Varian Fry

Journalist and scholar Varian Fry and his wife Annette lived in Ridgefield at this house on Olmstead Lane in the 1950s and 60s. While here, he taught Latin classes at Ridgefield High School.  Fry died in Easton, a town half an hour east of Ridgefield, at the age of 59.

 In 1940, Fry went to Marseille for the Emergency Rescue Committee,  Fry set up a network that smuggled more than 1,000 Jewish intellectuals out of Nazi-held Europe, including writer Hanna Arendt, painter Marc Chagall, painter-poet Max Ernst and sculptor Jacques Lipchitz.

After World War II ended, Fry was honored for his work. A street in Berlin bears his name, and high schools in Germany and France are named in his honor. In 1994 Fry was awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations by the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority in Israel.

Danbury Fair Mall

The Danbury State Fair was a big deal for more that a century, but by 1981 it had run its course.  The land had become more valuable than the fair.  The owner sold the property as the site for a huge regional shopping mall, the Danbury Fair Mall.  

A mural near one of the mall's entrances honors the property's origin as a racetrack and fairground.  

This post is linked to Monday Murals.

 

I was at the mall last week to pick up sunglasses.  The optician hadn't arrived, so I looked around.  The many columns and exposed architectural elements above the retail areas caught my eye.

At a time when many malls are failing, the Danbury Fair Mall is still very busy and apparently successful.   

Saugatuck Congregational Church

 

We know where this church in Westport, Connecticut, stands.

Amistad

 Next to New Haven city hall there is a three-sided statue honoring the Amistad defendants.

An inscription on the base reads in part "On this site, the Amistad Africans were jailed awaiting trial for piracy and murder.  To aid their struggle for freedom, the Amistad Committee formed counting in its number ministers Simeon locelyn, Joshua Leavitt and James Pennington; merchant Lewis Tappan; professor Josiah Gibbs: and lawyer Roger Baldwin.

"The Africans were tried twice prior to their ultimate triumph before the United States Supreme Court, where former President John Quincy Adams courageously defended them. Sengbe Pieh and his fellows were declared Free Persons. Then they returned to Sierra Leone."

Sandler Portraits II

 Here is a second set of portraits by August Sander currently on view at the Yale Art Gallery.  I could keep going, but I just wanted to show a sampling.

The gentleman on the right is a composer.

Say hello to the prominent composer, Richard Strauss.

I didn't take good notes about these.  Sander's exhibition is organized around such things as professions, types (such as women and workers) and classes (middle class children, below).

Sander Portraits I

 Here is a sampling of the 600 portraits by August Sander currently on view at the Yale Art Gallery.

On the left we have a portrait of a Nazi SS Captain.  On the right is a diplomat.

A pharmacist.

On the left,  an Industrial Magnate.  On the right, a bricklayer from Cologne.

A master shoemaker.

A painter couple.

The director of a wax museum.

Aren't these brilliant?  More tomorrow.

August Sander at the Yale Art Gallery

 Why so many New Haven photos recently?  I went to the Yale Art Gallery to see an exhibition of more than 600 black and white portrait photographs by German photographer, August Sander, from the first half of the 20th century.  It is a brilliant exhibition and Sander was a brilliant portrait photographer.

Sander called his exhibition People of the 20th Century.  He grouped them by classes, occupations, and backgrounds, arranging them into groups like "The Farmer" "The Skilled Tradesman," "The Woman" and "Classes and Professions."

Today I am showing some walls of portraits.  In the next couple of days, I will show a few close-ups.