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• American Stories Exhibition to Open on Columbus Day "Met Holiday Monday"

  Monday, October 5, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  The public's first opportunity to visit the landmark exhibition American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life 1765-1915 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be October 12 (Columbus Day), the next "Met Holiday Monday." Met Holiday Mondays are extra public viewing days that take place on the Mondays of major holiday weekends, when historically the Museum has been closed.

• Robert Frank's Groundbreaking Photographs Featured in Major Exhibition Marking 50th Anniversary of His Book The Americans

  Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  The 50th anniversary of the publication of The Americans, Robert Frank's ground-breaking book of black-and-white photographs, will be celebrated with the major exhibition Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans, on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art September 22, 2009–January 3, 2010. Robert Frank is one of the great living masters of photography, and his seminal book The Americans captured a culture on the brink of social upheaval. The exhibition traces the artist's process of creating this once-controversial suite of photographs, which grew out of several cross-country road trips in 1955 and 1956. Born in Switzerland in 1924, Frank was an outsider encountering much of America for the first time; he discovered its power, its vastness, and—at times—its troubling emptiness. Although Frank's depiction of American life was criticized when the book was released in the U.S. in 1959, The Americans soon became recognized as a masterpiece of 20th-century art. Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans features all 83 photographs from his original book. Remarkably, the exhibition at the Metropolitan will be the first time that this body of work is presented in its entirety to a New York audience.

• "The Enchantress of Florence: A Conversation With Salman Rushdie" on Visual Imagary in his Recent Novel at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Tuesday, October 6, 2009, at 6:00 p.m.

  Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  Salman Rushdie's latest novel, The Enchantress of Florence, brings together Florentine Italy and Mughal India, and the cultures that lie between them, in a tale that has been described as a "sumptuous mixture of history and fable." On Tuesday, October 6, 2009, at 6:00 p.m., the Metropolitan Museum of Art Concerts & Lectures series will present a conversation with the author and three art historians – Carmen Bambach, Curator of Drawings and Prints, and Navina Haidar Haykel, Associate Curator of Islamic Art, both of the Museum; and David Roxburgh, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor of Islamic Art History at Harvard University – to explore major themes and visual imagery in his novel.

• New Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum Explores Influence of Music and Theater on the Work of Watteau and His Contemporaries

  Sunday, September 20, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  Watteau, Music, and Theater, the first exhibition of paintings by the great early 18th–century French painter and draftsman Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) in the United States in 25 years, is currently on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art through November 29. The exhibition explores the place of music and theater in the work of the artist, comparing the imagery of power associated with the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV, with a more optimistic and mildly subversive imagery of pleasure developed in contemporary opera-ballet and theater. Showing that the painter's utopian vision was influenced directly by these sister arts, it sheds light on a number of Watteau's pictures.

• Painting in Metropolitan Museum's Collection Reattributed to Spanish Master Velázquez

  Tuesday, September 8, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  (New York, September 9, 2009)—Thomas P. Campbell, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced today that a technical examination and cleaning of one of its paintings, formerly ascribed to the workshop of Velázquez, has revealed an autograph work by the great 17th-century Spanish master himself. Velázquez is among the most admired Old Master painters, and his work rarely enters the market. The rehabilitation of this picture thus represents a major "new" acquisition for the Museum, which possesses the finest collection of works by the master in America.

• Keith Christiansen to Chair European Paintings Department at Metropolitan Museum

  Monday, September 7, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  (New York, September 8, 2009)—Keith Christiansen, the Jayne Wrightsman Curator of European Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1989 and a member of the Museum's curatorial staff since 1977, has been elected John Pope-Hennessy Chairman of European Paintings, it was announced today by the Metropolitan Museum's Director, Thomas P. Campbell. He will replace Everett Fahy, who retired in June, effective immediately. The election took place at the September 8 meeting of the Board of Trustees.

• Director Thomas P. Campbell Announces New Senior Staff Appointments at Metropolitan Museum

  Monday, September 7, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  (New York, September 8, 2009)—Thomas P. Campbell, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, today announced four major senior staff appointments:

• Carrie Rebora Barratt Named Associate Director for Collections and Administration at Metropolitan Museum

  Monday, September 7, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  (New York, September 1, 2009)—Thomas P. Campbell, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced today that he has named Carrie Rebora Barratt to the position of Associate Director for Collections and Administration, effective immediately. She was formally elected by the Board of Trustees at their September 8 meeting. Most recently, she has been a Curator in the Metropolitan Museum's Department of American Paintings and Sculpture, and Manager of The Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art.

• Peggy Fogelman Elected to Lead Metropolitan Museum's Educational Programs and Initiatives

  Monday, September 7, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  (New York, September 8, 2009)—Thomas P. Campbell, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced today that Peggy Fogelman will join the Museum as the Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chairman of Education on October 26, 2009. Ms. Fogelman is currently Director of Education and Interpretation at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. She will succeed Kent Lydecker, who retired from the Museum in December. Ms. Fogelman was elected at the September 8 meeting of the Board of Trustees.

• Sheila R. Canby Elected to Head Metropolitan Museum's Department of Islamic Art

  Monday, September 7, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  New York, September 8, 2009)—Thomas P. Campbell, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced today that Sheila R. Canby will become the Patti Cadby Birch Curator in Charge of the Museum's Department of Islamic Art, effective October 26, 2009. Her election took place at the September 8 meeting of the Board of Trustees.

• Alejandro Santo Domingo Elected a Trustee at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

  Monday, September 7, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  (New York, September 8, 2009)—Alejandro Santo Domingo 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. Santo Domingo's election took place at the September 8 meeting of the Board.

• Musical Heritage of China Celebrated in Metropolitan Museum Exhibition Opening September 5

  Thursday, September 3, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present an exhibition celebrating the musical heritage of China – one of the oldest continuously documented traditions with roots reaching back more than 8,000 years – beginning September 5. Featuring some 60 objects and illustrations – drawn largely from the Museum's collections of Asian art and musical instruments – Silk and Bamboo: Music and Art of China will reveal the dynamic interplay of cultures, the continuity of musical practice, and the diversity of China's musical traditions from the fifth century B.C. to the present.

• Metropolitan Museum of Art Announces Recipients of 2009-2010 Fellowships for Research, Travel, and Study

  Monday, July 20, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art will host a group of 51 fellows, which consists of graduate students and scholars from the United States and around the world. The fellows will undertake study and research projects, either at the Museum or abroad, for periods ranging from three months to one year, most of them beginning in September 2009.

• SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS
  MAY 2009–APRIL 2010

  Tuesday, July 14, 2009, 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.

• Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Fund New Gallery for Persian Art at Metropolitan Museum

  Sunday, July 12, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  (New York, June 11, 2009)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that a new gallery dedicated to Safavid and Later Persian Art (1500-1924) has been designated the Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Gallery. It is one of a suite of exhibition spaces—the Galleries for the Arts of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia—that are overseen by the Museum's Department of Islamic Art and are scheduled to open in 2011. In addition to funding the gallery naming, Mr. and Mrs. Mossavar-Rahmani's significant grant will fund the publication of a catalogue on the entire collection of the Department of Islamic Art and an endowment to support educational programming on Iranian art – all part of the overall project of $50 million including capital and endowment.

• Metropolitan Museum Exhibition Features Work of Renowned 19th-Century American Sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens

  Tuesday, July 7, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907) was a French-Irish immigrant who became the greatest American sculptor of his day. From humble roots, through his prodigious talent, he rose in society, eventually counting some of America's most influential people in art and literature, diplomacy and economics, technology, and social policy among his friends and clients. The collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art contains nearly four dozen works by the accomplished artist, representing the entire range of his oeuvre, from early cameos to innovative bas-reliefs to character-penetrating portrait busts and statuettes derived from his public monuments. These unparalleled holdings will be supplemented with loans from private collections and public institutions in the exhibition Augustus Saint-Gaudens in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The presentation will address the artist's groundbreaking position in the history of late-19th-century American sculpture, his role in advancing American art on the international stage, and the long history of presenting and collecting his work at the Metropolitan Museum.

• Japanese Mandalas on View at Metropolitan Museum through November 29

  Sunday, June 28, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  An impressive group of Japanese mandalas—graphic depictions of the Buddhist universe and its myriad realms and deities—are featured in an exhibition on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art through November 29. Showcasing more than 60 magnificent works—painting, sculpture, drawing, metalwork, stoneware, textile, and lacquer—drawn from major museums and collections in the United States, Japanese Mandalas: Emanations and Avatars illustrates the exceptional and complex world of Esoteric Buddhist art in Japan. Highlights of the exhibition include a set of monumental 13th-century mandalas on loan from the Brooklyn Museum—this pair was selected by the Japanese government to be conserved in Japan. Displayed in tandem with iconographic drawings that explain the character and placement of the deities, the mandalas introduce viewers to the supreme Buddha Dainichi Nyorai, the principal buddha of Japanese Esoteric Buddhism, and his innumerable emanations and avatars across the Buddhist cosmos.

• New American Wing Galleries

  Wednesday, June 24, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  When The Charles Engelhard Court—the grand, light-filled pavilion that has long served as the formal entrance to The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing—reopens this spring after two years of construction and renovation, the Museum's unparalleled collections of American ceramics, sculpture, stained glass, architectural elements, silver, pewter, glass, and jewelry will finally be seen in all their glory. So, too, will its early American rooms—12 of the Met's historic interiors, mostly from the colonial period, located on three floors of the wing's historic core—that have been reordered, renovated, and reinterpreted. The popular American Wing Café will also reopen in its previous location on the park side of the court. The opening of the galleries marks the completion of the second part (begun in May 2007) of a project to reconfigure, renovate, or upgrade nearly every section of The American Wing by 2011.

• Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute Explores Role of Fashion Models as Muses of Recent Eras

  Monday, June 22, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion, the spring 2009 exhibition organized by The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, explores the reciprocal relationship between high fashion and evolving ideals of beauty, focusing on iconic fashion models in the latter half of the 20th century and their roles in projecting, and sometimes inspiring, the fashion of their respective eras. The exhibition is on view at the Metropolitan from May 6 through August 9, 2009.

• Rarely Seen Medieval Drawings on View in New Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum

  Tuesday, June 16, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  With strokes of genius, artists in the Middle Ages explored the medium of drawing, creating a rich panoply of works ranging from spontaneous sketches to powerful evocations of spirituality and intriguing images of science and the natural world. Opening June 2 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the Middle Ages is the first museum exhibition to examine in depth the achievements of the medieval draftsman. Through some 50 examples created in settings as diverse as a ninth-century monastery and the 14th-century French court, the presentation considers the aesthetics, uses, and techniques of medieval drawings, mastered by artists working centuries before the dawn of the Renaissance. Works from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum are displayed along with important loans from American and European museums, and the great national, university, and monastic libraries of Europe. Many of these manuscripts are so highly prized that they have never before been lent outside of their home countries.

• Michelangelo's First Painting

  Thursday, June 11, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  Michelangelo's First Painting, a special exhibition beginning June 16 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, presents The Torment of Saint Anthony, the first known painting by Michelangelo Buonarroti (Florence 1475- Rome 1564), believed to have been created when he was 12 or 13 years old. Recently acquired by the Kimbell Art Museum, the painting has undergone conservation and technical examination at the Metropolitan Museum. Michelangelo's First Painting will run through September 7, after which the panel will return to the Kimbell Art Museum for display as part of its permanent collection.

• Photography Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum Captures the Dramatic Transformation of Paris during the Rise and Fall of Napoleon III

  Thursday, June 4, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  During the reign of Emperor Napoleon III, the narrow streets and medieval buildings of Paris gave way to the broad boulevards and grand public works that still define the urban landscape of the French capital. Napoleon III and Paris, on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from June 9 through September 7, 2009, portrays the quickly changing cityscape of Second Empire Paris through a presentation of 40 photographs and 13 works in other media, all drawn from the permanent collection. Spanning the period from 1851 to 1871, the installation begins with a photographic introduction to Napoleon III and his family, then traces the radical transformation of the city under the emperor and his master urban planner Baron Haussmann, and concludes with depictions of the ruins of Paris in the aftermath of the Commune. Many of the works in the installation are by the preeminent photographers of the period, including Gustave Le Gray, Charles Marville, Edouard Baldus, Louis-Émile Durandelle, Alphonse Liébert, and Pierre-Ambrose Richebourg.

• New American Wing Galleries

  Monday, May 25, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  When The Charles Engelhard Court—the grand, light-filled pavilion that has long served as the formal entrance to The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Wing—reopens this spring after two years of construction and renovation, the Museum's unparalleled collections of American ceramics, sculpture, stained glass, architectural elements, silver, pewter, glass, and jewelry will finally be seen in all their glory. So, too, will its early American rooms—12 of the Met's historic interiors, mostly from the colonial period, located on three floors of the wing's historic core—that have been reordered, renovated, and reinterpreted. The popular American Wing Café will also reopen in its previous location on the park side of the court. The opening of the galleries marks the completion of the second part (begun in May 2007) of a project to reconfigure, renovate, or upgrade nearly every section of The American Wing by 2011.

