New Trip Announced

Kendal’s Trips Committee announced a new trip, this one to the Newington-Cropsey Foundation on Wednesday, October 12.

We will visit the home and studio of artist Jasper Cropsey and the Newington-Cropsey Foundation’s art gallery in nearby Hastings-on-Hudson. Jasper R. Cropsey (1823-1900) was one of the 19th-century artists in the Hudson River School of Painters. This group of artists, which included Frederic Church, Thomas Cole, Asher Durand, and others, were inspired by the scenery of the Hudson River Valley.

They created the first paintings of the American landscape in a new Romantic style. These artists also traveled to Europe and painted a variety of other settings and themes.

After many years in Europe, Cropsey purchased a house in Hastings-on-Hudson in 1885 where he lived and worked for 15 years until his death.

The Newington-Cropsey Foundation was started in 1977 to preserve and display Cropsey’s home and paintings. The Cropsey Homestead “Ever Rest,” built in the 1830s in the Carpenter Gothic style, is on the National Register of Historic Homes. Some furnishings were designed by Cropsey; other pieces are European and Asian. The house has been maintained as it was in the Cropsey family’s time.

The Cropsey Gallery, built in 1994, housed in a Gothic Revival building with an ornate rotunda, offers temporary exhibits and art shows. There will be tours of both the house and the gallery, with lunch at Maud’s Tavern in between.

Discussion Group Returns

Kendal’s Discussion Group Returns After Labor Day.

Kendal’s Thursday Morning Contemporary Issues Discussion Group (CIDG) returns on Zoom on September 8 after a two-week “vacation”.

On the 8th, former National Public Radio Germany correspondent and former American Jewish Committee Berlin Director Deidre Berger will be CIDG’s Lead Discussant for an hour session which starts at 10:00 am. Ms. Berger will address “Europe at a Crossroads”.

All Residents are invited to join. If you have not previously participated, you’re invited to contact Eugene DuBow who will see that you receive a Zoom invitation. It will be coming to you on Thursday morning at 9:30 am. The serious discussion begins at 10:00 am.

Fall Clothing Drive

The Environmental Sustainability Committee is announcing a Fall Clothing Drive.

Please begin to look through your closets and select clothing, accessories, and shoes, all in wearable condition, clean and free of perfume, for our semi-annual collection to benefit the National Foundation of the Blind.

You will find detailed instructions in your cubbies in the near future.

A pickup is scheduled on Thursday, September 29.

Questions? Contact Ursula Hahn.

Report from the Art Room

A new exhibit will open in the Art Room on Tuesday, September 13 entitled Polish Poster Art 1960-1990: Combat on Paper.

While Poland was part of the USSR, Polish graphic artists created works characterized by audacity, irony, wit, and innovative lettering.

Although political/social protest is the dominant theme, posters also focus on contemporary culture, such as opera and theater. The works on view are from a 1996 exhibition at the Katonah Museum of Art, with now-Kendal-resident Mary Lou Alpert on the curatorial team. After moving to KoH with her husband Ira, Mary Lou joined the Art Committee and curated this show, which will be open to visitors until October 18, whenever no classes or meetings are held.

Opening Reception in the Art Room on C Level (adjacent to Robert Fulton Bridge) on Tuesday, September 13, 4:00 pm-5:30 pm.

Saturday Opera

Our fall season opens on September 10 with Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress.

The principal roles are sung by Greg Fedderly (Tom Rakewell), Barbara Hendricks (Anne Trulove), Håkan Hagegård (Nick Shadow), and countertenor Brian Awasa (Baba the Turk).

This is a delightful adaptation filmed in Sweden. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Swedish Radio Orchestra.

Join us at 1:00 pm in the Gathering Room

TRIPS

A new trip has been announced for September 29 to Magazzino Italian Art, Cold Spring, NY.

Opened in 2017, Magazzino Italian Art is an art space devoted to Post-War Italian art. Besides galleries it houses a library and archive of “Arte Povera” (“poor art”) and serves as a resource for scholars and students.

The first building, a former farmers’ warehouse (magazzino in Italian), and a new building, opened in 2018, are surrounded by five acres of beautifully landscaped grounds.

The current special exhibit consists of works by Piero Gilardi, a contemporary artist from Turin, Italy who creates art with an environmental ecological message. His “Tappeto-Natura” (“nature carpets”) are iconoclastic sculptures made of polyurethane painted with synthetic pigments glued onto thick contoured foam beds. His sculptures include sea urchins, fruits, vegetables, and animals.

Gilardi is a member of the Arte Povera group who use everyday materials. “Concept rather than beauty; attitude more than form” is the idea behind this unique art.

We will have a docent-guided tour and after- hour museum visit, plus lunch in Cold Spring.

Broadway Cabarert

On Sunday, September 11, at 3:00 pm, tenor Cris Groenendaal and pianist Sue Anderson return to Kendal for another delightful “Broadway Cabaret” in the Gathering Room.

After originating the role of Andre in the Broadway production of the Phantom of the Opera, Cris played the Phantom with major companies in the US and Canada and has many other Broadway credits to his name.

As a conductor and musical director, Sue has worked with the Broadway and national touring companies of numerous Broadway shows.

A reception will follow in the PDR.

NOTES

The FITNESS CENTER AND POOL will be closed on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5.

The TUESDAY MORNING CLUB will not meet on August 30. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 6.

The GIVE AND TAKE THE TABLE will appear on Thursday, September 1, and stay in place for its normal seven days.

Trip to Kykuit

A trip to Kykuit on Saturday, Sept. 24 is planned by the Trips Committee. Kykuit, the Rockefeller Estate in Sleepy Hollow, was home to four generations of the family, beginning with John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937), the founder of Standard Oil.

This historic site of the National Trust has been maintained for over 100 years. It was a home, rather than a museum, but the family’s wealth and love of art created an extraordinary showplace. Explore the main floor of the house, the Inner Garden, and West Terrace during a 1-1/2 hour “Selected Highlights” docent tour. Preceded by brunch in Tarrytown.

Mohansic Golf Course Celebrated

In 1922, the Westchester County Board of Supervisors appointed a commission to acquire land for a parks system, laying the foundation of the Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation, and Conservation, the first in America.

The Mohansic Golf Course in Yorktown Heights, which cost $1, was the Commission’s first purchase. Today, the county is blessed with an 18,000- acre network of open space and nature.

On August 29 at KoH, in celebration of its 100th anniversary, Westchester Parks Commission chair, Henry Neale, will discuss the development of this unique system which includes more than 50 facilities ranging from golf courses, pools, beaches, and parks to railways and nature centers that offer county residents abundant opportunities for recreation.