American Folk Art Museum New York

A visit to this museum can be coupled with a visit to Lincoln Center (Revson Fountain) or The Atrium at Lincoln Center with its TKTS booth.

What most New Yorkers do not know is that here on Wednesdays, from 2 to 3pm, the Bill Wurtzel Trio plays American jazz standards, and on Fridays (5:30pm) it hosts free concerts of music reflecting “…the spirit of the self-taught art on view at the museum.” For example, a recent recital featured “cello-centric grunge cabaret”.

This is a small museum but quite active. It seems to go unnoticed by the hordes schlepping up or down Broadway. Inside, all is calm, shows can be extraordinary. I attended a show of funerary art from the 19th century. While there, only five or six others bent over the glass cases with me to examine the mournful images of the deceased, taken as keepsakes during their sorrowful time.

Another show features the "diligent, gossamer-fine paintings" of Orra Hitchcock (d. 1863) who partnered her husband in their pursuit of natural science.

At the entrance is a large gift and book shop which is full of interesting, unusual 'folksy' items suitable for friends and family back home.

The nearest subway stop is Lincoln Center/66th Street on the 1 Train.

I stopped by there this week for a moment, to observe, to rest. I recognized the usual sparse, aged, crowd, but most touching was the audio wafting from the gift shop: "These Foolish Things Remind Me of You".