GAYLETTER

Who was Helena Rubinstein I hear a couple of you say? Well let me give you a low down on Madame (as she was universally known). Madame Rubinstein was a legendary cosmetics entrepreneur and one of the world’s richest people. “As the head of a cosmetics empire that extended across four continents, she was, arguably, the first modern self-made woman magnate. Rubinstein was ahead of her time in her embrace of cultural and artistic diversity. She was not only an early patron of European and Latin American modern art, but also one of the earliest, leading collectors of African and Oceanic sculpture.” Helena died in 1965 and left behind her a treasure trove of modern art and objects. This fantastic exhibition at the Jewish Museum “reunites selections from Rubinstein’s famed art collection, dispersed at auction in 1966, featuring works by Pablo Picasso, Elie Nadelman, Frida Kahlo, Max Ernst, Leonor Fini, Joan Miró, and Henri Matisse, among others, as well as more than thirty works from her peerless collection of African and Oceanic art.” It’s a fascinating look at what a woman with good taste and unlimited funds can do. Sure she could have given all her money away to charity, but art matters, so if a cunty old lady with more money than sense wants to support it — good for her!  —tom