I just returned from a fun, packed long weekend in London. The Eurostar had a 77 euro roundtrip fare as a farewell before the new London St. Pancras station opens and the travel time gets cut to only 2 hours & 15 minutes, so I couldn’t resist.
Great art exhibitions were abundant, including an astounding retrospective of Louise Bourgeois at the Tate Modern. The extensive exhibit, shown in 10 rooms, covered her early simple paintings from the 1930’s up to her incredible elaborate room sculptures from the 1990’s. Intense, personal, and bold, the show is a must see. Victoria Miro’s serene, minimalist gallery near Shoreditch was the perfect setting for Yayoi Kusama’s luminary paintings of meticulously drawn circles in black, white and silver. The paintings strongly illustrate her lifelong obsession with polka dots and circular patterns. A contemporary and peer of Robert Ryman, Donald Judd and Dan Flavin, Kusama lived New York in the 1960’s, where she was one of the more controversial artists of her time before moving back to Tokyo. Click here to read about her fascinating life, including living by her own choice in a mental institution.
Kusama Exhibit
If you love great costume shows, then don’t miss The Golden Age of Couture at the Victoria & Albert Museum. The show covers the magical years of French and English couturiers right after Dior’s New Look collection in 1947 till the early 60’s. Sumptuous, gorgeous clothes of designers Fath, Hardy Amies, Madame Gres and Givenchy grace black velvet mannequins and a dark lit room with glass vitrines cleverly show how the clothes, shoes, and undergarments were crafted.So popular was Dior in those days, that in 1949 the house provided 5% of France’s export revenue.
Theater was at it’s best with a moving and funny stage adaptation of Pedro Almovodar’s film “All About my Mother”, with a fiercely, funny performance by Dame Diana Rigg. Not so great was the disappointing musical version of the cult Madonna film, Desperately Seeking Susan, which was a lame attempt to stick Debbie Harry’s beloved rock tunes into a cheesy, badly directed, acted, and danced excuse for a show. The only saving grace was Blondie’s great, indestructible music.
Poster from All About My Mother
The latest food trend in London is taking old, musty pubs and converting then into respectable eating establishments by hiring top chefs to design new menus with updated classic pub dishes. At 32 Queen Street near Covent Garden, I caught up with good friends over a delicious hearty lunch of calves’ liver smothered with onions and creamy mashed potatoes. My favorite food find was a hole in the wall on Charlotte St, near Hoxton Sq., called Ruby’s. It’s mostly a lunch takeout place with a few tables to eat in, and my large bowl of potato leek soup and homemade ravioli with broccoli rabe and chorizo was close to a revelation, but what really put a smile on my face was the price tag of only 10 pounds.
I like London, but eye still prefer Paris.
Louise Bourgeois at Tate Modern
Till January 20th
Sunday – Thursday, 10AM–6PM,Friday & Saturday, 10AM–10PM
Yayoi Kusama
Victoria Miro Gallery
16 Wharf Road
London N1 7RW
t: +44 (0)20 7336 8109
Open Tuesday-Saturday 10AM-6PM
Till Nov. 17
The Golden Age of Couture
Victoria & Albert Museum
Cromwell Rd.
10AM to 5:45PM daily,10AM- 10PM Fridays
All About My Mother
Old Vic Theater
Till Nov.24th
32 Great Queen Street, WC2
020 7242 0622
Tues-Sat, lunch, noon-3pm; dinner, 6pm-11pm. Mon, dinner, 6pm-11pm
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