SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS
SEPTEMBER 2009– AUGUST 2010

The Drawings of Bronzino
January 20–April 18, 2010

This exhibition is the first ever dedicated to Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572), and will present nearly all the known drawings by, or attributed to, this leading Italian Mannerist artist, who was active primarily in Florence. A painter, draftsman, academician, and enormously witty poet, Bronzino became famous as the court artist to the Duke Cosimo I de' Medici and his beautiful wife, the Duchess Eleonora di Toledo. This monographic exhibition will contain approximately 60 drawings from European and North-American collections, many of which have never before been on public view.
Accompanied by a catalogue, authored by a team of international scholars, to be published by the Metropolitan Museum.
The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York,
in collaboration with the Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi and the
Polo Museale Fiorentino, Florence.
The exhibition is made possible by the Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund.
Additional support is provided by Dinah Seiver and Thomas E. Foster.
The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
The catalogue is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage
February 2–May 9, 2010

Sixty years before the embrace of collage techniques by avant-garde artists of the early 20th century, aristocratic Victorian women were already experimenting with photocollage in the 1850s and 1860s. The compositions they made with photographs and watercolors are whimsical and fantastical, combining human heads and animal bodies, placing people into imaginary landscapes, and morphing faces into common household objects. Such images, often made for albums, reveal the educated minds as well as the accomplished hands of their makers. With sharp wit and dramatic shifts of scale akin to those Alice experienced in Wonderland, these images stand the rather serious conventions of early photography on their heads. The exhibition will feature approximately 55 works from public and private collections.
The exhibition was organized by The Art Institute of Chicago.
It is made possible by The Hite Foundation in memory of Sybil E. Hite.
Accompanied by a catalogue.
Press preview: Monday, February 1, 10:00 a.m. –noon

The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry
March 2–June 13, 2010

The Belles Heures (1405-1408/9) of Jean de Berry, a treasure of The Cloisters collection, is one of the most celebrated and lavishly illustrated manuscripts to have survived from the late Middle Ages. Because it is currently unbound, it is possible to exhibit all of the illuminated pages as individual leaves, a unique opportunity never to be repeated. The exhibition will elucidate the manuscript, its artists – the young Franco-Netherlandish Limbourg Brothers – and its patron, Jean de France, duc de Berry. A select group of precious objects from the same early-15th-century courtly milieu will place the manuscript in the context of the patronage of Jean de Berry and his royal family, the Valois.
The exhibition is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Michel David-Weill Fund.
The related publication is made possible by the Michel David-Weill Fund.
Press preview: Monday, March 1, 10:00 a.m. –noon

The Mourners: Medieval Tomb Sculptures from the Court of Burgundy
March 2–May 23, 2010

The renovation of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Dijon provides an opportunity for the unprecedented loan of the alabaster mourner figures from the tomb of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, and his wife, Margaret of Bavaria. Each of the 38 statuettes is approximately 40 centimeters (16 inches) high. They were carved by Jean de La Huerta and Antoine Le Moiturier between 1443 and 1456 for the ducal tomb originally in the church of Champmol. They follow the precedent of the mourner figures carved by Claus Sluter and colleagues for the tomb of Duke Philip the Bold (1342-1404). The tombs are celebrated as among the most sumptuous and innovative of the late Middle Ages. The primary innovation was the space given to the figures of the grieving mourners on the base of the tomb, who seem to pass through the real arcades of a cloister. The installation at the Metropolitan will be supplemented by related works from the Museum's collection, including the monumental Enthroned Virgin from the convent at Poligny (established by John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria) that was carved by Claus de Werve. The exhibition was organized by the Dallas Museum of Art and the Musée des Beaux Arts de Dijon, under the auspices of FRAME (French Regional and American Museum Exchange). The exhibition is supported by a leadership gift from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Florence Gould Foundation, the Eugene McDermott Foundation, and Connie Goodyear Baron. Major corporate support is provided by Bank of the West (BNP Paribas).
The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Accompanied by a catalogue.
Press preview: Monday, March 1, 10:00 a.m. –noon

