 1851-52; although born in Virginia and thus a Southerner, Bingham was elected as a delegate to the Missouri legislature before the American Civil War where he fought against the extension of slavery westward

Crossing the Pasture, Winslow Homer, 1871-72; Homer initially earned his living as a correspondent during the Civil War; after the war, Americans longed for happier times so Homer took to painting nostalgic scenes

Left Scapula, Showing a Gunshot Fracture Nearly Parallel with the Spine of the Scapula, with Two Fragments of a Conoidal Musket Ball, William Bell, 1865; Bell was head of the photography department at the Army Medical Museum

Martha Washington (1856) and George Washington (1846), Rembrandt Peale; Peale boasted that, as the last living artist to have met the Washingtons, his paintings were the most reliable representations

Peaches and Grapes in a Chinese Export Basket, Raphaelle Peale, 1813; this is one of the earliest signed and dated works by the artist known for establishing the still life painting genre in America

Boston Harbor, Fitz Henry Lane, 1856; born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the painter and printmaker was famous for his style that would later be called Luminism, for its use of pervasive light

The Fifty-ninth Virginia Infantry-Wise's Brigade, Conrad Wise Chapman, ca. 1867; though raised in Rome, Italy, Chapman returned to the US to fight for the Confederacy; it was rare to see the Confederate Army from a soldier's viewpoint

Chloe and Sam, Thomas Hovenden, 1882; after moving to Plymouth Meeting, PA, in 1881, the artist painted a series of works as a tribute to the town's proud heritage of abolitionism; Chloe may be a reference to a character in Uncle Tom's Cabin

A Closet Door, John Frederick Peto, 1904-06; a letter rack, which held notes, cards and other mementos, was a highly personal subject for trompe l'oeil painters that effectively served as a complex portrait of the artist himself

The Monongahela at Morgantown, Blanche Lazzell, 1933; this piece is a woodcut on paper with the artist using the backside of a spoon to apply pressure to the paper; this technique allowed her to achieve subtle effects of color and texture