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Rare Korean Screens Depicting Scholars' Books and Objects On View at Metropolitan Museum
Tuesday, January 29, 2008, 5:00 a.m.
A special installation of magnificent Korean screens dating from the late 19th to the early 20th century will go on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on March 11. Featuring four screens drawn from American collections, Beauty and Learning: Korean Painted Screens will highlight a unique genre of Korean painting known as ch'aekkŏri (books and things), which flourished in Korea from the late 18th to the early 20th century. These screens, portraying books and objects, can be seen as representations of a scholar's study or studio. Approximately 20 objects, including ceramics and bronzes similar to those illustrated in the screens, will complement the installation. This is the first exhibition to focus on the subject in the United States.
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Three Spectacular Vases Lent by Italy to Metropolitan Museum for Four Years Replace Euphronios Krater
Tuesday, January 22, 2008, 5:00 a.m.
As a result of the agreement negotiated by Philippe de Montebello, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, the Republic of Italy is lending the Metropolitan Museum three outstanding ancient Greek vases for a period of four years. Supplementing the Laconian drinking cup already on loan (since November 2006 and lent by the Museo Nazionale in Ceveteri), the three additional pieces – a jug in the shape of a young woman's head (end of sixth century B.C.); a cup signed by the potter Euxitheos and the painter Oltos, depicting the assembly of gods on Mount Olympos (515-510 B.C.); and a vase of the fourth century B.C. showing Oedipus solving the riddle of the sphinx – will go on view among related works in the Museum's Greek and Roman Galleries on Wednesday, January 16, 2008. These loans come to the Met in exchange for the return of the Euphronios krater to Italy. The krater will remain on view at the Metropolitan Museum through Sunday, January 13, 2008.
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Metropolitan Museum's Multicultural Initiative to Celebrate Tenth Anniversary at January 24 Gala Benefit "Evening of Many Cultures"
Thursday, January 17, 2008, 5:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Multicultural Audience Development Initiative will mark its tenth anniversary on January 24, 2008, with its first-ever gala benefit, An Evening of Many Cultures. At the event, two of the founding members of the initiative, Lowery Stokes Sims and Richard V. Clarke, will be honored for their longstanding commitment to the Museum and to its outreach efforts. The celebration will feature special evening viewings in the Museum's constellation of galleries reflecting many of the cultures of the world. Also on view will be the acclaimed exhibition Eternal Ancestors: The Art of the Central African Reliquary and new installations of works by the contemporary, African-American artist, Kara Walker, and the African artist, El Anatsui.
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Metropolitan Museum Concerts February 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008, 5:00 a.m.
Stephen Kovacevich Continues PianoForte, Joan Kwuon and André Previn Offer a Recital,
The Guarneri String Quartet and MMArtists in Concert Continue Series,
and Trio Capuçon Appears on Accolades
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Poussin and Nature: Arcadian Visions
Monday, January 14, 2008, 5:00 a.m.
"I would like… to join the curves of the women to the shoulders of the hills…Like Poussin, I would like to put reason in the grass and tears in the sky."
Paul Cézanne (1839-1906)
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Gayle Perkins Atkins Elected a Trustee at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Monday, January 14, 2008, 5:00 a.m.
Gayle Perkins Atkins has been elected to the Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, representing the borough of Manhattan, it was announced today by James R. Houghton, the Museum's Chairman. The election took place at the January 8 meeting of the Board of Trustees.
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Lee Friedlander: A Ramble in Olmsted Parks
Wednesday, January 9, 2008, 5:00 a.m.
On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the design for Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted's 843-acre New York City masterpiece, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present Lee Friedlander: A Ramble in Olmsted Parks. On view from January 22 to May 11, 2008, the exhibition will feature 36 photographs, most never before on public display. Friedlander describes these striking photographs, culled from a 20-year exploration of public parks and private estates designed by North America's premier landscape architect, as "one photographer's pleasurable and wandering glances at places that bear the great vision of Mr. Olmsted."
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John A. Moran Named Honorary Trustee at Metropolitan Museum
Wednesday, January 9, 2008, 5:00 a.m.