Side by Side: Oberlin's Masterworks at the Met
March 16 – August 29, 2010

Founded in 1917, the Allen Memorial Art Museum is one of the finest college or university collections in the United States, serving as an invaluable educational resource for aspiring art scholars. While the museum is closed in 2010 for renovations, 20 of their masterpieces—19 paintings and one sculpture—will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art for five months. These will include the great Ter Brugghen painting Saint Sebastian Tended by Saint Irene (one of the most important North Baroque painting in the U.S.), Cézanne's Viaduct at l'Estaque, Kirchner's Self-Portrait as a Soldier, and a striking Kirchner sculpture. Each of these works will be integrated into the Metropolitan Museum's great collection, creating new, provocative juxtapositions.
Press Preview: Monday, March 15, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Vienna Circa 1780: An Imperial Silver Service Rediscovered
April 13–November 7, 2010

Following the acquisition in 2002 of two Viennese silver wine coolers from the Sachsen-Teschen Service, most of the set's surviving parts were discovered in a French private collection. This superb ensemble was last displayed at the beginning of the 20th century. Wine coolers, tureens, cloches, sauceboats, candelabra, candlesticks, dozens of plates, porcelain-mounted cutlery, and other kinds of tableware totaling over 350 items, represent the splendor of royal dining during the ancien régime. It was made for Duke Albert Casimir of Sachsen-Teschen (1738-1822), and his consort, Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria (1742-1798) by the Imperial court goldsmith Ignaz Josef Würth. The Sachsen-Teschen Silver Service, an embodiment of Viennese neo-classicism, will be shown in the context of contemporary silver from other countries.
The exhibition is made possible in part by the Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund.
Press preview: Monday, April 12, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
April 27–August 1, 2010

This landmark exhibition is the first to focus exclusively on works by Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) in the Museum's collection. It features 250 works, including the Museum's complete holdings of paintings, drawings, sculptures, and ceramics by Picasso—never before seen in their entirety—as well as a selection of the artist's prints. The Museum's collection reflects the full breadth of the artist's multi-sided genius as it asserted itself over the course of his long and influential career. Notable for its remarkable constellation of early figure paintings, which include the commanding At the Lapin Agile (1905) and the iconic portrait of Gertrude Stein (1906), the Museum's collection also stands apart for its exceptional cache of drawings, which despite their importance and number, remains relatively little known. The key subjects that variously sustained Picasso's interest—the pensive harlequins of his Blue and Rose periods, the faceted figures and tabletop still lifes of his cubist years, the monumental heads and classicizing bathers of the 1920s, the raging bulls and dreaming nudes of the 1930s, and the rakish cavaliers and musketeers of his final years—are amply represented by works ranging in date from a dashing self-portrait of 1900 to the fanciful Standing Nude and Seated Musketeer painted nearly seventy years later.
The exhibition is made possible by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.
Accompanied by a catalogue.
Press preview: Monday, April 19, 10:00 a.m.–noon

American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity
May 5–August 15, 2010

American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity, is the first Costume Institute exhibition drawn exclusively from the newly established Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Met. It will explore developing perceptions of the modern American woman from 1890 to 1940, and how they have affected the way American women are seen today. Focusing on archetypes of American femininity through dress, the exhibition will reveal how the American woman initiated style revolutions that mirrored her social, political, and sexual emancipation. "Gibson Girls," "Bohemians," and "Screen Sirens," among others, helped lay the foundation for today's American woman.
The exhibition is made possible by Gap.
Additional support is provided by Condé Nast.
Press preview: Monday, May 3, 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

An Italian Journey: Drawings from the Tobey Collection, Correggio to Tiepolo
May 12–August 15, 2010

The exhibition will consist of approximately 65 drawings from the collection of David and Julie Tobey. Most of the drawings are by Italian masters. Highlights include drawings by Correggio, Parmigianino, Giulio Romano, Poussin, Bernini, Castiglione, and Tiepolo.
Press preview: Monday, May 10, 10:00 a.m.–noon

