Meet Martha Swope, the Legendary Broadway Photographer Who Captured Iconic Moments From Hundreds of Productions and Rehearsals She spent nearly 40 years taking theater and dance pictures, providing glimpses behind the scenes and creating images that the public couldn’t otherwise access Stephanie Rudig - Freelance Writer June 11, 2025 Photographer Martha Swope sitting on a floor covered with prints of her photos in 1987 Andrea Legge / © NYPL Martha Swope wanted to be a dancer. She moved from her home state of Texas to New York to attend the School of American Ballet, hoping to start a career in dance. Swope also happened to be an amateur photographer. So, in 1957, a fellow classmate invited her to bring her camera and document rehearsals for a little theater show he was working on. The classmate was director and choreographer Jerome Robbins, and the show was West Side Story. One of those rehearsal shots ended up in Life magazine, and Swope quickly started getting professional bookings. It’s notoriously tough to make it on Broadway, but through photography, Swope carved out a career capturing theater and dance. Over the course of nearly four decades, she photographed hundreds more rehearsals, productions and promotional studio shots. Unidentified male chorus members dancing during rehearsals for musical West Side Story in 1957 Martha Swope / © NYPL At a time when live performances were not often or easily captured, Swope’s photographs caught the animated moments and distilled the essence of a show into a single image: André De Shields clad in a jumpsuit as the title character in The Wiz, Patti LuPone with her arms raised overhead in Evita, the cast of Cats leaping in feline formations, a close-up of a forlorn Sheryl Lee Ralph in Dreamgirls and the row of dancers obscuring their faces with their headshots in A Chorus Line were all captured by Swope’s camera. She was also the house photographer for the New York City Ballet and the Martha Graham Dance Company and photographed other major dance companies such as the Ailey School. Her vision of the stage became fairly ubiquitous, with Playbill reporting that in the late 1970s, two-thirds of Broadway productions were photographed by Swope, meaning her work dominated theater and dance coverage. Carol Rosegg was early in her photography career when she heard that Swope was looking for an assistant. “I didn't frankly even know who she was,” Rosegg says. “Then the press agent who told me said, ‘Pick up any New York Times and you’ll find out.’” Swope’s background as a dancer likely equipped her to press the shutter at the exact right moment to capture movement, and to know when everyone on stage was precisely posed. She taught herself photography and early on used a Brownie camera, a simple box model made by Kodak. “She was what she described as ‘a dancer with a Brownie,’” says Barbara Stratyner, a historian of the performing arts who curated exhibitions of Swope’s work at the New York Public Library. An ensemble of dancers in rehearsal for the stage production Cats in 1982 Martha Swope / © NYPL “Dance was her first love,” Rosegg says. “She knew everything about dance. She would never use a photo of a dancer whose foot was wrong; the feet had to be perfect.” According to Rosegg, once the photo subjects knew she was shooting, “the anxiety level came down a little bit.” They knew that they’d look good in the resulting photos, and they likely trusted her intuition as a fellow dancer. Swope moved with the bearing of a dancer and often stood with her feet in ballet’s fourth position while she shot. She continued to take dance classes throughout her life, including at the prestigious Martha Graham School. Stratyner says, “As Graham got older, [Swope] was, I think, the only person who was allowed to photograph rehearsals, because Graham didn’t want rehearsals shown.” Photographic technology and the theater and dance landscapes evolved greatly over the course of Swope’s career. Rosegg points out that at the start of her own career, cameras didn’t even automatically advance the film after each shot. She explains the delicate nature of working with film, saying, “When you were shooting film, you actually had to compose, because you had 35 shots and then you had to change your film.” Swope also worked during a period of changing over from all black-and-white photos to a mixture of black-and-white and color photography. Rosegg notes that simultaneously, Swope would shoot black-and-white, and she herself would shoot color. Looking at Swope’s portfolio is also an examination of increasingly crisp photo production. Advances in photography made shooting in the dark or capturing subjects under blinding stage lights easier, and they allowed for better zooming in from afar. Martha Graham rehearses dancer Takako Asakawa and others in Heretic, a dance work choreographed by Graham, in 1986 Martha Swope / © NYPL It’s much more common nowadays to get a look behind the curtain of theater productions via social media. “The theater photographers of today need to supply so much content,” Rosegg says. “We didn’t have any of that, and getting to go backstage was kind of a big deal.” Photographers coming to document a rehearsal once might have been seen as an intrusion, but now, as Rosegg puts it, “everybody is desperate for you to come, and if you’re not there, they’re shooting it on their iPhone.” Even with exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the