• Roxy Paine Creates Monumental Sculpture for 2009 Installation of Metropolitan Museum's Roof Garden

  Monday, May 25, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  Conceptual artist Roxy Paine (American, b. 1966) has created a site-specific installation for the 2009 season of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, the most dramatic outdoor space for sculpture in New York City. Roxy Paine on the Roof: Maelstrom features a 130-foot-long by 45-foot-wide stainless-steel sculpture, Maelstrom (2009), that encompasses the nearly 8,000-square-foot Roof Garden, and is the largest sculpture to have been installed on the roof of the Metropolitan. Set against, and in dialogue with, the greensward of Central Park and its architectural backdrop, this swirling entanglement of stainless- steel pipe showcases the work of an artist keenly interested in the interplay between the natural world and the built environment, as well as the human desire for order amid nature's inherently chaotic processes.

• Afghanistan's Dazzling National Treasures—Hidden for 25 Years—Presented at Metropolitan Museum

  Monday, May 18, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  Ancient Afghanistan—located at the crossroads of major trade routes, where it attracted invading armies and nomadic migrations—was home to some of the most complex, rich, and original civilizations on the continent of Asia. Opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art this summer, the traveling exhibition Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul, celebrates the country's unique role, as both the recipient of diverse cultural elements and the creator of distinctive styles of art from the Bronze Age into the Kushan period. The presentation also commemorates the heroic rescue of Afghanistan's national treasures long thought to have been destroyed. The exhibition features a rich selection of artworks from four archaeological sites. All works belong to the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul. Highlights include gold vessels from the Bronze Age Tepe Fullol hoard; superb works and architectural elements from the Hellenistic city of Aï Khanum; sculptural masterpieces in ivory, plaster medallions, bronzes, and Roman glass from Begram; and extraordinary turquoise-encrusted gold jewelry and ornaments from the nomadic tombs at Tillya Tepe.

• Spectacular French Bronzes on View at Metropolitan Museum in Exhibition Spanning Renaissance and Age of Enlightenment

  Thursday, April 30, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  Beginning in the 16th century, a tradition of bronze sculpture developed in France that was influenced by achievements of the Italian Renaissance, while manifesting its own distinct refinement and force. Even though French bronzes were among the glories of royal châteaux, including Versailles, and were collected eagerly by connoisseurs, they have received relatively little scrutiny from scholars. Cast in Bronze: French Sculpture from Renaissance to Revolution, on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, brings together a large number of spectacular bronzes and is the first exhibition to address this subject in 40 years.

• Contemporary Artist Liza Lou's Continuous Mile on Display at Metropolitan Museum for Two Years

  Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  Liza Lou's recent work Continuous Mile, an ambitious and engaging large-scale sculpture made of gleaming white beads, went on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on January 23, 2009. The work is a two-year loan from the artist and is on display on the second floor of the Museum's Lila Acheson Wallace Wing for modern and contemporary art.

• Message from James R. Houghton, Chairman, Board of Trustees, The Metropolitan Museum of Art - February 2009

  Monday, April 27, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  (February 2009)—A special message from Board of Trustees Chairman James R. Houghton regarding the Museum's continued commitment to its mission during the ongoing global fiscal crisis: Message from James R. Houghton (PDF)

• Francis Bacon's Provocative Works Featured in Major Retrospective Opens May 20 at Metropolitan Museum

  Sunday, April 26, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  The first major New York exhibition in 20 years devoted to Francis Bacon (British, 1909–1992)—one of the most important painters of the 20th century—will be presented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from May 20 through August 16, 2009. Marking the 100th anniversary of the artist's birth, Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective will bring together the most significant works from each period of the artist's remarkable career. Drawn from public and private collections around the world, this landmark exhibition will consist of some 65 paintings, complemented by never-before-seen works and archival material from the Francis Bacon Estate, which will shed new light on the artist's career and working practices. The Metropolitan Museum is the sole U.S. venue of the exhibition tour.

• Esteemed Photographer Helen Levitt Honored with Endowment Fund and Promised Gift of Photographs to Metropolitan Museum

  Thursday, April 23, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  (New York—April 23, 2009) The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today a new endowment fund and promised gift of artwork in memory of the great American street photographer Helen Levitt, who died on March 29, 2009, at the age of 95. The Helen Levitt Memorial Fund has been established through a generous planned gift of the artist's sister-in-law, Mrs. Robert O. Levitt, and will support the Museum's acquisition of photographs by Helen Levitt and other mid-20th-century American photographers working in her tradition. Mrs. Robert O. Levitt has also made a promised gift to the Metropolitan Museum of 12 of the artist's photographs.

• Esteemed Photographer Helen Levitt Honored with Endowment Fund and Promised Gift of Photographs to Metropolitan Museum

  Thursday, April 23, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  (New York—April 23, 2009) The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today a new endowment fund and promised gift of artwork in memory of the great American street photographer Helen Levitt, who died on March 29, 2009, at the age of 95. The Helen Levitt Memorial Fund has been established through a generous planned gift of the artist's sister-in-law, Mrs. Robert O. Levitt, and will support the Museum's acquisition of photographs by Helen Levitt and other mid-20th-century American photographers working in her tradition. Mrs. Robert O. Levitt has also made a promised gift to the Metropolitan Museum of 12 of the artist's photographs.

• "Pictures Generation" of New York Contemporary Artists Featured in Spring Metropolitan Museum Exhibition

  Sunday, April 19, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  The first major museum exhibition to focus on the highly influential group of New York artists known as the "Pictures Generation" will be presented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from April 21 through August 2, 2009. The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984 will trace the development of one of the most important art movements of the last quarter of the 20th century, which included some of the key figures in contemporary art: Robert Longo, Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, Sherrie Levine, David Salle, Matt Mullican, Jack Goldstein, James Welling, and Troy Brauntuch. The "Pictures Generation" worked in all mediums—photography chief among them—to explore how images shape our perceptions of ourselves and the world. Drawing from the Museum's collection as well as from public and private collections, the exhibition will feature more than 160 works by 30 artists, including photographic works by Barbara Kruger, Laurie Simmons, James Casebere, Allan McCollum, Sarah Charlesworth, and Louise Lawler, and film and video by Ericka Beckman, Michael Smith, and Dara Birnbaum. The exhibition will also examine the pivotal roles played by lesser-known artists such as Paul McMahon and Michael Zwack.

• Performance, Video, Music, and Audio Features by Contemporary New York Artists Included in Metropolitan Museum's "Pictures Generation" Exhibition this Spring

  Monday, April 13, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984, on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from April 21 through August 2, 2009, will include performances, videos, and music by several contemporary New York artists, as well as related film screenings and audio features. This is the first major museum exhibition to focus exclusively on the highly influential group of artists known as the "Pictures Generation." Working most often in photography, but also in painting, sculpture, performance, film, video, and audio, this tightly knit group of artists explored how images shape our perceptions of ourselves and the world. Featured are 160 works by 30 artists, including Jack Goldstein, Robert Longo, Troy Brauntuch, Sherrie Levine, Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, David Salle, Matt Mullican, Louise Lawler, and Dara Birnbaum, among others. As part of the exhibition, three large-scale drawings by Robert Longo will also be presented in the Great Hall.

