Culture

Telluride Inside… and Out: An afternoon date in downtown Seattle

Painter Z.Z. Wei sees his little corner of the Big Blue Marble like nobody else sees it. And once you see it, ahem, his "way," you can't help but view the Northwestern landscapes of the Puget Sound or the Palouse of Eastern, Washington without seeing his work in those vistas. Just ask Clint Viebrock, who was born in Eastern Washington. That's why every Fall without fail Telluride Inside... and Out makes a pilgrimage to Patricia Rovzar's gallery at 1225 Second Avenue in downtown Seattle to check out her annual blockbuster show of the artist's work. It's Clint's way of going home again –  with the added perk of not having to pay for gas for the three-hour trip across the mountains.

Telluride Inside… and Out in New York: A visit to the Jewish Museum

Matisse, "Large Reclining Nude"

Picture Telluride without Levi's and denim. There would be lots of locals running around half-naked. And naked walls instead of walls filled with art in the apartments of the Cone sisters of Baltimore. Their massive collection – about 3,000 pieces including some 500 Matisses – was in large part built on the back of denim. The family business, The Cone Mills Corporation, produced cloth for work clothes and, during WW1, for military uniforms. But the company was also the largest supplier of denim to Levi Strauss. Their brothers' support of their two spinster sisters enabled (Dr.) Claribel and Etta (likely a former lover of Gertrude Stein, a major mentor) to devote their lives to collecting masterpieces of modern art.

"Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore" is the featured show (through September 25) at The Jewish Museum in Manhattan on the corner of 92nd Street and Fifth Avenue, once the Warburg mansion. The exhibition, meant to reinforce the idea the two sisters were very important collectors of cutting-edge art, not mere "shoppers"  as dismissed by their detractors, showcases about 50 of their finest gems.