Champagne: A Global History, Second Edition, by Becky Sue Epstein (Reaktion Books): It’s a comfort to know that Philippe II, duc d’Orléans, though fond of drink, was never in danger of excess because, according to his mother, he “drank only the wines of Champagne, which were basically wholesome, being so gentle and frothy.” Recounted by Becky Sue Epstein in the newly reissued Champagne: A Global History, this and other choice details add pleasant sparkle to a clear and balanced account of the famous wine’s origins, development, and cultural import. A sort of user’s manual at the end can help those who learn better by experience. —RE
“Vermeer’s Love Letters,” at the Frick Collection (through August 31): With a city left quiet by those fleeing unrelenting heat, now is just the time to take advantage of the Frick’s renovation. And there are still a few weeks to see “Vermeer’s Love Letters,” which my colleague James Panero called “a billet-doux to the reopened Frick Collection.” The special exhibition brings together three thematically similar Vermeer canvases: the Frick’s own Mistress and Maid (ca. 1664–67), Dublin’s Woman Writing a Letter with Her Maid (ca. 1670–72), and the Rijksmuseum’s Love Letter (ca. 1669–70). Vermeer always rewards close concentration, and the dog days of summer might well be the opportunity to find the space to engage in it. —BR
“Sacred Spring: Modern Viennese Graphics, 1897–1918,” at the Neue Galerie (through September 22): Established in 1897 under the leadership of Gustav Klimt, the Vienna Secession may be as recognizable for the posters that advertised it as the fine art therein. A selection of these dazzling prints is now on view at the Neue Galerie in “Sacred Spring: Modern Viennese Graphics, 1897–1918.” Featuring works from the Neue’s holdings alongside loans from private collections, the exhibition includes Wiener Werkstätte postcards and a flight of objects from the Cabaret Fledermaus. Centered around the journal Ver Sacrum (Sacred spring), the range of works here will have you saying Gesamtkunstwerk over this concentrated second-floor display. —JP
Bargemusic, at the Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse (August 16 & 17): Summer in New York is slim pickings for the concertgoer. Bargemusic, the floating venue by the base of the Brooklyn Bridge in DUMBO, has long provided a lifeline with its summer recitals every weekend. Alas, Bargemusic’s coffee barge set sail for its final voyage to a Staten Island scrapyard this January, but the concert series is still going strong, now housed on dry land just a half mile south in the Brooklyn Bridge Park Boathouse. This weekend promises recitals by Spencer Myer of Debussy’s complete Preludes (Saturday) and Brahms’s two cello and piano sonatas (Sunday), performed by Myer on piano and Adrian Daurov on cello. Admission is now free. —IS
Dispatch:
“Duly diligent,” by Suzanna Murawski. On “Grace Hartigan: The Gift of Attention,” at the North Carolina Museum of Art.
Archives:
“Civilization and its malcontents: responses to ‘Typee,’” by Peter Shaw (January 1985). On Herman Melville’s fictionalized memoir of the cannibal islanders of the Marquesas.