American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765-1915
Through January 24, 2010

This major loan exhibition features more than 100 masterpieces depicting ordinary people engaged in life's tasks and pleasures. In the first section (1765–1830), John Singleton Copley, Charles Willson Peale, Samuel F. B. Morse, and others tell stories within the expressive bounds of portraiture. In the second section (1830–60), William Sidney Mount, George Caleb Bingham, Lilly Martin Spencer, and others paint genre scenes that define national identity and character. In the third section (1860–77), Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, Thomas Eakins, and others respond to the Civil War and, going forward, encode Reconstruction and the Centennial in pictures that help to heal the nation's spirit. In the final section (1877–1915), Homer and Eakins—joined by John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, John Sloan, George Bellows, and others—explore new subjects and narrative modes in an increasingly cosmopolitan age. Throughout, attention is directed to stories the artists choose to tell, how they tell them, and how their stories have been read by observers over time.
The exhibition is made possible by Alamo Rent A Car, The Marguerite and Frank A. Cosgrove Jr. Fund, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, the Henry Luce Foundation, and the Oceanic Heritage Foundation.
It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
The catalogue is made possible by The William Cullen Bryant Fellows of the American Wing.
Education programs are made possible by The Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts.

Imperial Privilege: Vienna Porcelain of Du Paquier, 1718–44
Through March 21, 2010

The second porcelain factory in Europe able to make true porcelain in the manner of the Chinese was established in Vienna in 1718. Founded by Claudius Innocentius du Paquier, the small porcelain enterprise developed a highly distinctive style that remained Baroque in inspiration throughout the history of the factory, which was taken over by the state in 1744. Du Paquier produced a range of tablewares, decorative vases, and small-scale sculpture that found great popularity with the Hapsburg court and the Austrian nobility. This exhibition charts the history of the development of the Du Paquier factory, setting its production within the historic and cultural context of Vienna in the first half of the 18th century. The porcelain featured is drawn from both the Metropolitan Museum and the premier private collection of this material. The exhibition is made possible by Eloise W. Martin and the Melinda and Paul Sullivan Foundation for the Decorative Arts.
Accompanied by a publication.

Pablo Bronstein at the Met
Through April 18, 2010

For this exhibition, Pablo Bronstein (b. 1977) has created two new bodies of work addressing the nature of the Museum. Several large ink drawings portray a mythical history of the Metropolitan Museum, imagining the building under construction and giant works of art being transported or installed. In parallel, a series of smaller digital images, displayed on tables under glass, focus on a hypothetical future of the Museum. The exhibition is the sixth in an ongoing series highlighting the work of contemporary artists that has featured Tony Oursler, Kara Walker, Neo Rauch, Tara Donovan, and Raqib Shaw.

The Young Archer Attributed to Michelangelo
November 3, 2009

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present the marble sculpture Young Archer, attributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti (Florence 1475- Rome 1564), in its Vélez Blanco Patio beginning this fall for ten years as part of a special loan from the French Republic, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. The Young Archer first entered the United States after it was obtained by architect Stanford White for the Manhattan residence of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney at 972 Fifth Avenue. The fragmentary marble figure of a nude youth, which is missing arms and lower legs, remained in the Fifth Avenue mansion for decades after it become the Cultural Services office of the French Embassy. Displayed in the entrance hall above a fountain, the sculpture was visible from the sidewalk, but remained unremarked until 1990 when it was observed by Metropolitan Museum Curator James David Draper, the first scholar to publish its whereabouts.
In 1997 New York University professor Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt's attribution of the marble to the young Michelangelo caused a stir, but was championed by Draper and many scholars, while others disagreed. The exhibition will include illustrated text panels outlining the Young Archer's history and indicating various schools of thought so that viewers can make up their minds accordingly.

