Karen’s Quirky Style Celebrates Art Prize at the Salmagundi Club
Artists and guests packed the club’s Fifth Avenue brownstone for the June 27 reception and award ceremony for the 46th annual open photography exhibit.
| 03 Jul 2024 | 03:20
Manhattan model Karen Rempel admires the Salmagundi Club’s 46th annual open photo exhibition. (
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Designer Andrea Thurlow, Jeff Reid, Shawn Curran, George Sanders, Karen Rempel (wearing Andrea T New York), Amy Mohler, and Keith Kelly below Karen’s photo “Reflections.” (
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The award-winning “Watertower Moon” by Karen Rempel. (
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The Salmagundi Club gets a little facelift on a sunny Sunday afternoon. (
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The Salmagundi Club’s Wiggins Bar displays the world’s largest collection of painters’ palettes and sports a red upright piano. (
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The Salmagundi Club of New York is one of the country’s oldest arts organizations, founded in 1871 by artists and patrons to support one another. The clubhouse occupies a beautiful, landmarked brownstone at 47 Fifth Avenue. Originally built in 1853 for Irad Hawley, president of the Pennsylvania Coal Company and his wife Sarah, it’s the last surviving brownstone on lower Fifth Avenue. It is in the National Register of Historic Places.
I’ve been honored to display half a dozen photographs at the Salmagundi Club over the past few years in their open photography exhibitions. I also played a series of Banksy-esque pranks there! I mounted a piece of art illicitly, and then dressed as a cat burglar and stole it (with a suitably attired accomplice who shall remain nameless). My Salmagundi Cat Burglary caper may have been the reason my membership application was rejected last year!
However, I feel that all is forgiven since they accepted two of my works in their 46th annual open exhibit. I was beyond thrilled to win an award for my photograph “Watertower Moon,” which I took the night of the first George Floyd protests in Greenwich Village in May 2020. It was a night of chaos in response to a tragic event. The streets of New York burned, but peace reigned on the rooftops.
With over 1,100 members, the not-for-profit Salmagundi Club mounts dozens of exciting exhibitions each year, as well as many weekly events and affordable classes that are open to the public. Come to the club to view the art, take a sketch class, or learn the tango. Exhibition hours: Monday-Friday, 1:00-6:00 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday 1:00-5:00 p.m.
The club has been undergoing a minor facelift to the front entrance, with more work planned in the coming months. It takes a lot of TLC to look great when you’re 171 years old! Visitors are welcome to explore the first three floors of the building. The spacious parlor, galleries, hallways, staircases, and bar have been carefully preserved. When you step inside, you’ll feel you have gone back in time to a more tranquil, gracious era.
Style Notes
This winter white wool crepe dress with structured neckline and unique wrap-around vinyl grass print hemline is from Andrea T New York‘s first collection. I found Anthony Wang’s Ocho Toros reflective moonstar platform boots at the Buffalo Exchange, 114 West 26th Street.
Karen Rempel is a New York-based writer, model, and artist. Her Karen’s Quirky Style column illuminates quirky clothes and places in Manhattan. For past stories, see https://karenqs.nyc.