Paul Manship (American, 1885–1966). Indian Hunter and His Dog, 1926. Bronze, 21 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 8 1/8 in. (54.6 x 59.7 x 20.6 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Thomas Cochran, 1929 (29.162)
The special exhibition The American West in Bronze, 1850–1925 closed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Sunday, April 13. Nearly one thousand people visited the galleries on the last day, bringing the total number of visitors to over 108,000 people since the exhibition opened on December 18, 2013. For the next few days, we will be working closely with art handlers, registrars, and conservators to see that the sixty-five sculptures and three paintings are safely de-installed and packed for transport, most of them to the exhibition's second venue at the Denver Art Museum, where it will be on view May 11 through August 31, 2014. The post-closing period also involves thanking lenders and sponsors; sorting out research used for the exhibition and its accompanying catalogue; and writing final reports. I look forward to traveling to Nanjing, China, for the September 29 opening of the exhibition at its third venue, the Nanjing Museum, where it will remain on view through January 18, 2015. Meanwhile, back here at the Met, we will be shifting gears from western bronze sculpture to Rediscovering Thomas Hart Benton's America Today Mural, which will open September 30, 2014.
One of my goals for this exhibition, as it has been for other projects I've worked on at the Met, was to encourage a greater appreciation of sculpture through close study of carefully selected and beautifully presented objects. Walking through the Met's permanent collection galleries, one is struck by the extraordinary range of sculptural achievement across time and around the globe. And even after the closing of The American West in Bronze, 1850–1925, this is a particularly rich time for sculpture at the Met, with three special exhibitions on view and a new guided walking tour of the permanent collection, Great Sculpture. So whether you are one of the 1450 people who participated in our festival "Stories and Art of the American West;" attended a gallery tour; or read this blog each week from afar, I hope your interest in sculpture, and specifically American bronze sculpture, has been ignited or sustained. I encourage you to visit the many online resources related to the Museum's permanent holdings of American sculpture, notably the collections-based thematic essays on the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.
Finally, thank you for following this blog, which has been so capably moderated and almost entirely authored by Shannon Vittoria. In this final post, I extend my deep thanks to her as well as to exhibition research associate Jessica Murphy (see interview), who served as the behind-the-scenes "glue" for our efforts with many departments within the Metropolitan, as well as myriad institutions and lenders throughout the United States. Shannon and I would like to extend a special thank you to Eileen Willis, General Manager, Web Group, whose editorial and digital expertise enabled the publication of this blog. We would also like to thank all of the interviewees who participated and provided valuable insights that have enriched our understanding of western bronze sculpture.
This blog will remain accessible via our Blog Archive, and we will continue to be available to answer any questions or comments that you may have.