John A. Moran has been elected an Honorary Trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was announced today by James R. Houghton, the Museum's Chairman. His election took place at the January 8 meeting of the Board.
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Mark Fisch Elected a Trustee at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Wednesday, January 9, 2008, 5:00 a.m.
Mark Fisch has been elected to the Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was announced today by James R. Houghton, the Museum's Chairman. Mr. Fisch's election took place at the January 8 meeting of the Board.
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After Three Decades as Director, Philippe de Montebello Announces Retirement from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Tuesday, January 8, 2008, 5:00 a.m.
(New York, January 8, 2008)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that Philippe de Montebello—whose long and storied career at the Museum has spanned nearly a third of the institution's entire history—will retire after more than 30 years as its eighth, and longest-serving, Director. Mr. de Montebello, who first joined the staff as a curatorial assistant in 1963, became Director in 1977, and assumed the additional role of Chief Executive Officer in 1998, plans to step down by December 31, 2008.
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"blog.mode: addressing fashion" Sparks Dialogue at Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute
Monday, December 17, 2007, 5:00 a.m.
As a living art, fashion is open to multiple readings, and blog.mode: addressing fashion at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from December 18, 2007, through April 13, 2008, presents approximately 65 costumes and accessories dating from the 18th century to the present — all recent Metropolitan Museum acquisitions — and invites the public to share their reactions via a blog on the Museum's website. Over the duration of the exhibition, which will take place in The Costume Institute galleries, individual costumes and accessories will be posted on the blog periodically with commentary from curators Harold Koda and Andrew Bolton, and, where relevant, from contemporary designers.
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Metropolitan Museum Acquires Diane Arbus Archive
Monday, December 17, 2007, 5:00 a.m.
(New York, December 18, 2007)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that it has acquired the complete archive of Diane Arbus (1923-1971), the legendary American photographer known for her revelatory portraits of couples, children, nudists, carnival performers, and eccentrics. The Estate of Diane Arbus has selected the Museum to be the permanent repository of the artist's negatives, papers, correspondence, and library. The Museum will collaborate with the Estate to preserve Arbus's legacy and to ensure that her work will continue to be seen in the context of responsible scholarship and in a manner that honors the subjects of the photographs and the intentions of the artist.
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Metropolitan Museum Launches First-Ever Korean Audio Guide
Monday, December 17, 2007, 5:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has inaugurated its first-ever Audio Guide in Korean. The tour – called The Director's Selections – features commentary by Museum Director Philippe de Montebello about 58 masterpieces, which have been selected by him from the Museum's world-renowned collection of more than two million works of art.
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Metropolitan Museum Concerts January2008
Monday, December 10, 2007, 5:00 a.m.
For tickets, call the Concerts & Lectures Department at 212-570-3949, or visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets, where updated schedules and programs are also available.
Tickets are also available at the Great Hall Box Office, which is open
Tuesday-Saturday 10-5:00, and Sunday noon-5:00.
Student discount tickets are available for some events; call 212-570-3949.
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Tibetan Arms and Armor from the Permanent Collection
Monday, December 3, 2007, 5:00 a.m.
An installation of rare and exquisitely decorated armor, weapons, and equestrian equipment from Tibet and culturally related areas of Mongolia and China will go on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on December 14. Featuring approximately 35 objects dating from the 15th to the 20th century, Tibetan Arms and Armor from the Permanent Collection will explore this little known aspect of Tibet's rich artistic and historic culture. Drawn from the Museum's own collection – one of the most important in the world – the installation includes several recent acquisitions that have never before been exhibited or published.
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$567 MILLION ECONOMIC IMPACT ON NEW YORK CITY AND NEW YORK STATE GENERATED BY METROPOLITAN MUSEUM'S NEW GREEK AND ROMAN GALLERIES
Sunday, December 2, 2007, 5:00 a.m.
(New York, December 3, 2007) – National, regional, and foreign tourists visiting The Metropolitan Museum of Art's recently opened New Greek and Roman Galleries so far have spent a combined $567 million during their visits to New York City as of November 20, according to a Museum audience survey released today. Using the standard ratios for calculating tax revenue impact, the direct tax benefit to New York City and New York State from these visitors in the seven months since the galleries opened is estimated at $56.7 million.
