The Journal News from White Plains, New York • Page 19

Section Television 2 Movie Clock 4 Ann Landers 4 Comics 5 JN Iugyrog Living Edor Ellen Hale: 694-5070 Gannett Newspape Cooper-Hewitt polishes up its image DOING THE RIGHT THING BARBARA NACHMAN The sculpture "Butterfly Woman" was part of the M. Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900 that brought i Rene Lalique's artistry fvl ri Dolls warm hearts of sick children They are simple little dolls, made of pastel cotton fabric, stuffed with polyester filling and tied at the neck with shiny ribbon. Their tiny eyes are sewn with black thread. Their small mouths are stitched into semicircles. "I try to make them smile," says Jane Peterson, appraising the facial expression on a pink striped doll with a bright turquoise bow.

Then folding it in her arms, she adds, "When I make them, I think that some little child will be hugging it." Peterson has never met any of the hundreds of children at Westchester Medical Center who have been comforted by her little dolls over the last 30 By Georgette Gouveia Staff Writer The exhibit of Rene Lalique's spectacular jewelry arrives at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution at a moment when the museum is adding a sparkle of its own. The museum, celebrating its 100th anniversary, is putting the finishing touches on a $20-million renovation project that will be completed in June. "In essence, the renovation project is making the entire facility more accessible to the public," says Dianne H. Pilgrim, the Cooper-Hewitt's director. This has been accomplished in a number; of ways: The historic Andrew Carnegie mansion' on 91st Street and Fifth Avenue the museum's home since 1976 has been made handicap-accessible with a newly paved courtyard at the front entrance, a front-entrance ramp, a mechanical assistance system at the bronze front doors and a lift that provides an alternative to the stairs.

The heating, ventilation and humidity- 1 control systems have been improved. The steel and glass in the Barbara Riley Levin Conservatory have been repaired. A two-story structure has been created, connecting the mansion with all levels of the Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden and with the two renovated and joined town houses now known as the Design Resource Center. Ultimately, what the renovation project does, Pilgrim Mo, MOO years, but she keeps those children in her mind's eye as she sits at the sewing machine in her Larchmont She v2 Jane Peterson Amid the eclectic influences 7 of turn-of-century Paris, an innovative designer recast jewelry as a canvas for art called Art Nouveau (peak 1895-1905), which drew on the prevailing passion for nature, the popular idea of woman as femme fatale and a style that married the curling, floral line of the Rococo with the spare beauty of all things Japanese. "Art Nouveau was really a way-out, revolutionary response to overdone Victorian design," Pilgrim says.

"It was also a revolt against historicism. It was revolutionary, and it was modern." It's the rare person who recognizes his moment on the world stage. It's rarer still for someone to 'X1 I says, is provide the Cooper-Hewitt with more study and storage space crucial to the museum's mission. On May 26, 1897, the museum opened as a "visual library" where anyone could study the wallcoverings, drawings and prints, textiles and decorative-art objects gathered from around the world by Sarah, Eleanor and Amy Hewitt, granddaughters of art educator Peter Cooper. Today, the museum has approximately 250,000 objects, all of which can be accessed in some way by the public.

By Georgette Gouveia Staff Writer When you think of Lalique, you think of beautifully crafted crystal, and perhaps, fragrance and accessories, right? For nearly a century, the French company has given the world more than a touch of glass. see his chance in a dramatic change. But Rene Lalique a prescient young man with a great talent for drawing who had been 4 .1. Staff photoMark Vergari Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, at Fifth Avenue and 91st Street in Manhattan, is undergoing a $20 million renovation. apprenticed as a jeweler and had studied the decorative arts in France and England was ready to seize the day and a new style.

Before Lalique, jewelry design was generally limited to bows, swags, flowers and a few other settings that showed off precious gems. "Lalique used lots of horn, enamel, opals and other semi-precious gems," says Jane Adlin of Scarsdale, Please see LALIQUE, 3C 1 I And yet, its founder, Rene Jules Lalique (1860-1945) was first and foremost a creator of exquisite, innovative jewelry. "I think there are some people who know about Lalique's jewelry collection. In the world of jewelry, he was a god," says Joan Rosasco, exhibition coordinator for Exhibitions International, which has organized a new exhibit on Lalique jewelry. "But by and large, these pieces are not known to the public." And so, observers say, "The Jewels of Lalique" at Manhattan's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution today through April 12 will be a revelation in a way that recent blockbuster shows on Faberge and Cartier jewelry were perhaps not.

The show features 120 examples of jewelry, along with 40 pieces of glass and 50 drawings. "Truly, Lalique invented something that was totally unique, not to downplay what Faberge or Cartier did," says Dianne H. Pilgrim, director of the 100-year-old Cooper-Hewitt. To plumb what made Lalique unique his marriage of unusual materials with almost painterly designs the viewer must plunge into "It's the only place I know," Pilgrim says, "where you can call up and make an appointment to see some aspect of the collection." Now that the museum has more space for study carrels and tables and storage areas, she says, it must address the need for more staff, both professional and clerical, to manage the wide-ranging collections. Toward this end, Pilgrim says she is looking to -establish an endowment.

