#ThrowbackThursday In Honor Of Sukkot, Here’s A Celebration From 1908 In A Sukkah On Our Terrace.

Lady in gold : the extraordinary tale of Gustav Klimt’s masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer / by Anne-Marie O'Connor

Contributor to the Washington Post Anne-Marie O’Connor brilliantly regales us with the galvanizing story of Gustav Klimt’s 1907 masterpiece—the breathtaking portrait of a Viennese Jewish socialite, Adele Bloch-Bauer. The celebrated painting, stolen by Nazis during World War II, subsequently became the subject of a decade-long dispute between her heirs and the Austrian government.

Six designers, six cities. Discover Rome, Italy with Dior’s perfumer-creator François Demachy on Diormag.com.

Elizabeth Taylor

Pouran Jinchi, Black and Blue at Leila Heller Gallery through October 24, 2015.

Happy birthday, Ian McDiarmid! We have watched your career with great interest.

Charming Baker • “Intelligence is No Match for Adaptability,” 2008 • The House Sale • Aug 19 — Sep 01

It’s Sukkot time by Oliver Hammond Via Flickr: Time for a break from the parade of destruction. If you’re Jewish, Sukkot means that you’re supposed to take your meals and play host to visitors inside a small outdoors hut. In Minnesota in late Sept/Oct, that can be a bitch. Coindidentally, this year Ramadan overlaps with the Yamim Noraim, which Sukkot is part of. During Ramadan, Muslims abstain from eating or drinking or generally doing anything enjoyable between sunrise and sunset. Fortunately, Autumn daylight in Minnesota is fairly short-lived.

http://smile.amazon.com/Kissinger-1923-1968-Idealist-Niall-Ferguson/dp/1594206538/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1443645949&sr=8-1

The definitive biography of Henry Kissinger, based on unprecedented access to his private papers No American statesman has been as revered or as reviled as Henry Kissinger. Once hailed as “Super K”—the “indispensable man” whose advice has been sought by every president from Kennedy to Obama—he has also been hounded by conspiracy theorists, scouring his every “telcon” for evidence of Machiavellian malfeasance. Yet as Niall Ferguson shows in this magisterial two-volume biography, drawing not only on Kissinger’s hitherto closed private papers but also on documents from more than a hundred archives around the world, the idea of Kissinger as the ruthless arch-realist is based on a profound misunderstanding. The first half of Kissinger’s life is usually skimmed over as a quintessential tale of American ascent: the Jewish refugee from Hitler’s Germany who made it to the White House. But in this first of two volumes, Ferguson shows that what Kissinger achieved before his appointment as Richard Nixon’s national security adviser was astonishing in its own right. Toiling as a teenager in a New York factory, he studied indefatigably at night. He was drafted into the U.S. infantry and saw action at the Battle of the Bulge—as well as the liberation of a concentration camp—but ended his army career interrogating Nazis. It was at Harvard that Kissinger found his vocation. Having immersed himself in the philosophy of Kant and the diplomacy of Metternich, he shot to celebrity by arguing for “limited nuclear war.” Nelson Rockefeller hired him. Kennedy called him to Camelot. Yet Kissinger’s rise was anything but irresistible. Dogged by press gaffes and disappointed by “Rocky,” Kissinger seemed stuck—until a trip to Vietnam changed everything. The Idealist is the story of one of the most important strategic thinkers America has ever produced. It is also a political Bildungsroman, explaining how “Dr. Strangelove” ended up as consigliere to a politician he had always abhorred. Like Ferguson’s classic two-volume history of the House of Rothschild, Kissinger sheds dazzling new light on an entire era. The essential account of an extraordinary life, it recasts the Cold War world.

Studying Torah on We Heart It. http://weheartit.com/entry/67125142/via/aestheticpleasures

Happy Mother’s Day!