Author Archives: Suzanne Loebl

Golden Gate Park and My Son’s Birthday

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Suzanne Loebl

This week a San Francisco friend sent me a picture of a visit he paid to the bench my husband and I donated to Golden Gate Park in memory of our child. The inscription reads: David Albert Loebl 2-19-56 to … Continue reading →

Posted in family stories | Tagged aids, birthdays, david, family, family stories, Golden Gate Park, grief, loss, san francisco | Leave a comment

On the Measles Outbreak: Does the ‘Modern’ Anti-Vaccination Movement Remember Smallpox?

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Suzanne Loebl

I wonder whether the parents of the unvaccinated would consider doing away with traffic regulations or traveling by horse and buggy? Societal living needs written and unwritten rules and regulations. It was humanity’s good fortune that Edward Jenner (1749-1823), an … Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged disease, Edward Jenner, health, healthcare, John Enders, measles, medicine, public health, smallpox, vaccination, vaccines, viruses | 1 Comment

Claude Frank: Pianist & Childhood Friend

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Suzanne Loebl

The last time I saw Claude Frank was after his performance at a Schneider concert at the New School. Though we rarely saw each other, we were always extremely happy when we met accidentally. These encounters were never planned, yet … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged belgium, brussels, classical music, Claude Frank, family, family stories, family story, german jews, germany, jewish history, music, nazi germany, pianists, piano, world war ii | Leave a comment

Henri Matisse, MoMA, America, and the Rockefellers

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Suzanne Loebl

In 1930, when the Museum of Modern Art was not even a year old, Henri Matisse came to America. The main purpose of his voyage was to visit Albert Barnes and to view the future site of the Dance Mural … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged abby aldrich rockefeller, albert barnes, alfred barr, art, art exhibits, art museums, barnes, barnes foundation, dance mural, henri matisse, john d. rockefeller jr, kykuit, matisse, modern art, moma, museum of modern art, nelson rockefeller, nyc art exhibits, nyc exhibits, nyc museums, pocantico hills | 4 Comments

Christmas 2014: Other People’s Holidays

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Suzanne Loebl

My mother was a Christmas junkie. I can still smell the pine aroma of the eight-foot tree that stood in our parlor in Hanover, Germany. Beeswax candles suffused the room with flickering light and a profusion of home-baked cookies weighed … Continue reading →

Posted in family stories | Tagged america's medicis, christmas, family, family stories, family story, german jews, hanukkah, holidays, nazi germany, new york city, NYC, rockefeller center, rockefellers, tiffany, winter in NYC | Leave a comment

Thomas Hart Benton’s Mural: America Today at Home in the Met

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Suzanne Loebl

In 1930, at the height of the Great Depression, Alvin Johnson, the director of the twelve-year-old New School for Social Research, asked Thomas Hart Benton to paint murals for its boardroom. Murals were in. Just then Alfred Barr and Abby … Continue reading →

Posted in Art review | Tagged america today, american art, art, art museums, arts of life in america, benton, fine art, metropolitan museum, metropolitan museum of art, murals, museums, new school, nyc art exhibits, nyc exhibits, nyc museums, paintings, thomas hart benton | Leave a comment

An Homage to the Madame Cézanne Exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Suzanne Loebl

Paul Cézanne painted 29 portraits, and made innumerable drawings, of Hortense Fiquet, whom he met in 1869. Paul, their son, was born in 1872. To legitimize him his parents eventually married in 1886. Dita Amory, the Met’s curator of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art review | Tagged art, art exhibits, art museums, cezanne, fine art, metropolitan museum of art, new york city, nyc art exhibits, nyc exhibits, nyc museums, paul cezanne, philippe cézanne | 1 Comment

Leonard Lauder’s Cubist Art Collection at the Met

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Suzanne Loebl

The eighty-one paintings by Georges Braque, Juan Gris, Fernand Léger and Pablo Picasso that are on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art illustrate the birth of Cubism in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century. They are the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art review | Tagged art, art museums, cubism, fernand leger, georges braque, juan gris, leonard lauder, metropolitan museum of art, modern art, new york, new york city, pablo picasso, picasso | Leave a comment

Ebola, Dr. Craig Spencer and American Hysteria

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Suzanne Loebl

Dr. Craig Spencer, who bravely put himself in harm’s way to fight a deadly epidemic, represents the best of American medicine. So why is the American public vilifying him? Continue reading →

Posted in politics | Tagged aids, AIDS epidemic, bubonic plague, craig spencer, current events, diseases, ebola, ebola virus, epidemics, health, healthcare, HIV, hiv/aids, hysteria, panic, public health, spanish flu, west africa, world health organization | 5 Comments

Manhattan’s 86-Year Old Rudolf Steiner (Waldorf) School

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Suzanne Loebl

The other day I hurried along East 79th Street on my way to the Met Museum when I glimpsed a likeness of Leonardo da Vinci paired with the promise of teaching the principles of the Italian Renaissance to children in … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged anthroposophy, education, educational philosophies, eurhythmics, german jewish history, german jews, germany, hidden children, holocaust, jewish history, learning disability, liberal education, nazi germany, pedagogy, rudolf steiner, rudolf steiner schools, steiner schools, waldorf schools, world war ii | Leave a comment