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The Wisteria Dining Room in New Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture
Sunday, December 2, 2007, 5:00 a.m.
A complete and fully furnished Art Nouveau dining room designed by Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer shortly before World War I – The Wisteria Dining Room – has been installed within The Metropolitan Museum of Art's renovated and expanded New Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture, opening to the public on December 4, 2007. The room – which has been in storage for the past 40 years because of lack of space in which to exhibit it prior to the expansion of the galleries – is the only complete French Art Nouveau interior on display in an American museum.
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Expanded and Renovated Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture
Friday, November 30, 2007, 5:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's renovated and expanded Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture will reopen on December 4, 2007. The newly refurbished galleries – which occupy nearly 35,000 square feet, including 8,000 square feet of new exhibition space named the Henry J. Heinz II Galleries in recognition of a major gift made by his widow, the long-time Metropolitan Museum Trustee Drue Heinz – will showcase European paintings from the Museum's world-renowned collection, dating from 1800 through the early 20th century. This new presentation will feature a more thorough display of the Museum's 19th-century collection, augmented with seminal works from the early modern era.
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Expanded and Renovated Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture To Reopen December 4 at Metropolitan Museum
Friday, November 30, 2007, 5:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's renovated and expanded Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture will reopen on December 4, 2007. The newly refurbished galleries – which occupy nearly 35,000 square feet, including 8,000 square feet of new exhibition space named the Henry J. Heinz II Galleries in recognition of a major gift made by his widow, the long-time Metropolitan Museum Trustee Drue Heinz – will showcase European paintings from the Museum's world-renowned collection, dating from 1800 through the early 20th century. This new presentation will feature a more thorough display of the Museum's 19th-century collection, augmented with seminal works from the early modern era.
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Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche on Display for Holiday Season at Metropolitan Museum
Monday, November 19, 2007, 5:00 a.m.
The Christmas tree and Neapolitan Baroque crèche at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a long-established yuletide tradition in New York, will be on view for the holiday season from November 20, 2007, through January 6, 2008. The brightly lit, 20-foot blue spruce – with a collection of 18th-century Neapolitan angels and cherubs among its boughs and groups of realistic crèche figures flanking the Nativity scene at its base – will once again delight holiday visitors in the Museum's Medieval Sculpture Hall. Set in front of the 18th-century Spanish choir screen from the Cathedral of Valladolid, with recorded Christmas music in the background and daily lighting ceremonies, the installation reflects the spirit of the holiday season.
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Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche on Display for Holiday Season at Metropolitan Museum
Monday, November 19, 2007, 5:00 a.m.
The Christmas tree and Neapolitan Baroque crèche at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a long-established yuletide tradition in New York, will be on view for the holiday season from November 20, 2007, through January 6, 2008. The brightly lit, 20-foot blue spruce – with a collection of 18th-century Neapolitan angels and cherubs among its boughs and groups of realistic crèche figures flanking the Nativity scene at its base – will once again delight holiday visitors in the Museum's Medieval Sculpture Hall. Set in front of the 18th-century Spanish choir screen from the Cathedral of Valladolid, with recorded Christmas music in the background and daily lighting ceremonies, the installation reflects the spirit of the holiday season.
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Contemporary Artist Tara Donovan's Dazzling New Installation Opens at Metropolitan Museum
Thursday, November 15, 2007, 5:00 a.m.
A new, large-scale work conceived specifically for display in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's galleries by New York-based artist Tara Donovan (American, born 1969) comprises the exhibition Tara Donovan at the Met, on view from November 20, 2007, through April 27, 2008.
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Metropolitan Museum Concerts December 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007, 5:00 a.m.
Hélène Grimaud Continues the PianoForte Series with Members of New York Philharmonic, Salzburg Marionettes Perform a New Production of
The Sound of Music Featuring Broadway Vocal Talent (Extra Performance Added), and
Christmas Concerts Feature Chanticleer, Aulos Ensemble, and More
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Jeffrey M. Peek Elected a Trustee at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Monday, November 12, 2007, 5:00 a.m.