hottest tickets in town and the biggest stars of the day, Swope remained unpretentious. She lived and worked in a brownstone with her apartment above her studio, where the film was developed in a closet and the bathroom served as a darkroom. Rosegg recalls that a phone sat in the darkroom so they could be reached while printing, and she would be amazed at the big-name producers and theater glitterati who rang in while she was making prints in an unventilated space. From left to right: Paul Winfield, Ruby Dee, Marsha Jackson and Denzel Washington in the stage production Checkmates in 1988 Martha Swope / © NYPL Swope’s approachability extended to how she chose to preserve her work. She originally sold her body of work to Time Life, and, according to Stratyner, she was unhappy with the way the photos became relatively inaccessible. She took back the rights to her collection and donated it to the New York Public Library, where many photos can be accessed by researchers in person, and the entire array of photos is available online to the public in the Digital Collections. Searching “Martha Swope” yields over 50,000 items from more than 800 productions, featuring a huge variety of figures, from a white-suited John Travolta busting a disco move in Saturday Night Fever to Andrew Lloyd Webber with Nancy Reagan at a performance of Phantom of the Opera. Swope’s extensive career was recognized in 2004 with a special Tony Award, a Tony Honors for Excellence in Theater, which are given intermittently to notable figures in theater who operate outside of traditional awards categories. She also received a lifetime achievement award from the League of Professional Theater Women in 2007. Though she retired in 1994 and died in 2017, her work still reverberates through dance and Broadway history today. For decades, she captured the fleeting moments of theater that would otherwise never be seen by the public. And her passion was clear and straightforward. As she once told an interviewer: “I’m not interested in what’s going on on my side of the camera. I’m interested in what’s happening on the other side.” Get the latest Travel & Culture stories in your inbox.

Because the Verganis love color, Menino used a lot of it, carefully, so as never to overwhelm the Harlem-meets-Milan aesthetic. A deep orange paints an accent wall in the primary bedroom, color-matched by a painterly wallcovering opposite it. The sleek muted green-and-blue kitchen is Menino’s homage to Carlo Scarpa, while the jewel box guest bedroom-cum-library sports a more verdant forest hue on its bespoke Murphy bed with a desk and built-in bookcases. An ombré teal powder room with a sculptural sink is another moment of joyful experiment but the living room—decorated with a custom sectional and vintage seating around a tiered marble cocktail table by Menino—is largely neutral.A vintage kilim rug is underfoot in the serene living room where the custom Italian-made sofa gathers with a custom marble cocktail table and vintage chairs by Jorge Zalszupin and Carlos Motta in front of new bespoke steel-framed doors to the terraced garden. The living room’s relaxed and sun-filled vibe makes it one of the most-used rooms in the house as well as the perfect space for a striking tree branch sculpture by local artist Jannette Jwahir Hawkins, says Miriam, who worked with art advisor Aurore Vullierme to source such contemporary pieces. With Miriam’s plans to grow the family’s collection over time, Menino left a few walls blank here and chose their subtle gray hue specifically to be an optimal background to future artwork.Though the brownstone is certainly a family abode, it is also a natural venue for the Verganis’ love of entertaining, whether a soiree that extends indoors and out across the garden level or an intimate gathering at the dining table with Miriam’s “unbelievable tiramisu,” as Menino describes it. Flowing, relaxing, and luxurious rooms facilitate daily life and such occasions with equal ease. “We were excited to work with someone who would understand our design vision and had a deep knowledge of our culture,” says Miriam of Menino. “But we also wanted this house to reflect our story: how we moved here at a young age and made our life in New York.”A sculpture by Jannette Jwahir Hawkins stands adjacent the existing fireplace mantel, decorated with an artwork by Faustine Badrichani and a ceramic vase by Marion Naufal. Menino Design Studio specified Tiger Onyx for the home’s statement-making custom bar and matching wall cladding behind it. A custom Affreschi & Affreschi wallcovering adds color and texture to the primary bedroom, where the bespoke bed wears Parachute linens. Vintage Giuseppe Scapinelli armchair. A painting by Ernest Crichlow hangs on a Benjamin Moore orange–painted brick wall in the primary bedroom, which features an existing fireplace mantel with vases by Marion Naufal. Sculpture (on side table) by Victoire d’Harcourt. Vintage Giuseppe Scapinelli armchair. Menino Design Studio created a floating Azul Cielo marble sink for the Roman clay–clad primary bath, where the tub is by Produits Neptune with Hotbath fixtures. The office is decorated with a desk by Hugo Besnier, chair by Cultivation Objects, pendant by Pablo Designs, and a vintage Gregori Warchavchik magazine rack. The mural-like wallpaper is by Affreschi & Affreschi, made with a custom blue. Photograph by Coreen Simpson.

