Comments from Gilbert

Showing 7 comments

Gilbert
Gilbert commented about Astor Theatre on Oct 29, 2006 at 2:39 am

Dodger, a shame you missed James Dean. Maybe you got to walk on the same red carpet. And the cultural history of the US since WWII… just a small topic then! How many volumes do you plan to write? I’ve not finished the research for my book after almost two years and I’m only looking at one exhibition.

Gilbert
Gilbert commented about Astor Theatre on Oct 29, 2006 at 1:47 am

Dodger, I wonder if you ushered any celebs to their seats? I don’t just mean film stars, as an aspiring artist you may have recognised some of the big names in the avant-garde, Pollock, Motherwell, de Kooning perhaps? Maybe even Lee Krasner, Dorothea Tanning or Buffie Johnson. Did you make it as an artist?
Sugs

Gilbert
Gilbert commented about Astor Theatre on Sep 12, 2006 at 12:31 pm

Pause for reflection..
Back to the good news…
In case anyone is interested, Buffie Johnson’s work is still represented by the Anita Shaplosky Gallery, NY, who showed an original panel from the Astor Mural in an exhibition in 2002 celebrating Buffie Johnson’s 90th birthday. As we know, the panel was not 45 feet high.

Gilbert
Gilbert commented about Astor Theatre on Sep 12, 2006 at 11:00 am

Yeah, that’s what I thought, and I didn’t even have to notify the NYT of their mistake! Was that you Warren, or one of Buffie’s friends? Or did the NYT spontaneously admit to a mistake..?

Gilbert
Gilbert commented about Astor Theatre on Sep 4, 2006 at 8:10 am

Thanks Warren I’ll give it a go, but am checking my source first, would hate to have to ask the NYT to print a correction of a correction!

Gilbert
Gilbert commented about Astor Theatre on Sep 3, 2006 at 3:12 am

Thanks Warren, I don’t think much of the accuracy in the NYT obit however. The murals cannot have been made up of 200 panels each 45 feet high. My info is that each panel was 10 feet high. If they were 45 feet, where on earth would the artist have stored them once they were returned?

Gilbert
Gilbert commented about Astor Theatre on Aug 23, 2006 at 6:39 am

Hi, I’ve been reading this page with some interest, particularly the pieces about the Astor Mural. You might be interested to know that Buffie Johnson, the artist who painted the murals, died in New York on Augist 11 2006 at the excellent age of 94. Buffie was still painting up until about five years ago when her sight sadly failed. There is no detailed biography available about this once important abstract artist and I am hoping to include her in a book I am writing about a group of avant-garde artists who were active in the 1940’s. I wonder if anybody knows what happenned to the mural, which was said to be the largest in the world at the time it was assembled. As it was made up of over 200 smaller panels, does anybody know where any of these might be? Have you looked in your loft..?