Jeffrey M. Peek has been elected to the Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was announced today by James R. Houghton, the Museum's Chairman. Mr. Peek's election took place at the November 13 meeting of the Board.
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Newly Renovated and Reinstalled Wrightsman Galleries for French Decorative Arts To Open in Fall at Metropolitan Museum
Sunday, November 4, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Wrightsman Galleries, currently undergoing
extensive renovations and reinstallation, will reopen on October 30. The
spectacular 18th-century rooms, which include the De Tessé Room, the Cabris
Room, the Paar Room, the Varengeville Room, the Bordeaux Room, and the
Crillon Room, house the Museum's renowned collection of French furniture and
related decorative arts. Named for Jayne and Charles Wrightsman, who amassed
one of the finest private collections in America of the decorative arts of the ancien
régime, the galleries opened to the public between 1969 and 1977. The
Wrightsmans' splendid gifts strengthened the Museum's already important
collection of French 18th-century interiors and furnishings. Mrs. Wrightsman, a
Trustee Emerita, continues her generosity to the Metropolitan Museum to this day,
and has made these renovations possible.
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Newly Renovated and Reinstalled Wrightsman Galleries for French Decorative Arts To Open in Fall at Metropolitan Museum
Sunday, November 4, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Wrightsman Galleries, currently undergoing
extensive renovations and reinstallation, will reopen on October 30. The
spectacular 18th-century rooms, which include the De Tessé Room, the Cabris
Room, the Paar Room, the Varengeville Room, the Bordeaux Room, and the
Crillon Room, house the Museum's renowned collection of French furniture and
related decorative arts. Named for Jayne and Charles Wrightsman, who amassed
one of the finest private collections in America of the decorative arts of the ancien
régime, the galleries opened to the public between 1969 and 1977. The
Wrightsmans' splendid gifts strengthened the Museum's already important
collection of French 18th-century interiors and furnishings. Mrs. Wrightsman, a
Trustee Emerita, continues her generosity to the Metropolitan Museum to this day,
and has made these renovations possible.
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New Uris Center for Education Opens October 23 at Metropolitan Museum after Three-Year Renovation and Reconfiguration
Monday, October 22, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
Following a three-year renovation and complete reconfiguration, the Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education at The Metropolitan Museum of Art reopens on October 23, 2007. The new center will transform Museum experiences for students and teachers, teenagers and families, scholars and all visitors. It provides an extraordinary range of new, high-tech features to train, inform, and inspire, and beautiful spaces in which to learn, beginning with the majestic and welcoming Diane W. Burke Hall.
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Bridging East and West: The Chinese Diaspora and Lin Yutang (Chinese) 大都會博物館展出林語堂和其家人收藏的中國現代書
Sunday, October 14, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
著名作家林語堂（1895-1976）和其家人收藏的四十三件中國近代書畫將從九月十五日起，在大都會博物館首次公開展出。林氏後人最近將這批藏品捐贈給大都會博物館。
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Damien Hirst's Shark on Display at New York's Metropolitan Museum for Three Years
Sunday, October 14, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
(New York, October 16, 2007)--The best-known of contemporary British artist Damien Hirst's conceptual tank pieces, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living – which features a 13-foot tiger shark in a glass tank of formaldehyde – will go on view today in the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing for modern and contemporary art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work is on a three-year loan from The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Collection.
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Magnificent, Rarely Seen Tapestries on View at Metropolitan Museum this Fall
Thursday, October 11, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
From the Middle Ages through the late 18th century, the courts of Europe lavished vast resources on tapestries made in precious materials after designs by the leading artists of the day, and works in this spectacular medium were prized by the aristocracy for their artistry and also as tools of propaganda. Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor – on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning October 17 – will offer the first comprehensive survey of high-quality 17th-century European tapestry, and will demonstrate the importance of tapestry as a prestigious figurative medium throughout that century. Organized by the Metropolitan Museum, it is a sequel to the ground-breaking exhibition, Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence, that received widespread public and scholarly acclaim during its presentation at the Metropolitan in spring 2002.
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SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2007
Thursday, October 4, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: Information provided below is subject to change.
To confirm scheduling and dates, call the Communications Department at (212) 570-3951.