Floyd Bennett Field is a massive piece of federal property in Marine Park, Brooklyn, a floodplain that’s regularly deluged since Hurricane Sandy. Noah Martz, a Brooklyn Law School student, has an idea for how to use it that has Reddit talking. What to do with Floyd Bennett Field (FBF) has long perplexed planners, and the site now finds itself entangled in an online tug of war match between competing architectural ideologies.  “Hero Village” is the name of Martz’s land use proposal for the former airfield. It would bring approximately 20,000 residential units designated for NYPD and FDNY officers, and EMTs to the 1,300-acre plot. The design is “inspired by President Trump’s vision to build beautifully again,” Hero Village’s promotional video states. “Mr. President, it’s time for New York to truly back the blue,” the video concludes.  Martz regularly makes appeals to “MAGA YIMBY” and “neotrad” accounts on X (formerly Twitter) to drum up support for the proposal through the Hero Village NYC X account, which arrives amid other traditional propositions for New York. Penn Station’s revival, for instance, could very well yield a neoclassical design. It’s safe to say trad architects and their sympathizers feel emboldened by this president. “The idea for Hero Village came from witnessing firsthand how increasingly unaffordable New York City has become, especially for those who protect and serve the city,” Martz told AN. “Today, over 52 percent of NYPD officers live outside the five boroughs, largely due to high housing costs. At the same time, the city faces a chronic shortage of new housing construction, especially larger, family-sized units. Hero Village is a response to these problems.” The proposal however hasn’t been without criticism from other very online interlocutors. Traditional loft buildings would line Hero Village’s main thoroughfare, supported by a cyberlink rail system. (Courtesy Hero Village) “In reality, there are much more efficient ways of building density, even if you want to add facade articulation in the unclear ‘historic’ style described in the post,” said AN contributor Ryan Scavnicky, author of Architecture and Videogames: Intersecting Worlds. As a professor at Marywood University, Scavnicky studies internet subcultures and how architectural ideas proliferate on social media. “Critiquing the proposal itself—it’s in a floodplain, its inefficient layout—are moot points because this proposal is just using architecture as a medium to sway political power,” Scavnicky added, with emphasis. (Anti) Co-op City? The FBF Shelter Complex, otherwise called the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center at FBF, was established at the South Brooklyn airfield in 2023 for migrant families inside shuttered aircraft hangars. By December 2024, there were at least 850 children living in the complex and attending New York City public schools. The complex was shut down in winter 2025 by New York City Mayor Eric Adams—teachers have since raised grave concerns over displaced migrant family welfare.  Hero Village was rolled out in the months after the Adams administration evacuated the FBF Shelter Complex. Its proposed architecture takes cues from Poundbury, a master planned community in the U.K. “endorsed by King Charles III,” Martz said, but also places closer to home like Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, and Brooklyn Heights. The Cumberland Street development near Barclays Center and Gateway Estates in East New York are other precedents Martz pointed to.  A cyberlink rail system would support Hero Village, with a direct connection to the 2/5. (Courtesy Hero Village) The main drag at Hero Village is a north-south thoroughfare lined by the kind of loft buildings you’d see in Soho or the Garment District of Manhattan. A cyberlink rail system would shuttle the main axis, which terminates at a monumental obelisk. This rail line would connect Hero Village denizens to the Flatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College (2/5) subway stop. The cyberlink rail system itself is inspired by Elon Musk’s Hyperloop and Tesla’s Robovan. In the future, “advanced tunneling technology” could extend the 2 Train down Flatbush Avenue, connecting Hero Village with New York City, Martz posited. Martz drew up the master plan himself in Google Sketchup, he said, which took “over a year.” He then hired a rendering studio for the final graphics. Every street at Hero Village would be named after an NYPD or FDNY officer killed in the line of duty.  “I believe it’s essential to create places that also serve as spaces of reflection and remembrance,” Martz said in regard to the obelisk and the street names. He added: “The idea of an obelisk as the central memorial was inspired by its deep historical significance in American public spaces. One of the earliest examples dates back to Williamsburg, Virginia, where an obelisk was erected to honor those who opposed the Stamp Act of 1765.” Martz finds inspiration from obelisks erected after the 1765 Stamps Act rebellion. (Boston Public Library/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0) “Obelisks are now common markers of solemn remembrance, particularly for fallen service members,” Martz continued. “Hero Village will include several other memorials within park spaces and community centers dedicated to those who have