Visiting the Coast Gallery and Café with Juilliard Graduate Florence Paget in Big Sur, California with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
I first learned about the Coast Gallery and Café in Big Sur,
California when I met Gary Woeppel, who was donating Marc Chagall and Henry
Miller prints for a fundraiser at Congregation Beth Israel in Carmel,
California.
Woeppel was the exclusive dealer for Chagall prints that
documented his Jewish heritage in Russia and Paris, France. He had prints of Chagall’s shtetl childhood
in Russia as a Hasidic Jew as well as many bouquets for his wife Bella, wedding
scenes, and a Moses-lying-down-the-law print that hangs in the Knesset in
Jerusalem in Israel.
I had been asked to write a review of the Chagall exhibit
fundraiser for the Monterey Country Weekly (Circulation: 200,000 now). Woeppel was the former owner of the Monterey
Country Weekly and a graduate of the University of Iowa writer’s
program. (I think he holds a PhD from
the University of Iowa as does Pulitzer prize-winning author Jane Smiley, who
is another PhD from the University of Iowa and a reclusive Monterey Country
resident.)
Yes, I did ply Woeppel for some writing tips. I also know my art history background was
checked out with the University of Chicago by Woeppel before I could do a
review of the fundraiser. The Synagogue
asked me to also do a presentation on the prints in addition to the review.
Gentiles from Detroit do know that being asked to speak at
the Synagogue on art history is an honor.
I went through tons of art books at the Carmel Library in pre-Internet
days to pull identification information on the prints. I wrote a presentation and rehearsed it and
agreed to an impromptu question-and-answer session after my presentation.
My presentation was geared to certain prints displayed in
the exhibit.
On the night of the presentation, I asked the Rabbi and
Woeppel, “Where’s that print of the wedding scene? I need it for my presentation,” I said.
“We sold all of them,” the Rabbi said.
(“Time to regroup fast!!”)
“Well, I’ll look around and fill in with something else,” I
said. They had a print of Henry Miller
with Anaïs
Nin that I used to talk about love instead.
I did a very good presentation and liked being introduced as
an “expert in iconography.”
During the question-and-answer session, someone asked, “Why
did Chagall portray some of his sons as donkeys?”
“Chagall had a low opinion of several of his sons,” I
answered to mirthful laughter.
I smiled and passed up fudge at the reception, because I
knew I was Second City material!!
(There is a second Coast Gallery at the Lodge at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach, California)
By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
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