• Masterpieces of African and Oceanic Art from Barbier-Mueller Museum on View This Summer at Metropolitan Museum

  Tuesday, March 31, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  An exhibition featuring exceptional works of African and Oceanic sculpture selected from the extensive holdings of the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva, one of Europe's preeminent private collections of non-Western art, will go on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on June 2. Presenting more than 35 works—most never before seen in the United States—African and Oceanic Art from The Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva: A Legacy of Collecting will explore the wide spectrum of artistic creativity from two distinct regional traditions that have profoundly influenced world art.

• Credential Application Guidelines for Red Carpet Arrivals at the 2009 Costume Institute Gala

  Tuesday, March 31, 2009, 4:00 a.m.

  Applications must be received by Friday, April 24, from all media outlets wishing to be considered for accreditation to cover red-carpet arrivals at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala Benefit, which will be held on the evening of Monday, May 4, 2009, to inaugurate the exhibition The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion.

• International Loan Exhibition of Korean Art Opens at Metropolitan Museum on March 17

  Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 5:00 a.m.

  The early Joseon period, a time of extraordinary artistic achievements in Korea, will be explored in a loan exhibition opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in March 2009. Showcasing approximately 47 spectacular works—painting, ceramics, metalwork, and lacquer—Art of the Korean Renaissance, 1400-1600 will illustrate the lively and nuanced story of the formidable cultural renaissance that flourished during these two centuries. Drawn from major museums and collections in Korea, Japan, Germany, and the United States—including the National Museum of Korea; Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art; Kyushu National Museum of Japan; Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka; Museums of East Asian Art, Cologne; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Cleveland Museum of Art; Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation; and the Florence and Herbert Irving Collection—the exhibition will also include the Metropolitan's recently acquired mid-16th-century hanging scroll, Gathering of Government-officials. The presentation will launch a series of focused exhibitions on important periods in Korean art history, to be held at the Museum over the next 10 to 15 years.

• Metropolitan Museum Lectures in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

  Wednesday, February 18, 2009, 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 (including additional lectures that are free with Museum admission) are available. Tickets are also available at the Great Hall Box Office, which is open Tuesday–Thursday 10–5:00, Friday and Saturday 10–7:00, and Sunday noon–5:00. Student discount tickets are available for some events; call 212-570-3949.

• Metropolitan Museum's 2009 Series of "Met Holiday Mondays" to Continue with Presidents' Day, Feb. 16

  Sunday, February 8, 2009, 5:00 a.m.

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art continues its popular "Met Holiday Mondays" program by opening the doors of its main building to the public on Presidents' Day, February 16. (The next Met Holiday Monday will be Memorial Day, May 25.) Before the Met Holiday Mondays were initiated in 2003, the Museum was closed to the public every Monday for 30 years.

• Brilliant Chinese Paintings and Calligraphies of Ming Dynasty in New Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum

  Wednesday, January 21, 2009, 5:00 a.m.

  Drawn entirely from the extensive resources of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Arts of the Ming Dynasty: China's Age of Brilliance will present a grand array of artworks created during one of the most celebrated dynasties in Chinese history. Featuring 70 paintings and calligraphies, including masterpieces by Wang Fu (1362-1416), Xia Chang (1388-1470), Wen Zhengming (1470–1559), Dong Qichang (1555–1636), and Chen Hongshou (1599–1652), the exhibition will examine various artistic trends as well as the distinctive personal expressions of many of the leading artists of the time. The works will be complemented by more than 30 ceramics, textiles, lacquers, cloisonnés, jades, and bamboo carvings that will showcase the material prosperity experienced during the period.

• Promised Gift of American Ceramics Transforms Metropolitan Museum's Art Pottery Collection

  Wednesday, January 21, 2009, 5:00 a.m.

  (New York—January 13, 2009) The Metropolitan Museum of Art has accepted the promised gift of 250 exceptional examples of American art pottery from the collector Robert A. Ellison Jr., it was announced at a meeting of the Museum's Board of Trustees today. The collection—which spans the years 1876 through 1956 and represents all regions of the nation—ranks among the foremost of its kind, and will be unveiled on the mezzanine level of the Museum's Charles Engelhard Court when the second phase of the newly renovated American Wing opens on May 19, 2009.

• Metropolitan Museum's Summer Exhibitions J. M. W. Turner, Jeff Koons on the Roof, and Superheroes Generated $610 Million Economic Impact on New York

  Wednesday, January 21, 2009, 5:00 a.m.

  (New York, November 24, 2008) – The Metropolitan Museum's presentation of three acclaimed and widely attended exhibitions in the summer 2008 season—J. M. W. Turner, Jeff Koons on the Roof, and Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy—generated $610 million in spending by regional, national, and foreign tourists to New York, according to a visitor survey released today by the Museum. Using the industry standard for calculating tax revenue impact, the study found that the direct tax benefit to the City and State from out-of-town visitors to the Museum totaled some $61 million.

• Promised Gift of American Ceramics Transforms Metropolitan Museum's Art Pottery Collection

  Wednesday, January 21, 2009, 5:00 a.m.

  (New York—January 13, 2009) The Metropolitan Museum of Art has accepted the promised gift of 250 exceptional examples of American art pottery from the collector Robert A. Ellison Jr., it was announced at a meeting of the Museum's Board of Trustees today. The collection—which spans the years 1876 through 1956 and represents all regions of the nation—ranks among the foremost of its kind, and will be unveiled on the mezzanine level of the Museum's Charles Engelhard Court when the second phase of the newly renovated American Wing opens on May 19, 2009.

• Pierre Bonnard's Luminous Late Interiors Featured in Metropolitan Museum Exhibition Opening January 27

  Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 5:00 a.m.

  The first exhibition to focus entirely on the radiant late interiors and still-life paintings of Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947) will open January 27, 2009, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Pierre Bonnard: The Late Interiors features 80 paintings, drawings, and watercolors that date from 1923 to 1947, when Bonnard centered his painting activity in Le Cannet, a hill town in the south of France. Working in his modest house overlooking the Mediterranean, Bonnard's paintings transformed the rooms and objects that surrounded him into dazzling images infused with intense light. It is these luminous late interiors that define Bonnard's modernism and prompt a reappraisal of his reputation in the history of 20th-century art. Among the 45 paintings, 16 watercolors and gouaches, and 19 drawings and sketches in the exhibition are numerous rarely seen works from private collections, as well as loans from prominent museums in Europe and the U.S. The exhibition will also reunite several pictures that once hung side-by-side on Bonnard's studio wall in Le Cannet.