given their lives in service to New York.” To mitigate flooding, Martz alluded to an unlikely example: Co-op City in the Bronx, which was likewise built on marshland. “There is ample precedent for successful residential development in flood-prone areas,” Martz noted. “While Hero Village differs significantly in style [from Co-op City], this precedent shows the feasibility of development with proper mitigation measures.” Martz does have misgivings about the comparison, however. “I am strongly opposed to the modernist ‘tower in the park’ planning approach championed by Le Corbusier, which shaped developments like Co-op City,” Martz replied when asked about his philosophy. “While Co-op City successfully provides a large number of affordable housing units, its 1960s-era design reflects a deeply flawed urban planning philosophy. The development suffers from an inefficient use of land, a lack of street-level connectivity, and an absence of human-scale, mixed-use environments.” “By contrast,” Martz continued, “Hero Village would deliver more housing on a smaller footprint through thoughtful design and land use. It emphasizes traditional urbanism with walkable narrow streets, mixed-use buildings, human-scaled architecture, and a transit-oriented layout that supports both residents and the broader community.” The main thoroughfare would terminate at a monumental obelisk. (Courtesy Hero Village) The North Forty Natural Area would be preserved and existing aircraft hangars would become museums and event spaces at Hero Village. Daycare centers, supermarkets, and playgrounds would abound. Martz elaborated Hero Village would incorporate best practices from New York’s East Side Coastal Resiliency Project. This means Hero Village would have a resilient seawall and ample park space which is not only “an aesthetic feature,” Martz said, but also “a core piece of flood protection infrastructure.” A Ruinous Ideology? Today, Martz is actively courting the Trump administration to help make Hero Village happen, but also New York City Councilmembers including Inna Vernikov, and Mayor Adams. He’s written letters to U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and NYPD and FDNY union associations. The promotional video for Hero Village congratulates Trump for his “stunning victory.” Floyd Bennett Field is in proximity to Councilmember Vernikov’s South Brooklyn district. Today, Vernikov is a polemic figure—she recently made headlines for showing up to a Brooklyn College protest “with a gun visible in her hip,” but she was later cleared of the “illegal gun charge.” Hero Village has publicly asked for Vernikov’s support on social media. Still, Martz affirmed he thinks Hero Village could garner bipartisan favor. “In March, a joint task force was launched to explore how underutilized federal land can be repurposed to increase housing supply and reduce costs across the country,” Martz added. “Utilizing [FBF] to provide housing for those who have dedicated their lives to public service is a logical and moral use of the site. It’s a bipartisan solution, one that should unite local, state, and federal officials.” Scavnicky however sees cracks in this logic: “In an attempt to woo Trump, Musk, and their base constituents, it seems almost like just an attempt to get their attention,” he said of the plan. “The proposal does create affordable housing for the working class, yet only members of the working class who serve the crown, err, I mean the state are worthy of purchasing units [sic].” “This X account wants to get retweeted so badly that they are willing to create architecture that betrays the needs of the people,” Scavnicky continued. “But more importantly, it serves as a fine example of an ideology’s inherent class discrimination through reasoning: Why wouldn’t these politicians support this project if it was for everyone instead of just for cops and firefighters?” Hero Village takes inspiration from Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, and other historic neighborhoods. (Courtesy Hero Village) Renderings of Hero Village are similar to another recent proposal for FBF shared last March by Eli Lever, a local real estate developer. Lever’s design calls for much larger proto-Hausmannian courtyard buildings, as opposed to Martz’s brownstones. The Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC) has also proposed a climate hub for the grounds, a decidedly different use from the housing ideas. When asked about who will be eligible to live in Hero Village, and whether or not it’d be open to teachers and social workers like Co-op City, Martz replied: “These details are still being developed. The proposal has only recently been made public. The current focus is on generating community interest and gathering feedback.” Scavnicky cautions against attempts to look to the past to inform the future. “The need for architecture to uphold some image of an ideal past is a ruinous ideology, as can be seen in any American suburban house with fake storm windows,” Scavnicky elaborated. “This is inefficiency in service of the image—all when we should be looking toward new ways of living rather than romanticizing the past. And it’s not just about aesthetic treatment—the architectural plan of the proposed city is also an exact duplicate of an older world that doesn’t, to me, deserve to be recreated with such monotony.”