(Many visitors are under the impression, she says, that the museum is fully funded by the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., which took over the care of the collections in 1967. In fact, she says, the Smithsonian provides a little more than 60 percent of the museum's approximately $5.6 million operating bud- -get. The Cooper-Hewitt must raise the rest.) As the museum looks to its next 100 and manpower will be essential to its other mission, Pilgrim says "to illus- trate how design impacts on our lives every minute of the day." "I think they've succeeded in this," says Please see COOPER-HEWITT, 3C The pendant "Winter Landscape" shows Lalique's artistic sensibilities. The piece is one of the 120 examples of jewelry, 40 pieces of glass and 50 drawings in "The Jewels of Lalique" exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt museum. the intoxicating atmosphere of Paris at the end of the last century.

Having freed itself of political and economic instability, Paris percolated with new ideas and movements the bold colors of Postimpressionism, the exotic and erotic dreaminess of Symbolism. Japanese arts and crafts were all the rage. At the same time, artists and artisans paid hommage to the past by reviving the styles of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This eclecticism proved the perfect breeding ground for a movement thinks of how they must feel being in the hospital, separated from their families, sick or injured and most definitely, frightened. "I know there are a lot of children that need them," she says.

"There are an awful lot of children there." Yes, they are simple little dolls. No computer chip js hidden deep inside that makes them giggle or wiggle. But each one does come with a special extra. They are all made with love. Medical play Last week Peterson celebrated her 94th birthday, making her a woman who grew up with a needle and thread in her hands.

She lived on a dairy farm in Miitnesota, arrived in Larchmont in 1926 and worked as a waitress at an New Rochelle tea house until she married. It was when her two daughters were born that she learned to sew with love. She now has four grandchildren whose photographs decorate her apartment. Peterson began sewing for the hospitalized children in the 1960s when she joined the Larchmont Women's Club sewing group. She served as the group's chairwoman for almost three decades.

The women make two types of dolls. The cuddly ones with ribbons and bows, and ones made of plain white, beige and brown fabric that are used in medical play. Tricia Hiller, director of the ChildLife Department at the center's Children's Hospital, explains how the dolls help the children and staff who work with them. Children choose their dolls, then draw faces on them and use them to tell stories, she says. "It helps to minimize some of their fear and gives us more information about what the children think is happening, and why" Tpday cataracts impair Peterson's vision and on bad must be done with a cane, still she's dedicated to her little dolls and the children who receive them.

feel wonderful doing this," she says. "You try to do for someone else. I feel we should help everyone. How you can help There are many volunteer opportunities at Westchester Medical Center, for informa-tion call 493-7850. Do you know a local person we should feature in this column, which appears here Tuesdays? Send the person's name and phone number to Barbara Nachman, Lifestyles, Gannett Suburban Newspapers, 1 Gannett Drive, White Plains, N.Y.

10604. Lrr mX Lalique founder, Rene Jules Lalique. JACOBSON 'Shopping' aims to shock, but sells out By Jacques le Sourd Staff Writer In a bare London flat, two street punks are trying to help a fat man eat from a carton of take-out food. He promptly vomits on the floor. This is the opening scene of "Shopping and ing," a play by Mark Ravenhill that opened last night at the off-Broadway New REVIEW Mi i (Justin Theroux) and Lulu (Jennifer Dundas Lowe), are liter- -ally purchased for a pittance by an upper-class junkie named Mark.

He's played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, the Chris Farley type who fell in love with Mark Wahlberg in the movie "Boogie Nights." When Mark goes into rehab, Robbie and Lulu fall into the clutches of evil in a suit: Brian (Matthew Sussman), a TV executive and drug dealer, gets weepy over "The Lion King" and videos of his son playing the vio- lin. But he also shows torture tapes of people who owed him cash. It is Brian who teaches -Robbie and Lulu the big lesson: "Civilization is Money." Meanwhile Mark, back from the rehab center and spouting therapy lingo, gets involved with a suicidal 14-year-old male prostitute. The chilling impact of this role is vitiated by the fact that the actor playing it, Torquil Campbell, is plainly in his 30s. Still, you'll want a shower after this show.

Tickets are $35 at the New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th Manhattan. (212) 460-5475. York Theatre Workshop, and it certainly sets the tone for the evening. The work's full title is unprintable in a family newspaper, and many of the events it depicts (included simulated sex acts) can't be described here either.

The play was a big success, with a different cast, in London last year and has been eagerly anticipated here, causing a stir with its title alone. It is a peculiarly British sort of comedy it's actually darkly funny on paper but such things seldom travel well. The New York production is poorly cast, and performed without conviction. Gemma Bodinetz and Max Stafford-Clark directed. Justin Theroux, left, Torquil Campbell and Jennifer Dundas Lowe in "Shopping and ing" at the New York Theatre Workshop.

"Shopping" is intended as a ferocious satire of our times, and it has a point worth making: that we all have become not just consumers but commodities, products to be bought and sold like so much junk food. But the play comes across here as an effort to push the envelope of shock value. (After the sex-scandal news of the past two weeks, however, we may all be unshockable.) The two aimless punks, Robbie Discussing the safety merits of sport utility vehicles..