Velázquez Rediscovered
Through February 7, 2010

This special exhibition features a newly identified painting by Velázquez, Portrait of a Man, formerly ascribed by the Museum to the workshop of Velázquez, and recently reattributed to the master himself following its cleaning and restoration. It is being shown alongside other paintings from the Museum's superior collection of works by the great Spanish painter.
Accompanied by a publication.

Arts of Korea Gallery
November 18, 2009—April 25, 2010

The Arts of Korea Gallery features an elegant, large-scale work entitled 25 Wishes by the well-known Korean-American artist Ik-joong Kang (b. 1960). Consisting of 25 subtly differentiated images of a porcelain moon jar, this multi-panel installation replicates, repeats, and transforms a familiar and iconic Korean art object from the Joseon period (1392-1910). The work also embodies layers of poignant associations from the artist's own life and engages the viewers to visualize their own reveries. 25 Wishes, on loan from the artist, is exhibited with the exquisite 18th-century Moon Jar the from the Metropolitan's own collection. They are accompanied by related porcelains and other ceramics from the 15th through the 19th century, all drawn from the Museum's collection.

Contemporary Aboriginal Painting from Australia
Dec 15, 2009—June 13, 2010

Beginning in the remote desert community of Papunya in the early 1970s, Australia's contemporary Aboriginal painting has become the most celebrated contemporary art movement within Australia and has attained prominence within the international art world. This exhibition will feature works by both established and emerging artists from a selection of important art-producing centers in Australia's central desert and adjacent regions, such as Papunya, Yuendumu, Lajamanu, Balgo, Utopia, and Warmun, illustrating the diversity of imagery produced by contemporary painters as well as the underlying theme of Dreaming (the beings and events of the Primordial creation period), which unites their dynamic compositions. The exhibition consists of loans from a private collection and represents the first presentation of contemporary Aboriginal art, arguably the most important current art movement in Oceania, at the Metropolitan.

Richard Hamilton: Selected Prints from the Collection, 1970–2005
December 16, 2009–May 2, 2010

The internationally acclaimed British artist Richard Hamilton (b. 1922), one of the founders of Pop art in London, first studied printmaking as a teenager and continues his experiments today at the age of 87. This selection of some 26 works presents Hamilton's groundbreaking forays into a variety of print media, from traditional intaglio to digital techniques, as he explores subjects derived from portraiture, the history of art, and the work of Irish-born author James Joyce (1882–1941).

Five Thousand Years of Japanese Art: Treasures from the Packard Collection
Dec 17, 2009—June 6, 2010

In 1975, The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired more than four hundred works of Japanese art from collector Harry G. C. Packard (1914-1991), by gift and purchase. The daring acquisition instantly transformed the Museum into an institution boasting one of the preeminent collections of Japanese art in the Western world, with encyclopedic holdings from the Neolithic period through the 19th century. The exhibition celebrates the 35th anniversary of the acquisition of the Packard Collection, and showcases its particular strengths in archaeological artifacts, Buddhist iconographic scrolls, ceramics, screen paintings of the Momoyama and Edo periods (16th-19th centuries), and sculptures of the Heian and Kamakura periods (9th-14th centuries). A highlight of the exhibition is a pairing of masterpieces by Kano school master and his son: Old Plum, a set of sliding-door panels by the Kano Sansetsu (1589-1651) from the Packard Collection and One Hundred Boys, a pair of six-fold screens by Kano Einō (1631-97), acquired in 2009.

Mastering the Art of Chinese Painting: Xie Zhiliu (1910-1997)
February 6–July 25, 2010

This exhibition will include a selection of around 100 works drawn from a recent gift of more than 300 paintings, sketches and studies, poetry manuscripts, and artist's seals done by or for Xie Zhiliu (1910-1997), one of modern China's leading traditional artists and connoisseurs. Together, these studies illustrate how Chinese artists historically have learned both from earlier masterpieces as well as from nature, and provide unique insights into the artistic process.