CONTACT NUMBER FOR USE IN TEXT IS (212) 535-7710.
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New Gallery for Modern and Contemporary Photography to be Inaugurated at Metropolitan Museum in September
Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum will inaugurate the Joyce and Robert Menschel Hall for Modern Photography on September 25, 2007, establishing for the first time a gallery dedicated exclusively to photography created since 1960. With high ceilings, clean detailing, and approximately 2,000 square feet of exhibition space, the Menschel Hall is designed specifically to accommodate the large-scale photographs that are an increasingly important part of contemporary art and the Museum's permanent collection. Photographers represented in the collection include such modern masters as Thomas Struth, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Jeff Wall, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, Doug Aitken, and Sigmar Polke.
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First Major Survey of Rare British Photographs from Paper Negatives to be Presented at Metropolitan
Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
Opening September 25 at the Metropolitan Museum, Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840–1860, is the first major exhibition to survey British calotypes — works of exceptional beauty and rarity which are made from paper negatives and are among the earliest forays into the medium of photography. During the first two decades of photography, British photographers turned their lenses on family, nature, and the landscape at home, and on historic architecture, ruins of past civilizations, and exotica abroad. Impressed by Light presents works by 40 artists, including such masters as William Henry Fox Talbot, David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, Roger Fenton, Benjamin Brecknell Turner, and Linnaeus Tripe, as well as many talented but unrecognized artists. The majority of the works featured have never before been exhibited or published in the U.S. and are unfamiliar to scholars and the public alike.
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Metropolitan Museum to Present Major Gift of Abstract Expressionist and Modern Works from Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman in Fall Exhibition
Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
One of the preeminent collections of Abstract Expressionism, The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection was given to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2006, contributing significantly to the Museum's holdings in modern art. To celebrate the gift, Abstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art — on view from September 18, 2007, to March 2, 2008 —presents 55 works assembled by one of the most prescient and astute collectors of the mid-20th century.
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Metropolitan Museum Exhibition Sheds New Light on Ancient Egyptian Metal Statuary
Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
Through their long history, the ancient Egyptians used copper, bronze, gold, and silver to create lustrous, graceful statuary for their interactions with their gods – from ritual dramas in the temples and chapels that dotted the landscape to festival processions through the towns and countryside that were thronged by believers. Opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on October 16, 2007, Gifts for the Gods: Images from Egyptian Temples is the first exhibition ever devoted to these fascinating yet enigmatic works.
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Landmark Age of Rembrandt Exhibition Puts Met's Entire Dutch Paintings Collection of 228 Works on View in September
Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present, for the first time, all of the Metropolitan Museum's 228 Dutch paintings (dating mostly from the 1600s), widely considered the greatest collection of Dutch art outside Europe. Normally, only about 100 Dutch paintings are on view in the Museum. This comprehensive exhibition will provide a unique opportunity for visitors to view the collection of Dutch paintings as a whole. The exhibition also commemorates the 400th anniversary year of Rembrandt's birth and coincides with the publication of the first complete catalogue of Dutch paintings in the Metropolitan Museum.
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800th Anniversary of Islamic Poet-Philosopher's Birth Marked in Metropolitan Museum Fall Exhibition
Tuesday, September 25, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
The mystic writings of the Persian poet known as Rumi (1207-1273) are generally considered to be the supreme expression of Sufism, the mystical trend in Islamic thought and culture. Among the themes he explored were universal religious tolerance, communion with nature as a perception of God dwelling in and reflected in all things, and the soul's quest for a loving reunion with God. Opening October 23 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the exhibition Rumi and the Sufi Tradition coincides with the worldwide celebration of the 800th anniversary of the poet-philosopher's birth. On view will be nearly three dozen works from the Museum's Islamic art collection – including miniature paintings, Islamic calligraphy, ceramics, metalwork, glass, and textiles created between the 13th and the 19th centuries – that evoke the world in which he lived and suggest the scope of his enduring legacy.