For one week in May, New York City is a scheduling race for contemporary art lovers, with multimillion dollar auction previews at both Christie’s & Sotheby’s, over eight major art fairs, and over a 100 peak gallery openings. In the scheduling competition to see it all, it’s no small feat for an artwork to pull you back for a second view or a longer pause. Below are the two most “paused” artworks from my visits to the four biggest fairs in New York this spring. FRIEZE NEW YORK Frieze New York, the fair at the center of it all, was again located at The Shed in Hudson Yards, bringing more than 65 leading galleries from over 25 countries across three floors. Frieze New York has a wonderful crowd energy and this year was a great reminder that the most famous contemporary artists working today continue to dream and produce the unbelievable. Jeff Koons at Gagosian Gallery Jeff Koons. Frieze New York, 2025, installation view. Artwork © Jeff Koons, Incredible Hulk , and © Marvel. All rights reserved. Photo: Maris Hutchinson. Courtesy Gagosian Jeff Koons. Hulk (Tubas), 2004-2018. © Jeff Koons, Incredible Hulk , and © Marvel. All rights reserved. Photo: Ela Bialkowska, OKNOstudio. Courtesy Palazzo Strozzi and Gagosian This year, Gagosian Gallery presented a crowd-gathering trio of Jeff Koons’ “Hulk” sculptures in a booth fully designed and conceived by the artist. Though each appears to be store-bought vinyl inflatables, all are made from heavy polychromed bronze. “Hulk (Tubas), 2004-2018” (above) includes a functional brass multi-belled tuba, while another was imbedded with real organ parts. Read more about the works and the history of the Hulk Elvis series on the gallery’s page or watch a performance on the functional instruments on Jeff Koons’ Instagram. Jeff Koons. Hulk (Tubas), 2004-2018. Photo: David Behringer   Lorna Simpson at Hauser & Wirth Gallery Hauser & Wirth Gallery presented an incredible selection of gallery artists, including these brand new works on paper by Lorna Simpson. Continuing her series of small collages that combine images cut from advertisements in vintage Ebony and Jet magazines with surreal expressive ink washes – each is a celebration and questioning of representation, history, and culture. Lorna Simpson. Walking Glare, 2025. © Lorna Simpson, Courtesy the artist & Hauser & Wirth. Photo: James Wang Lorna Simpson. Amplified. 2025. © Lorna Simpson, Courtesy the artist & Hauser & Wirth. Photo: James Wang   TEFAF Art Fair TEFAF (The European Fine Art Foundation) occupied the entirety of the historic Park Avenue Armory. The fair is known for its museum-quality presentation with works that span from ancient Rome, Contemporary Art and world-class design – a unique and must-visit experience all its own. View of art fair from above with visitors and booths.   George Condo at Gladstone Gallery The mixing of historical weight and contemporary art at TEFAF is the perfect setting for an amazing collection of George Condo drawings. Presented by Gladstone Gallery in a deep red “salon-style” hanging, the early works all range from 1984-1986, a critical moment of Condo’s artistic development. Each gives the sense that we’re watching an idea being born – images and individuals being pulled between representation and abstraction. Installation view, TEFAF New York 2025, New York, May 9 – 13, 2025. Courtesy of Gladstone. Photo: David Regen George Condo. Untitled (NYC 38th St.), 1986. © George Condo / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone. Photo: David Regen George Condo. Untitled, 1985. © George Condo / Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone. Photo: David Regen   Yeesookyung at Massimo De Carlo Gallery One of the best exhibitions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art this summer is Monstrous Beauty – a must-see show that features these massive sculptures in a sunlit atrium by South Korean artist Yeesookyung. So it was such a gift at TEFAF to see several smaller works by the artist at two different gallery booths. Works were spotted at The Page Gallery from South Korea and at Massimo De Carlo Gallery (below). Continuing her use of broken pottery shards to build organic forms using the Japanese technique of kintsugi, the new forms and combinations are most surprising as you circle them – always beautiful but never predictable. Yeesookyung, Translated Vase 2020 TVG 13, 2020. Presented by Massimo De Carlo Yeesookyung, Translated Vase 2020 TVG 13, 2020. Presented by Massimo De Carlo   INDEPENDENT Art