art, old & new

Vermeer, Maid Sleeping

At The Metropolitan Museum of Art until 6 January

The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Painters Between 1600 and 1700

The curator of this show, Walter Liedtke, was on Charlie Rose some time last week, and he was brilliant. Understated, with a gentle intellectual demeanor, he looked like a cross between Hitler and George F. Will, but seemed to be of a whole different species than the first, and a breed apart from the second. He was so knowledgeable about Dutch culture and larger European life around the 1600's, and had such an absorbing understanding of art, that all of a sudden Rembrandt seemed like this young, up-and-coming, fresh new artist -- From the hour-long interview, I'm betting this show will shed new light and ignite a new appreciation of this master and his talented contemporaries.

Lights, Camera, Action!

At the Amsterdam Whitney Gallery (511 West 25th Street Chelsea NYC) 'til the 2nd of January.

Includes work by Siren contributor and a personal and popular favorite, Peter Schwartz,

whose "The Ninth Key" is below.