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Rare Example of Late 15th-Century Jewish Prayerbook and Christian Manuscript – Illustrated by One Artist – on View at Metropolitan Museum
Tuesday, September 25, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
Through the winter holiday season at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Hebrew prayerbook on generous loan from The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City and a page from a Latin choir book from the Metropolitan's own collection will be displayed side by side for the first time, both painted at the end of the 15th century by the same Florentine artist. The two works are attributed to Mariano del Buono (1433/4-1504), head of one of the most renowned and prolific ateliers in the city. His work for both Christian and Jewish patrons reveals their shared taste for embellishing books with beautiful lettering and evocative imagery and testifies to a dialogue among members of different faiths that was integral to Italian Renaissance culture.
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Kenneth Jay Lane Named Honorary Trustee at Metropolitan Museum
Tuesday, September 25, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
Kenneth Jay Lane has been elected an Honorary Trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was announced by James R. Houghton, the Museum's Chairman. The election took place at the September 11 meeting of the Board of Trustees.
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Metropolitan Museum Announces Appointment of Deirdre Larkin as Associate Horticultural Manager at The Cloisters
Monday, September 10, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has appointed Deirdre Larkin to the position of Associate Horticulture Manager at The Cloisters. A branch of the Metropolitan, The Cloisters is America's only museum dedicated exclusively to the art of the Middle Ages.
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Virtuosity and Artistic Richness of 18th-Century Chinese Court's Decorative Arts on Display at Metropolitan Museum
Wednesday, August 15, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
An exhibition featuring a remarkable assemblage of porcelain, metalwork, jade, lacquer, and textiles created during the Qing dynasty of China will go on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on August 25. Drawn from the permanent collection and complemented by select loans, Excellence and Elegance: Decorative Arts of the Eighteenth-Century Qing Court will explore the unprecedented level of technical virtuosity achieved during this period. The exhibition also illustrates the imperial taste for ancient themes, interest in Western motifs, and exacting patronage that contributed to the flourishing of the decorative arts. Among the 60 works on view will be a dazzling selection of rare porcelain wares, decorated with monochrome glaze or enamel colors.
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New Gallery for Art of Native North American Art to Open at Metropolitan Museum in November
Thursday, August 2, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
A new gallery for the exhibition of the art of Native North American peoples will open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on November 13, 2007. After three years of renovation, the enlarged gallery will display a greater number of Native American works of art than has ever before been on view at the Museum. A select group of approximately 90 works will present the art of various North American peoples, regions, and time periods in which distinct cultural, stylistic, and functional aspects will be shown. The objects range from the beautifully shaped and finished stone tools known as bannerstones that date back several millennia to a mid-1970s tobacco bag made by the well-known Assiniboine/Sioux beadwork artist Joyce Growing Thunder.
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New Galleries for Oceanic Art to Open at Metropolitan Museum November 14
Tuesday, July 31, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
Following an extensive three-year renovation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will reopen on November 14 its New Galleries for Oceanic Art, a completely redesigned and reinstalled exhibition space for the display of one of the world's premier collections of the arts of the Pacific Islands. Divided into three separate galleries in The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, the 17,000-square-foot exhibition space will present a substantially larger portion of the Metropolitan's Oceanic collection than was previously on view.
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Two Preeminent 19th-Century American Silversmiths Featured in Fall Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum
Tuesday, July 31, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
Established in Boston in 1808 and relocated to Philadelphia three years later, the silversmithing firm of Thomas Fletcher and Sidney Gardiner produced American silver of unprecedented quality and grandeur. Opening November 20 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Silversmiths to the Nation: Thomas Fletcher and Sidney Gardiner, 1808-1842 is the first exhibition devoted entirely to their work, which, in its grand scale and patriotic imagery, reflected America's coming of age as a commercial, industrial, political, and artistic center. More than 100 examples in silver – from monumental vessels that celebrate military and civic heroes to domestic, ecclesiastical, and personal items resplendent with neoclassical ornament and displaying sophisticated design and craftsmanship – are arranged chronologically and thematically. A rare group of some 35 related drawings, purchased by the Metropolitan in 1953 and never before exhibited together, will offer important insights into the evolution of Fletcher and Gardiner's designs. Of particular interest will be the display of seven works in silver alongside their corresponding design drawings.