Celebration: The Birthday in Chinese Art
February 27–August 15, 2010

Birthday celebrations and concomitant themes of longevity are pervasive in Chinese art of the Ming and Qing dynasties. A recurring scene of a splendid reception at the residence of a wealthy family, represented in a lacquered screen, a set of embroidered hanging scrolls, and a porcelain vase, shows the eightieth birthday gathering for the Tang-dynasty general Guo Ziyi, a popular figure of long life, wealth, and honor. Longevity is also encoded in peaches, cranes, immortals, and flora and fauna of many kinds, sometimes forming sophisticated visual word play expressing wishes of long life for the honoree. The exhibition will draw together works in many media from the Museum's collection to illuminate these auspicious themes.

Epic India: Scenes from the Ramayana
March 31–September 19, 2010

Among the themes most favored for Indian miniature painting are episodes from the great Indian epic the Ramayama. This classic of early Indian literature is infused with mythology and the legendary exploits of the gods, but above all tells the story of Lord Vishnu in his earthly appearance as Rama, a divine-king revered as the embodiment of nobility and virtue. The mythology of Rama provides the subject matter for an important genre of Indian paintings, and a selection of such works will be exhibited here, along with sculptures and a newly acquired spectacular painted cotton textile depicting a scene from the epic.

Sounding the Pacific: Musical Instruments of Oceania
Through September 6, 2010

Music is a universal human phenomenon. Musical instruments and musical expression, however, take an almost infinite variety of forms throughout the world. This is especially true in Oceania (the Pacific Islands) whose more than 1800 different peoples create an astonishing diversity of musical instruments, from familiar types such as drums, flutes, and the Hawaiian ukulele, to unusual forms such as slit gongs carved in the form of ancestral catfish, bullroarers whose eerie whirring sounds are said to be the voices of supernatural beings, and delicate stringed instruments with sounding chambers fashioned from palm leaves. From the tropical rainforests of Island Southeast Asia, to the deserts of Australia, to remote coral atolls, musical instruments in Oceania play central roles in activities ranging from religious rituals and initiations, to feasts, celebrations, courting, and secular entertainment.
This exhibition – the first in an art museum to be devoted exclusively to Oceanic musical instruments – explores the rich diversity of musical instruments created and used in the Pacific Islands. Drawn primarily from the Metropolitan's collections, the exhibition features more than 60 instruments from small personal types such as panpipes and courting whistles to larger forms played at performances heard by the entire community, such as the exquisitely carved temple drums of the Austral Islands or the imposing sacred slit gongs of New Guinea.
The exhibition is made possible through the generosity of the Friends of the Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.

North Italian Drawings, 1410-1550: Selections from the Robert Lehman Collection and the Department of Drawings and Prints
Through January 31, 2010

Featuring 31 drawings from the Metropolitan Museum's Robert Lehman Collection, with an additional ten chosen from the Department of Drawings and Prints, this installation will showcase a period in Italian art that witnessed the emergence of drawing as an essential tool for artists. These rare examples of North Italian drawings from the 15th and early 16th centuries will illustrate the versatility of the medium over more than a century. Highlights will include the magnificent colored drawing of a Gazelle from the circle of Michelino da Besozzo; the large pen- and-ink drawing from the circle of Giovanni Bellini depicting Vulcan Building a Fence Around the Mount of Venus; and two landscape drawings by Domenico Campagnola.

Surface Tension: Contemporary Photographs from the Collection
Through May 16, 2010

Photographs are often perceived as transparent windows onto a three-dimensional world. Yet photographs also have their own material presence as physical objects. Contemporary artists who exploit this apparent contradiction between photograph as window and photograph as object are featured in Surface Tension. The exhibition presents 30 works that play with the inherent tension between the flatness of the photograph and the often lifelike illusion of depth. Surface Tension highlights the ways in which artists use photographic and multi-media techniques to direct our attention to the physical surface of the photograph. Among the works featured are photographs that have been purposely scratched, burned, or painted on, as well as photograms made by placing objects directly on top of a sheet of photographic paper. The exhibition is drawn entirely from the permanent collection and features several recent acquisitions and other contemporary photographs never before shown at the Museum.