Fair INDEPENDENT was hosted again this year at the super modern and sunlight-filled “Spring Studios” in Tribeca where over 118 artists were presented by 82 international galleries and nonprofit organizations. My personal favorites this year celebrated process and material with a joyful wonder and high level of craft. Maximilian Schubert at Off Paradise Off Paradise installation at INDEPENDENT art fair. Photo: Marc Tatti Presented by Off Paradise, Maximilian Schubert’s ethereal “paintings” are not what they appear to be – created from solid pigmented urethane resin that has been cast from a mold of a real painting (also created by the artist) and painted only on the sides to mimic canvas and tacks/staples. The object is heavy and solid, allowing Schubert to create ethereal color transitions with multiple layers of resin pours. Even from close examination, everything about them looks like paint on canvas and yet they emit something psychically different – a sustained aura of intrigue that never expires. Maximilian Schubert, Untitled (Over New York), 2024. Photo: Marc Tatti Maximilian Schubert, Untitled 2025, Photo:  Marc Tatti Maximilian Schubert, Untitled 2025 (detail)   Terran Last Gun at Diane Rosenstein Gallery This was my first time seeing Terran Last Gun’s incredible work that uses antique ledger paper (most over 100 years old) with the addition of colorful geometric forms in ink and colored pencil. Presented by Diane Rosenstein Gallery, the artist is based in Santa Fe, and an enrolled citizen of the Piikani Nation (Blackfeet) of Montana. The work feels like a dance across time – a complex conversation with material and traditions, past and present. Learn more about his work and its history on the gallery webpage. Terran Last Gun, Stop For A Moment And Appreciate, 2025. Courtesy the artist and Diane Rosenstein Gallery, Los Angeles. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer Terran Last Gun, Gathering Of Distinguished Knowledge Holders, 2025. Courtesy the artist and Diane Rosenstein Gallery, Los Angeles. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer   NADA ART FAIR The NADA Art Fair (New Art Dealers Alliance) was hosted for the first time at The Starrett-Lehigh Building in the very heart of the Chelsea gallery district. My favorite works were an intelligent mix of whimsy and grit that resulted in many great conversations and new revelations on how to see the world. Jaime Pitarch at Spencer Brownstone Gallery Jaime Pitarch. Calderilla, 2025. Courtesy of the artist & Spencer Brownstone Gallery After seeing an number of great Calder works up for auction this season, Jaime Pitarch’s whimsical reference to Calder was both joyous and profound. Presented by Spencer Brownstone Gallery, this 7-foot hanging work is titled “Calderilla” – a reference to both the Spanish word for “pocket change” AND the name Alexander Calder. Made from the real coins found in the artist’s pocket, it continues the artist’s long practice of re-presenting everyday objects to create sustained curiosities and beautiful artworks. Here metal currency is literally elevated – both in gravity and function, questioning ideas of value, craft, art, and perhaps the future of physical money itself. Jaime Pitarch. Calderilla, 2025. Courtesy of the artist & Spencer Brownstone Gallery   Alexandria Tarver at Et al. Gallery The most time was spent with these quietly mysterious pairings by Alexandria Tarver, presented by San Francisco-based gallery Et al. Each frame holds two works on paper: a larger colorful painting and a small sketch on a ripped out page of note paper. The pencil sketches were produced on a visit to Baja California where the artist used the only “drawing materials” available to capture seascapes and landscapes. They each feel as if they are recording enough information for the artist to remember a precise moment – a necessary speed of transcription that perhaps captures a particular ocean wave or an ephemeral breeze. That tiny notepad was then used as a reference to create the larger colorful paintings – a second translation into something different but still emotionally connected. Here too we play witness to the evolution of a memory and idea, sharing a feeling of a place and time. Alexandria Tarver. questions, TS 2, 2025. Courtesy the artist & Ed al. Gallery Alexandria Tarver. questions, TS 5, 2025. Courtesy the artist & Ed al. Gallery I highly recommend signing up on any/all art fair newsletters or creating a login for any of the below. The emails they send out are not too much, and are perfect reminders when the next fair/events will take place. See you there! FRIEZE NEW YORK TEFAF NEW YORK INDEPENDENT NADA 

