Portrait Artist Forum - Artstuff of interest in the New York area

I wanted to add to this thread for anyone reading it in the future. Having returned from a recent trip to NY, the MET was indeed an amazing experience. It's absolutely enormous, and there is something there for everyone (certainly enough to keep other family members engaged while one is busy studying old master paintings). Things are a bit moved around at the moment, and a number of paintings were sadly in storage (Zorn, Sorolla, and Boldini to name a few). However there were great paintings in the European wing and Lehman collection, but the Luce center really blew me away. Even the side area, where an incredible number of paintings are incased in glass and hung in rows, appears at first glance to be an afterthought with sub-par paintings, but has many truly amazing gems. The Frick was nice, but has nothing on the MET.

Also the Strand book store in the East Village area has the entire second floor dedicated to art. They have a very eclectic mix, but with some searching one can find incredible deals, particularly on used books, old Sotheby's catalogues, etc. They did have a new paperback version of "A Brush with Grandeur", by Philip de Laszlo, for $22, compared with the generally found hardback version at $75.

I envy those who live near the MET : )