Peaceful Conquerors: Jain Manuscript Painting
Through March 28, 2010

The art of the book in medieval India is closely associated with the Jain religious community, and illustrated palm-leaf manuscripts survive from around the 10th century, while those on paper appear after the 12th, when paper was introduced from Iran. The use of paper permitted larger compositions and a greater variety of decorative devices and borders. Significantly, however, the format of the palm- leaf manuscript was retained. By the end of the 14th century, deluxe manuscripts were produced on paper, brilliantly adorned with gold, silver, crimson, and a rich ultramarine derived from imported lapis lazuli. The patrons of the works were mainly Svetambara Jains, who considered the commissioning of illustrated books and their donation to Jain temple libraries to be an important merit-making activity. A selection of these exquisite manuscripts will be on view, along with bronzes sculptures of Jinas and a ceremonial painted textile.

Silk and Bamboo: Music and Art of China
Through February 7, 2010

This exhibition displays a wide variety of Chinese musical instruments and art to celebrate the musical heritage of China—one of the oldest continuously documented traditions with roots reaching back more than 8,000 years. It includes a rare ivory-covered pipa (lute) and a lacquered qin (zither) of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), extraordinary bells of the fifth century B.C., and a set of pottery figures in the shapes of dancers and musicians from the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) and Tang dynasty (618-907).
The exhibition is made possible in part by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.
The exhibition will complement the China Festival (October 21-November 10, 2009) offered by Carnegie Hall.

Cinnabar: The Chinese Art of Carved Lacquer
Through February 21, 2010

Although lacquer is used in many Asian cultures, the art of carving lacquer is unique to China. In this technique, multiple layers (as many as 200) are applied onto a substructure in the shape of a box or some other container, and individually dried and carved to create lush geometric motifs, or lively representations of figures in landscapes and birds flying amidst flowers. This exhibition, which celebrates the Museum's collection, showcases approximately 50 examples of this art form. It features several newly acquired works, as well as an important, recently restored, 18th-century screen that is displayed for the first time.

Masterpieces of French Art Deco
Opened August 4, 2009

French Art Deco is one of the great strengths of the Metropolitan's modern design collection. The Museum has been collecting actively in this area since the 1920s, when pieces were acquired directly from their designers in Paris. This presentation in The Helen and Milton A. Kimmelman Gallery features many of the collection's most important works, some of which have not been shown for generations.
The installation includes furniture by Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Louis Süe and André Mare, Armand-Albert Rateau, and Pierre Legrain; works in glass by René Jules Lalique, Maurice Marinot, and Henri Navarre; ceramics by Émile Lenoble and Emile Decoeur; metalwork by Jean Puiforcat and Edgar Brandt; textiles by Paul Poiret; jewelry by Georges Fouquet; lacquer work by Jean Dunand; and the magnificent set of reverse-painted and gilded glass panels designed by Jean Dupas for the first-class salon of the ocean liner Normandie.

Highlights from the Modern Design Collection: 1900 to the Present
Opened June 23, 2009

This installation of highlights from the Museum's modern and contemporary design collection features 46 objects spanning the past century up to the present, including Charles Rennie Mackintosh's hand-crafted oak, tile, and glass washstand (1904); Marcel Breuer's iconic modernist "Wassily" chair (1927); a 1985 Formica "Ivory" table by Italian designer Ettore Sottsass; and architect Zaha Hadid's 2006 "Gyre" lounge chair, made of polyester resin and lacquer. Also presented are metalwork, ceramics, glass, jewelry, drawings, and posters.

American Landscapes
Opened May 20, 2008

The first floor of the newly renovated Robert Lehman Wing displays nine large and superb American landscape paintings from the Metropolitan Museum's collection, enabling visitors to view selected highlights of American art during the major reordering and upgrading of The American Wing galleries and period rooms, scheduled for completion in 2011.