• Master Drawings from Collection of Jean Bonna On View at Metropolitan Museum

  Monday, January 19, 2009, 5:00 a.m.

  Raphael to Renoir: Drawings from the Collection of Jean Bonna is the first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to the European Old Master and 19th-century drawings from this distinguished Swiss collection. On view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning January 21, 2009, Raphael to Renoir provides a rare opportunity to see 120 master drawings, ranging across 500 years of the history of art, from the Renaissance to 1900. Representing a range of artistic schools, the selection includes works by famous artists—such as Carpaccio, Raphael, Andrea del Sarto, Parmigianino, Canaletto, Rembrandt, Claude Lorrain, Watteau, Chardin, Boucher, Fragonard, Goya, Ingres, Gericault, Delacroix, Manet, Burne-Jones, Whistler, Degas, Cézanne, Redon, Renoir, Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Seurat—as well as superb and poignant drawings by lesser-known artists.

• Walker Evans's Eclectic Picture Postcard Collection Featured in Metropolitan Museum Exhibition Opening February 3

  Monday, January 19, 2009, 5:00 a.m.

  Nine thousand picture postcards amassed by American photographer Walker Evans (1903–1975) are among the fascinating works in The Walker Evans Archive, acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1994. Walker Evans and the Picture Postcard, to be presented at the Museum from February 3 through May 25, 2009, will be a dynamic installation of hundreds of these postcards from Evans's collection, which he built and refined over the course of 60 years. The direct influence of the postcard on his pictorial style will be demonstrated with the inclusion of a small group of Evans's own photographs, also from the Museum's collection.

• Contemporary Artist Raqib Shaw's Fantastical Tableaux On View at Metropolitan Museum November 4

  Thursday, January 15, 2009, 5:00 a.m.

  Never-before-seen paintings and works on paper by London-based artist Raqib Shaw (Indian, born 1974) will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from November 4, 2008, through March 8, 2009.

• Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Elected a Trustee at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

  Tuesday, January 13, 2009, 5:00 a.m.

  (New York, January 13, 2009)—Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani 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. Mossavar-Rahmani's election took place at the January 13 meeting of the board.

• Metropolitan Museum's Collection Management Policy (Revised November 2008)

  Monday, January 5, 2009, 5:00 a.m.

  In June 2008 the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art accepted the Association of Art Museum Directors's June 4, 2008 Guidelines on the Acquisition of Archaeological Materials and Ancient Art, and on November 12, 2008, the Board of Trustees adopted a revised Collections Management Policy incorporating those guidelines.

• Vermeer's The Milkmaid on View in the United States for First Time in 70 Years in New Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum

  Saturday, January 3, 2009, 5:00 a.m.

  On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's historic voyage from the Netherlands to New York, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has sent The Milkmaid, perhaps the most admired painting by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer (1632—1675), to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. To celebrate this extraordinary loan, the Metropolitan Museum presents Vermeer's Masterpiece The Milkmaid, a special exhibition beginning September 10, which also includes all five paintings by Vermeer from its collection, as well as a select group of works by other Dutch artists, placing Vermeer's superb picture in its historical context. The exhibition marks the first time that the painting has traveled to the United States since it was exhibited at the 1939 World's Fair.

• Metropolitan Museum Celebrates the Holidays by Opening on "Holiday Monday" December 29

  Monday, December 22, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be open to the public on Monday, December 29 (the Monday between Christmas and New Year's Day), as part of the Museum's popular "Holiday Mondays" program. The Museum will open the doors of its main building this winter and spring on three additional major Monday holidays: January 19 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), February 16 (Presidents' Day), and May 25 (Memorial Day).

• METROPOLITAN MUSEUM LECTURES IN THE GRACE RAINEY ROGERS AUDITORIUM

  Tuesday, December 16, 2008, 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 (including additional lectures that are free with Museum admission) are available. Tickets are also available at the Great Hall Box Office, which is open Tuesday–Thursday 10–5:00, Friday and Saturday 10–7:00, and Sunday noon–5:00. Student discount tickets are available for some events; call 212-570-3949.

• Art of Second Millennium B.C. Explored in Landmark Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum

  Monday, December 15, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  Beginning around four thousand years ago in the lands of western Asia and the eastern Mediterranean, one of the first international ages in human history emerged. Intense exchange fostered a burst of creativity in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia, the Levant, and the Aegean in the second millennium B.C.—the time of the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. The quest for raw materials such as metals, semiprecious stones, and other exotic luxury goods led to contacts with the Iranian plateau and Central Asia. Within this lively sphere of interaction, societies that otherwise differed strongly in culture and language were linked by the exchange of objects and ideas. In response, new international styles and imagery arose, reflected in the art, trade and diplomacy that connected the Mesopotamian heartland with the regions "Beyond Babylon."

• Brooklyn Museum Announces Landmark Costume Collection Partnership with Metropolitan Museum

  Monday, December 15, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  (New York, December 16, 2008)—The Brooklyn Museum announced today a landmark collection-sharing partnership with The Metropolitan Museum of Art. http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/press/ (PDF)

• 뉴욕 메트로폴리탄 박물관과 문화체육관광부 MOU 체결 통해 장기 협력 체계 구축 -메트로폴리탄 한국 미술 연구를 위한 지원-

  Wednesday, December 10, 2008, 7:12 p.m.

• Rich Legacy of African Textiles on View in Metropolitan Museum Exhibition

  Thursday, December 4, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  Africa's extraordinary legacy of textile arts, with its explosive color and complex graphic statements, will be presented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning September 30. Bringing together more than 40 works dating from the early 19th century to the present – including a spectacular silk and cotton kente prestige cloth woven in Ghana during the 19th century and a 30-foot-long installation work by contemporary artist Yinka Shonibare – The Essential Art of African Textiles: Design Without End will highlight the enduring significance of textiles as a major form of aesthetic expression across the continent. While examining some of the finest and earliest preserved examples of different regional textile traditions, the exhibition will relate these to works by eight contemporary artists, who draw inspiration from textiles in their explorations of other media ranging from sculpture, painting, and photography to video and installation art. Works selected for the exhibition are drawn primarily from the collections of the Metropolitan and the British Museum as well as several private collections in the U.S. and Europe.

