Old World/New Exhibit

Salmagundi front entrance

The Salmagundi Club has been around since 1871 and today occupies a quirky brownstone on lower Fifth Avenue. The name is derived from the Salmagundi Papers published by Washington Irving and James Kirk Paulding in the 1820s. The word salmagundi first meant a dressed salad of meats, anchovies, eggs, and vegetables arranged in rows for contrast; in modern parlance, a salmagundi is a mixture or potpourri.

The Club has several large galleries for art exhibitions; a bar and restaurant downstairs arrived at via a room displaying paint-daubed artists’ palettes;

three vintage pool tables; a  library available only to members and a press for printing monotype. The building was originally built for Irad Hawley, president of the Pennsylvania Coal Company and his wife, Sarah.  Past members include William Merritt Chase, Louis Comfort Tiffany, N.C. Wyeth, Childe Hassam and Winston Churchill

Every spring the club hosts a major exhibition of works by members of the American Watercolor Society (AWS) with artists from all over the world showing their impressive paintings. All work shown must be in water soluble media: watercolor, acrylic, casein, gouache and egg tempera – only on paper, canvass not allowed. To see the works on view click  her

visitors in upstairs gallery

Impressive take on an eggbeater

Speaking of water, here is a recipe for raspberry/lemon infused water—refreshing, pretty and a good way to cut back on the sugar in traditional lemonade.

2 quarts water

1 cup fresh raspberries

3 lemon slices

Combine all ingredients in a large glass carafe or pitcher. Cover and refrigerate 12-24 hours. Strain before serving.

I suppose you could kick it up a notch by adding vodka or gin but that would undercut the point. For additional trippiness, play or hum Starry, Starry Night.  Maybe you’ll get the urge to start painting. Grandma Moses didn’t begin painting until she was 76 when her fingers became too stiff to do embroidery. You may not love her work but gotta admire that spirit!  Cheers.