Tibetan Arms and Armor from the Permanent Collection
Through fall 2010

This installation presents approximately 35 highlights from the Museum's extensive collection of rare and exquisitely decorated armor, weapons, and equestrian equipment from Tibet and related areas of Mongolia and China, dating from the 8th to the 20th century. Included are several recent acquisitions that have never before been exhibited or published.

Renovation of Late Gothic Hall, The Cloisters
December 8, 2009

The Late Gothic Hall at The Cloisters Museum and Gardens will reopen following an extensive renovation. The four large, 15th-century, French limestone windows from the Dominican monastery in Sens, Burgundy have been conserved. New leaded glass has been installed on the interior with protective glazing on the exterior. The new installation will feature a monumental tapestry from Burgos Cathedral representing the Salvation of Man. It returns to public view for the first time in a generation following a thorough campaign of conservation. The Late Gothic Hall, distinguished by its high timber ceiling, will also exhibit many of the finest 15th-century works in The Cloisters' collection, including sculptures by Tilman Riemenschneider and richly painted and gilded altarpieces from Spain.
The renovation was funded by The Alice Tully Foundation.

The New American Wing Part 2: The Charles Engelhard Court and the Period Rooms
Opened May 19, 2009

A major reordering and upgrading of The American Wing galleries and period rooms has begun, and the final phase—including 18 new paintings galleries and renovations to The Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art—is scheduled for completion in 2011. The Wing will remain open, in part, throughout the three-part project. In Part 2, The Charles Engelhard Court has been transformed to better showcase the sculptures, stained-glass windows, and other works on view, and to facilitate public access. Renovations to the balcony include new glass barrier walls and a rethinking of the ceramics, glass, silver, and pewter installations. The addition of a mezzanine level has added over 3,000 square feet of exhibition space and houses the newly announced promised gift from Robert A. Ellison Jr. of American ceramics, 1876–1956. Many of the 17th- and 18th-century period rooms have been moved or replaced as the Wing's architectural holdings were upgraded. Access to the period rooms has been improved by the installation of a new glass-walled public elevator.
Part 1, New Classical Galleries on the first floor of The American Wing, opened to the public in 2007.

Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries for Byzantine Art and the Medieval Europe Gallery
Opened November 18, 2008

Portions of the Medieval Galleries have been renovated thanks to the generous support of Mary and Michael Jaharis. The apse beneath the Great Hall Stairs has become part of the Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries for Byzantine Art and features the Museum's newly acquired manuscript, the Jaharis Byzantine Lectionary, a rare masterpiece of Byzantine art from around the year 1100. An 18-foot-tall marble ciborium (altar canopy) from 12th century Italy is the focal point of the former Tapestry Hall that has become a new gallery of Medieval Europe devoted to works of art in all media from about 1050 to 1300.

Joyce and Robert Menschel Hall for Modern Photography
Opened September 25, 2007

The Joyce and Robert Menschel Hall for Modern Photography is the Metropolitan's first gallery designed specifically for and devoted exclusively to the display of photographs created since 1960. Situated adjacent to the special exhibition galleries for drawings, prints, and photographs and the portion of the Robert Wood Johnson, Jr. Gallery where the earlier history of photography is displayed, Menschel Hall allows the Department of Photographs to show its contemporary holdings within the broader context of photographic traditions and in an exhibition space with appropriate scale and detail. Installations, which change every six months, are drawn from the department's growing permanent collection.

The Wrightsman Galleries for French Decorative Arts
Reopened October 30, 2007

The Wrightsman Galleries for French decorative arts underwent extensive renovations to improve climate control, introduce new lighting and fire suppression systems, and incorporate numerous decorative changes. The new lighting, in particular, greatly enhances the revised presentation of the Museum's renowned collection of French furniture and related decorative arts. All of the 18th-century boiseries, as well as many objects, have received conservation treatment and a set of seat furniture has been reupholstered with a modern re-creation of the original embroidered show covers. The galleries include a number of artworks previously not on view, such as a late 18th-century carved and gilded state bed.