• Calder's Inventive Jewelry Featured in Metropolitan Museum Exhibition Opening December 9

  Thursday, December 4, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  American-born artist Alexander Calder (1898–1976) is celebrated for his mobiles, stabiles, paintings, and objets d'art. The landmark exhibition Calder Jewelry—to be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from December 9, 2008, through March 1, 2009—is the first museum presentation dedicated solely to his extensive output of inventive jewelry. During his lifetime, Calder produced approximately 1,800 unique pieces of brass, silver, and gold body ornaments, often embellished with found objects such as beach glass, ceramic shards, and wood. Calder Jewelry will feature approximately 90 works—necklaces, bracelets, earrings, brooches, and tiaras—many of which were made as personal gifts for the artist's family and friends.

• 伟大之旅：亚洲将在大都会博物馆亚洲艺术展区揭幕

  Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 10:43 p.m.

• Sumptuous Italian Renaissance Works Celebrating Art and Love in New Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum

  Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  "It is unbelievable how much is spent on these new weddings…."

• Modern Master Giorgio Morandi Featured in Retrospective Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum

  Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  "Nothing is more abstract than reality."
  -Giorgio Morandi, 1955

• Jewel-like Paintings from Medieval Italian Choir Books on View at Metropolitan Museum of Art

  Monday, November 17, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  "We mingle our praises with those of God's angels, whom we cannot hear."
  Cassiodorus (sixth-century Roman scholar and monk)

• SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS SEPTEMBER 2008 - AUGUST 2009

  Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 5:00 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.

• Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche on Display for Holiday Season at Metropolitan Museum

  Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 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 25, 2008 through January 6, 2009. 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.

• David H. Koch Elected a Trustee at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

  Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  (New York, November 13, 2008)—David H. Koch 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. Koch's election took place at the November 12 meeting of the Board.

• Medieval Europe Celebrated in Northern Manhattan in November

  Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  For the month of November, two unique institutions located in northern Manhattan's historic Fort Tryon Park—The Cloisters museum and gardens and the New Leaf Restaurant & Bar—will join together in an innovative partnership to offer a "total medieval experience" that starts with a museum visit in the afternoon and ends with dinner or begins with lunch at the New Leaf and follows with a tour of The Cloisters. The Cloisters, a branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, is the only museum in the United States devoted to the art and architecture of the Middle Ages. The New Leaf, a venture of Bette Midler's New York Restoration Project (NYRP), features seasonal specialties made from locally grown ingredients.

• Metropolitan Museum to Reopen Galleries for Byzantine Art and the Art of Medieval Europe

  Tuesday, November 11, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  Some 900 outstanding examples of medieval art created between the fourth and 14th centuries return to view this fall in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's newly expanded Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries for Byzantine Art and new Gallery for Western European Art from 1050 to 1300. The new galleries incorporate the recently acquired "Jaharis Byzantine Lectionary"—an important, rare, and beautifully ornamented liturgical manuscript from about 1100—in an apse-like space, while the former Medieval Tapestry Hall has been transformed into a grand space for the presentation of western European art from the early Middle Ages.

• Metropolitan Museum Audio Guide Introduces Costume: The Art of Dress Narrated by Sarah Jessica Parker

  Thursday, November 6, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  Audio Tour Organized by The Costume Institute Highlights Historical Fashion Depicted in the Met's Collections

• Contemporary Photographs Explore Truth and Illusion in Reality Check at Metropolitan Museum

  Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  More than any other type of picture, photographs seem to have a direct and natural connection to visible reality. Reality Check: Truth and Illusion in Contemporary Photography surveys the ways in which artists exploit illusionism in photography to blur the distinction between what is real and what is not. Among the works featured are photographs of staged scenarios and constructed environments that appear to be real, as well as real scenes or landscapes that appear strangely artificial. On view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from November 4, 2008, through March 22, 2009, Reality Check is the third installation in the Joyce and Robert Menschel Hall for Modern Photography, the Museum's new gallery for contemporary photographs.

• Curators Pay Tribute to Outgoing Director with Exhibition The Philippe de Montebello Years

  Sunday, October 19, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  To celebrate Philippe de Montebello's 31 years as Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the curators of the Museum have organized an exhibition of approximately 300 of the more than 84,000 works of art acquired during his tenure. This unique project – The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions, which will be on view in The Tisch Galleries from October 24, 2008, through February 1, 2009 – is a collaboration of the curators currently working in the Museum's 17 curatorial departments. Special emphasis will be placed on works that were transformative to the Metropolitan Museum's collections by building on existing strengths and expanding into new areas of collecting. Mr. de Montebello – the eighth and longest-serving Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art – announced in January his plans to retire at the end of the year.

• El Metropolitan Museum Realizará Exhibición de Maquetas Arquitectónicas Precolombinas con Piezas Únicas de Latinoamérica

  Monday, October 6, 2008, 1:15 p.m.

• Photographs by Samoan Multimedia Artist On View at Metropolitan Museum This Fall

  Monday, October 6, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  Sixteen photographs by contemporary artist Shigeyuki Kihara (b. 1975, Samoa) will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning October 7. This marks the first presentation of Samoan contemporary art at the Museum. Shigeyuki Kihara: Living Photographs explores themes of Pacific culture, identity, colonialism, indigenous spirituality, stereotypes, gender roles, and consumerism. Works on view include a hauntingly beautiful picture from the artist's 2004 Vavau series called Taema ma Tilafaiga: Goddess of Tatau, depicting Samoan goddesses chanting about the art of tattooing, as well as a highly praised work titled Fa'a fafine: In a Manner of a Woman, Triptych 1-3, a sequence of photographs, in which the artist re-create and addresses a Samoan portrait genre, in which women were posed as reclining "South Seas Belles." All works on view were printed this year by the artist in Auckland, New Zealand, except two from the Metropolitan's own collection. Complementing the exhibition will be a performance by the artist, Taualuga: The Last Dance, in the Museum's Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium on October 19.

• 大都會博物館秋季展出中國名畫家王翬的山水畫

  Sunday, October 5, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  中國十七世紀下半最著名的藝術家王翬的繪畫九月九日開始，將在大都會博物館展出。《山水清暉：王翬（1632-1717）藝術展》闡述王翬的藝術發展歷程，從早年對傳統山水畫風的精湛詮釋，至1689年獲選繪製康熙皇帝南巡中國文化區行程，事業臻於巔峰爲止。展出的二十七幅畫來自臺北、北京、上海、和北美洲的幾個公私收藏，其中十一件作品—包括兩件山水長卷巨幅—從來沒有在西方展出過。配合王翬作品展出的，還有精選的早期山水畫，大都來自大都會博物館的館藏，以彰顯王翬藝術的淵源。

• Costume Institute Collection Database Available on Metropolitan Museum Website

  Wednesday, October 1, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  Information on More than 29,000 Objects in Preeminent Costume Collection Available Online

• Endowment Ensures Continuation and Growth of Met Museum's Online Timeline of Art History

  Tuesday, September 30, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  A generous grant from the family of Harriet and Robert Heilbrunn, through New Tamarind Foundation and Zodiac Fund, will ensure the further growth and development of the Timeline of Art History, a major, evolving feature of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's website. This landmark gift is the first endowment to be dedicated to support of an online resource at the Metropolitan Museum. The Timeline, which can be found on the Museum's website at www.metmuseum.org/toah and which has more than 30,000 visitors daily, is a chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of the history of art from around the world, illustrated principally by the Metropolitan Museum's encyclopedic collection.