When Pinch celebrated its 20th anniversary with a successful New York pop-up at the Jacqueline Sullivan Gallery last year, founders Russell Pinch and Oona Bannon began contemplating a possible permanent space in the city. It was kismet, then, when friend and collaborator Ashley Hildreth asked the London-based couple to go in on a petite apartment in a Greenwich Village brownstone with her. Since January, Pinch and Bannon have been quietly transforming the intimate, residential space into an apt showcase for their furniture and lighting, welcoming clients in for meetings and informal meals along the way. Past the building’s arched doors and stained-glass roof light, glossy white flooring leads to The Apartment, where a marble fireplace, 19th-century plaster cornicing, and sliding timber doors backdrop a capsule collection of Pinch designs, including eye-catching shelves of scaled miniatures.Exhibitions“Knit and Weave” takes over an Austrian castleSince 2014, design curator Alice Stori Liechtenstein and her family have called Schloss Hollenegg, a regal 12th-century castle about an hour south of Graz, home. Until June 1, the medieval Austrian estate will be open to the public for “Knit and Weave,” wherein 30 emerging designers have juxtaposed the building’s historical fabrics with contemporary works highlighting color and texture. Curated by Johanna Pichlbauer, the group show’s featured works explore sustainability, identity, innovation, and heritage. Standouts include Vienna designer Theresa Hattinger’s large-scale outdoor textiles, as well as Helsinki-based Aoi Yoshizawa’s loom installation that magnifies ancient weaving techniques.Craft in America presents teapots as works of artLindsey Ketterer Gates, Teapot, 2003. Photo: Tony CunhaArdent collectors Gloria and Sonny Kamm have been amassing teapots—and commissioning artists to dream up their own fantastical versions—for years, culminating in what is now considered the world’s largest collection. Last week, Los Angeles gallery Craft in America unveiled “Tea for Two” (on view through August 30), a curated glimpse into the Kamm Teapot Foundation’s impressive 17,000-piece trove. Instead of focusing on the utilitarian aspects of serving tea, the creations on display center on imagination. Consider Peter Shire’s Sunburst Accordion, which takes cues from the Memphis movement, or Marilyn da Silva’s An Unlikely Pair, a union of dazzling stripes and polka dots rendered in gold-plated copper and colored pencil. Teapot, by Lindsay Ketterer Gates, even melds stainless-steel mesh with an unlikely array of pistachio shells.AD PRO Hears…… Last week, “Chris Gustin: Ascension” opened at Donzella Project Space in New York (through June 7). Gustin, whose ceramics career spans five decades, is presenting the first solo show of his Spirit series, an assemblage of cumulus clouds standing five-feet tall.Project spotlightAll aboard! Dimorestudio revives Italy’s Orient Express trainIn 1883, Belgian engineer and entrepreneur Georges Nagelmackers launched the Orient Express in Europe, setting a new precedent in luxury rail travel. Now, the iconic train has returned to Italy as La Dolce Vita Orient Express, zipping through Venice, Tuscany, Portofino, Rome, and Sicily, with chic interiors from Emiliano Salci and Britt Moran, founders of Milan-based Dimorestudio. Inspired by Italian legends—Cini Boeri, Agostino Bonalumi, and Giuseppe Capogrossi among them—the AD100 duo mixed swaths of walnut, polished brass, and jewel-toned velvet with boldly patterned textiles and bespoke furniture. Light fixtures exhibit a distinctive sheen, evocative of the 1960s and ’70s golden age.ProductDornbracht becomes even more bespokeThe Tara Handles in Leather Verdite. Courtesy of DornbrachtIn celebration of its 75th anniversary, luxury fittings brand Dornbracht has launched Dornbracht Atelier, a bespoke offering of manufactured showers, faucets, and sink fittings. The Atelier cracks open a heady spectrum of possibilities for creatives and clients who want top-quality craftsmanship matched to their particular vision. The Atelier’s offered finishes span whichever color or texture suits the project—not even leather-wrapped or checkerboard patterned options are out of reach. Engravings, logos, and other expressive accents are optional embellishments too, making a case for bathroom couture.