Galleries for Oceanic Art
Opened November 14, 2007

The islands of the Pacific Ocean encompass nearly 1,800 distinct cultures and hundreds of artistic traditions in an area that covers about one-third of the earth's surface. The Museum's new permanent galleries for Oceanic art in The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, completely redesigned and reinstalled, present a substantially larger portion of the Museum's Oceanic holdings than was previously on view. Featuring renowned masterworks from the Metropolitan's Oceanic collection as well as recent acquisitions, the installation displays sculpture and decorative arts from the regions of Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Australia. The displays also feature the Museum's first gallery devoted to the arts of the indigenous peoples of Island Southeast Asia. The publication is made possible by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation and The MCS Endowment Fund.

Gallery for the Art of Native North America
Opened November 14, 2007

The Museum's renovated gallery devoted to Native North American art displays approximately 90 works made by numerous American peoples. Ranging from the beautifully shaped stone tools known as bannerstones of several millennia B.C. to a mid-1970s tobacco bag, the objects illustrate a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, artistic styles, and functional purposes, all qualities inherent in the art of the peoples of the North American continent. Works include wood sculpture from the Northwest Coast of North America, ivory carvings from the Arctic, wearing blankets from the Southwest, and objects of hide from the Great Plains. Anchored by the Metropolitan's American Indian holdings drawn from the Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, the installation is augmented by loans from the well-known private collections of Ralph T. Coe of Santa Fe and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Diker of New York.

Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture Including the Henry J. Heinz II Galleries
Opened December 4, 2007

The New Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture have opened to the public with renovated rooms and more than 8,000 square feet of additional gallery space—the Henry J. Heinz II Galleries—to showcase works from 1800 through the early 20th century. The renovated and expanded galleries feature all of the Museum's most loved 19th-century paintings, which have been on permanent display in the past, as well as works by Bonnard, Vuillard, Matisse, Picasso, and other early modern artists. Among the many additions are a full-room assembly of "The Wisteria Dining Room," a French art nouveau interior designed by Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer shortly before World War I that is the only complete example of its kind in the United States; Henry Lerolle's large painting The Organ Rehearsal (a church interior of 1885), recently cleaned; a group of newly acquired 19th-century landscape oil sketches; and a selection of rarely exhibited paintings by an international group of artists.

PLEASE NOTE: These exhibitions originate at The Metropolitan Museum of Art with works of art from the Museum's collections selected and organized by Museum staff members. Please confirm the opening and closing dates with the local exhibiting museums as they may be subject to change.

Faces of a New Nation: American Portraits of the 18th and Early 19th Centuries from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

A choice group of early American portraits will be displayed at Winterthur during the period of closure of the Met's galleries for American Paintings and Sculpture. The selection of approximately 35 portraits—including works by Copley, Stuart, Trumbull, Peale, Sully, and Morse—was inspired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin of the same title that was published in summer 2003. A special edition of the Bulletin will accompany the exhibition.
Henry Francis DuPont Winterthur Museum, Delaware
Through January 24, 2010

MAIN BUILDING HOURS
Fridays and Saturdays 9:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
Sundays, Tuesdays–Thursdays 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Met Holiday Mondays in the Main Building 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
February 15, May 31, 2010
All other Mondays Closed
January 1, Thanksgiving, and December 25 Closed

THE CLOISTERS MUSEUM AND GARDENS HOURS

November–February:
Tuesdays–Sundays 9:30 a.m.–4:45 p.m.
Mondays Closed

March–October:
Tuesdays–Sundays 9:30 a.m.–5:15 p.m.
Mondays Closed

RECOMMENDED ADMISSION (INCLUDES MAIN BUILDING AND THE CLOISTERS MUSEUM AND GARDENS ON THE SAME DAY)

Adults $20.00
Seniors (65 and over) $15.00
Students $10.00
Members and children under 12
accompanied by adult Free

Advance tickets available at www.TicketWeb.com or 1-800-965-4827
For more information (212) 535-7710; www.metmuseum.org
No extra charge for any exhibition

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February 4, 2010

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