• Elyse Topalian Elected Vice President for Communications

  Monday, September 22, 2008, 5:14 p.m.

• Dynamic Exhibition of Modern British Prints on View at Metropolitan Museum

  Sunday, September 21, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  Rhythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914-1939, the first major exhibition in the United States to examine the impact of modern artistic movements – especially Italian Futurism – on British printmaking from the outbreak of World War I to the beginning of World War II, will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning September 23, 2008. Featuring the work of 14 artists, Rhythms of Modern Life will showcase more than 100 prime examples of graphic works that celebrate the vitality and dynamism of modern life.

• Classic 1930s Street Photographs of New York City on View at Metropolitan Museum September 23

  Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  In the late 1930s, Rudy Burckhardt—then a recent émigré to America from Switzerland—photographed his adopted hometown of New York City, and immediately made some of the most lyrical, witty, and poetic images of the city ever created. New York, N. Why?: Photographs by Rudy Burckhardt, 1937–1940, opening September 23 at the Metropolitan Museum, will present in its entirety Burckhardt's unique, handmade album of 67 classic images of sidewalks, outdoor advertising, and pedestrians, selected and sequenced by Burckhardt in 1940 and acquired by the Museum in 1972.

• Contemporary Works by African-American Artists Featured in Provocative Visions Installation

  Monday, September 15, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  Thirteen works by seven contemporary African-American artists – Chakaia Booker, Willie Cole, Glenn Ligon, Whitfield Lovell, Alison Saar, Lorna Simpson, and Kara Walker – are featured at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Provocative Visions: Race and Identity – Selections from the Permanent Collection. The installation, which opened August 19, examines the ways these artists challenge accepted perceptions and assumptions about race, gender, and identity. Cultural heritage and personal history provide a context for these images. All of the sculptures, prints, and drawings were acquired during the past 13 years, within a year or two of their creation – supported in large part by gifts from the Peter Norton Family Foundation and the Hortense and William A. Mohr Sculpture Purchase Fund. Most works are on display at the Metropolitan Museum for the first time.

• Exquisite 19th Century Porcelain from Europe's Most Renowned Factories on View at Metropolitan Museum

  Thursday, September 11, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  The porcelain factories of Berlin, Sèvres, and Vienna achieved a remarkable level of artistic and technical skill in the first half of the 19th century, and the quality of painted decoration practiced at these three factories at this time has never been surpassed. Approximately 75 extraordinary examples from these three European porcelain manufactories will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning September 16, 2008, in the exhibition Royal Porcelain from the Twinight Collection, 1800-1850. The exhibition will illustrate the exchange of ideas and styles among the factories that resulted in some of the most splendid porcelain ever produced.

• Thomas P. Campbell Named Next Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

  Wednesday, September 10, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  (New York, September 9, 2008)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that Thomas P. Campbell – an accomplished curator with a specialty in European tapestry who has worked at the Museum since 1995 – has been elected its next Director and CEO, succeeding Philippe de Montebello, who announced in January his intention to retire from the Metropolitan Museum at the end of this year. Mr. Campbell, who organized the groundbreaking and widely acclaimed exhibitions Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence (2002) and Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor (2007), is currently Curator in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts as well as Supervising Curator of the Museum's Antonio Ratti Textile Center. He was elected at today's meeting of the Board of Trustees and will assume the directorship of the Metropolitan Museum on January 1, 2009.

• Metropolitan Museum Concerts 2008-2009 Season Opens with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Joined by Metropolitan Museum Director Philippe De Montebello and Pianists Orion Weiss and Inon Barnatan Performing Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals

  Monday, September 8, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  To mark both the opening of the 55th anniversary season of the Metropolitan Museum Concerts series and Philippe de Montebello's valedictory year as Metropolitan Museum Director, the Museum will present a concert by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra that features a performance of Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals with Philippe de Montebello reading the Ogden Nash verses as narrator, and pianists Orion Weiss and Inon Barnatan as soloists. Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 10 for Strings in B Minor; and Mozart's Symphony No. 29 in A Major, K. 201, complete the program, which takes place in the Museum's Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium.

• Metropolitan Museum Concerts in October 2008

  Monday, September 8, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  The Season's PianoForte Series Launches with Rafal Blechacz and Marc-André Hamelin, Itzhak Perlman and the Perlman Music Program Continue Into a Second Concert Season, Menahem Pressler and Richard Stoltzman Perform Together, Lesley Gore Makes Her Metropolitan Museum Debut, Music from Mali, Spain, and Turkey Takes the Stage, and James Conlon Talks About the Life of a Conductor

• Landscapes by Revered Chinese Painter Wang Hui in Fall Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum

  Monday, August 18, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  The paintings of Wang Hui, the most celebrated artist of late 17th-century China, will be featured in an exhibition opening on September 9 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Landscapes Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui (1632-1717) will trace Wang's artistic development – from his early years as a brilliant reinterpreter of classic landscape styles to the pinnacle of his career, when he was chosen to illustrate the Kangxi Emperor's epic 1689 inspection tour of China's cultural heartland – through 27 paintings drawn from the Taipei and Beijing Palace Museums, Shanghai Museum, and several North American collections. The presentation of Wang Hui's career will incorporate 11 works that have never before been exhibited in the West, including two enormous panoramic landscape handscrolls. Wang's paintings will be complemented by a selection of earlier landscapes, drawn largely from the Metropolitan Museum's holdings, that will highlight the sources of Wang Hui's inspiration.

• Metropolitan Museum Announces Recipients of 2008—2009 Fellowships for Research, Travel, and Study

  Wednesday, August 13, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art will host a group of 50 fellows, who consist of graduate students and scholars from the United States and around the world. The fellows will undertake study and research projects, either at the Metropolitan Museum or abroad, for periods ranging from two months to one year, most of them beginning in September 2008.

• Metropolitan Museum to Open on Labor Day "Met Holiday Monday"

  Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  Galleries, shops, and dining areas at The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be open to the public on September 1 (Labor Day), the next "Met Holiday Monday." This special viewing day is also the last chance for visitors to see two popular exhibitions: Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy, which has already had more than 400,000 visitors since it opened on May 7, and Radiance from the Rain Forest: Featherwork in Ancient Peru.