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Metropolitan Museum Offers Rare Viewing of Gates of Paradise, Lorenzo Ghiberti's Magnificent Renaissance Masterpiece
Tuesday, July 31, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
Adored by generations of artists – including Michelangelo, who is reputed to have given them the name "Gates of Paradise" – the magnificent gilded bronze doors of the east portal of the Baptistery in Florence are among the seminal monuments of the Italian Renaissance. The massive 17-feet-high doors were created by the eminent Florentine goldsmith, sculptor, and designer Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455), who decorated them with ten evocative, highly charged, and magically atmospheric scenes from the Old Testament, each superbly carried out in relief ranging from high to low. After more than 25 years of conservation, seven elements of this masterpiece – including three of the narrative reliefs for which they are famous – are in the United States for the first and only time since their creation more than 500 years ago. The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to view them at The Metropolitan Museum of Art begins October 30. After the conclusion of their four-city United States tour, the works return to Florence, to be reassembled in their original bronze framework and placed in a specially designed, hermetically sealed case in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, never to travel again.
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New Galleries for Oceanic Art to Open at Metropolitan Museum November 14
Tuesday, July 31, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
Following an extensive three-year renovation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will reopen on November 14 its New Galleries for Oceanic Art, a completely redesigned and reinstalled exhibition space for the display of one of the world's premier collections of the arts of the Pacific Islands. Divided into three separate galleries in The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, the 17,000-square-foot exhibition space will present a substantially larger portion of the Metropolitan's Oceanic collection than was previously on view.
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New Gallery for Art of Native North American Art to Open at Metropolitan Museum in November
Tuesday, July 31, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
A new gallery for the exhibition of the art of Native North American peoples will open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on November 13, 2007. After three years of renovation, the enlarged gallery will display a greater number of Native American works of art than has ever before been on view at the Museum. A select group of approximately 90 works will present the art of various North American peoples, regions, and time periods in which distinct cultural, stylistic, and functional aspects will be shown. The objects range from the beautifully shaped and finished stone tools known as bannerstones that date back several millennia to a mid-1970s tobacco bag made by the well-known Assiniboine/Sioux beadwork artist Joyce Growing Thunder.
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New Gallery for Modern and Contemporary Photography to be Inaugurated at Metropolitan Museum in September
Tuesday, July 24, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum will inaugurate the Joyce and Robert Menschel Hall for Modern Photography on September 25, 2007, establishing for the first time a gallery dedicated exclusively to photography created since 1960. With high ceilings, clean detailing, and approximately 2,000 square feet of exhibition space, the Menschel Hall is designed specifically to accommodate the large-scale photographs that are an increasingly important part of contemporary art and the Museum's permanent collection. Photographers represented in the collection include such modern masters as Thomas Struth, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Jeff Wall, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, Doug Aitken, and Sigmar Polke.
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Ancestral Origins of African Masterpieces Explored in Major Metropolitan Museum Exhibition This Fall
Monday, July 16, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present a special exhibition of acclaimed sculptural masterpieces from the heart of Africa's equatorial rainforest, beginning October 2, 2007. The exhibition explores not only the significance of the works presented in their countries of origin but also how their reception in the West led them to enter the mainstream of universal art. Organized thematically, Eternal Ancestors: The Art of the Central African Reliquary explains the sources of cultural and spiritual inspiration that led to their creation in equatorial Africa. Drawn from the most important collections of African art in Europe and the United States, the more than 130 works featured in the exhibition relate to 12 distinct traditions in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They were created to celebrate the lives of an extended family's most notable ancestors and to give expression to their ongoing role as advocates with the divine.
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One of a Kind: The Studio Craft Movement
Wednesday, July 11, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
The studio craft movement developed in the U.S. during the years after World War II and has flourished internationally over the past 40 years. During this period, craft artists have experimented with non-traditional materials and new techniques, producing bold, abstract, and sculptural art, as well as continuing to make utilitarian objects. One of a Kind: The Studio Craft Movementon view from December 22, 2006, through December 2, 2007, features approximately 50 works from The Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection and will include furniture, ceramics, glass, metalwork, jewelry, and fiber. Many of these works have never been on view at the Metropolitan before, and several are recent acquisitions by the Museum.