• Metropolitan Museum Acquires Lucas van Leyden Drawing

  Wednesday, July 23, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  (New York, July 24, 2008)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art has acquired a drawing of the Archangel Gabriel announcing the birth of Christ by the Netherlandish master Lucas van Leyden (Leyden ca. 1494 – 1533 Leyden), it was announced today. The drawing, dating to the 1520s, enters the Museum's collection through the combination of a promised gift by Leon D. and Debra R. Black and purchase by the Museum. It is now the only drawing by the artist in America.

• Buddhist Manuscript Paintings on View at Metropolitan Museum This Summer

  Thursday, July 17, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  An installation of 30 palm-leaf folios from Indian illuminated manuscripts will open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on July 29, 2008. Featuring some of the earliest surviving Indian manuscripts, dating from the 10th to the 13th century, Early Buddhist Manuscript Painting: The Palm-leaf Tradition will center on one remarkable Mahayanist Buddhist text, the Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra ('Perfection of Wisdom'), illustrated through the Museum's rare holdings of eastern Indian and Nepalese illuminated palm-leaf manuscripts, book-covers, initiation cards, thankas, and sculptures.

• Nan Rosenthal Retires and Marla Prather Joins Modern Art Department at Metropolitan Museum

  Wednesday, July 9, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  (New York, July 10, 2008)—After 15 years as Senior Consultant for modern and contemporary art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nan Rosenthal will retire on July 1, it was announced today by Gary Tinterow, Engelhard Curator in Charge of the Department of Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art at the Metropolitan.

• Metropolitan Museum of Art Announces 2008-2009 Season of Concerts

  Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  The 55th Season Opens With Philippe de Montebello Narrating Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Includes the Return of Itzhak Perlman and the Perlman Music Program; Ten Pianists Including Till Fellner Launching a Beethoven Sonata Cycle; the Complete Beethoven String Quartets; the Farewell Season of the Guarneri String Quartet; Patti Smith, Richie Havens, and Lesley Gore; and Music from Mali, Mexico, Spain, and Turkey

• Luxury Objects of Carved and Inlaid Semiprecious Stones to be Displayed at Metropolitan Museum

  Monday, June 30, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  The Italian term pietre dure – literally meaning "hard stones" – refers to the artistic cutting of semiprecious stones, such as agate, lapis lazuli, and other colorful hardstones, to fashion extravagant luxury objects, from architectural ornament and furniture to ornate display items and personal jewelry. Opening July 1 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the landmark exhibition Art of the Royal Court: Treasures in Pietre Dure from the Palaces of Europe will feature more than 170 masterpieces in carved stone, many of them embellished with gold and silver mounts or decorated with exotic woods and other coveted materials. From the Renaissance to the early 19th century, the affluent societies of Europe were mesmerized by works in pietre dure, both as diplomatic gifts and as objects of desire. The presentation at the Metropolitan will offer the most comprehensive overview ever dedicated to this magnificent medium.

• Statement by The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Accident Involving Italian Terracotta Relief Sculpture by Della Robbia

  Monday, June 30, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  (NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JULY 1, 2008)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art is saddened to report that late last night or early this morning, a late 15th-century glazed terracotta relief sculpture of Saint Michael the Archangel by Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525), came loose from metal mounts that have long held the framed lunette securely to the wall above a doorway in its European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Galleries. The 62-x-32-inch relief, which has been on view in its current location since 1996, fell to a stone floor and suffered some damage. Preliminary inspection indicates that the relief has not been irrevocably harmed and that it can be repaired and again presented to the public.

• Major Retrospective of British Artist J. M. W. Turner Opens at Metropolitan Museum on July 1

  Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  The first major retrospective of the work of celebrated British artist J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) to be presented in the United States in more than 40 years will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning July 1, 2008. The exhibition J. M. W. Turner will represent the artist's extensive iconographic range, from seascapes and topographical views to historical subjects and scenes from his imagination. More than half of the approximately 140 paintings and watercolors on view will be on loan from Tate Britain, which houses the Turner Bequest, the most comprehensive collection of the artist's work in the world. These will be complemented by works from other collections in Europe and North America.

• Metropolitan Museum Corporate Benefit Breaks Fundraising Record

  Monday, June 23, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  In recognition of his outstanding leadership in support of the arts and community enrichment, Kenneth D. Lewis, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Bank of America Corporation, was honored at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2008 Corporate Benefit on Monday, June 23.

• Metropolitan Museum Explores Relationship of Art and Science during First Annual World Science Festival

  Tuesday, May 27, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  A variety of special programs – including lectures, gallery tours, family activities, and the inauguration of a new Audio Guide program – focusing on art and science will take place at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from May 28 through June 1 as part of New York City's first annual World Science Festival.

• Highlights of Metropolitan Museum's American Art Collection Remain on View During American Wing Construction Project

  Monday, May 26, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  Many of the best-known and most beloved works from the Metropolitan Museum's preeminent collection of American art will remain on view in various locations throughout the Museum for the duration of a four-year construction project – scheduled for completion in winter 2010-11. The project will reconfigure, renovate, or upgrade nearly every section of The American Wing. A major goal of the plan is to improve public access to, and visitor flow within, The American Wing's galleries.

• Hindu God Krishna Celebrated in New Installation at Metropolitan Museum

  Thursday, May 22, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  A new installation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Krishna: Mythology and Worship – celebrates the Hindu god Krishna, perhaps the most popular of all the appearances (avatars) of the Indian Hindu deity Vishnu. The installation of 23 painting, textiles, and sculptures from the Museum's collection will be on view in the Museum's Florence and Herbert Irving Galleries for the Arts of South and Southeast Asia through July 28, 2008. Most of the paintings on display are manuscript pages produced in Rajasthan and the Punjab Hills, illustrating popular events from Krishna's life. The textiles were employed to enhance shrines devoted to Krishna.

• American Landscapes

  Sunday, May 18, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  Landscape painting in America reached its high point in the mid-19th century, peaking around the time of the Civil War. Nine important American landscape paintings, ranging in date from 1836 to about 1897, will be on view beginning May 20, 2008, in the Museum's Robert Lehman Wing, while The Metropolitan Museum of Art's American Paintings and Sculpture Galleries undergo renovation. The paintings will return to view in the American Wing when its galleries reopen in winter 2010-11.

• Bonnie J. Sacerdote Elected Trustee at Metropolitan Museum

  Monday, May 12, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  Bonnie J. Sacerdote has been elected to the Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was announced by James R. Houghton, the Museum's Chairman. The election took place at the May 13 meeting of the Board.

• Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute Salutes Power of "Superheroes" Imagery in Fashion

  Wednesday, April 30, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  AsAs superheroes enjoy a surge in mass popularity, The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art explores the symbolic and metaphorical associations between these fictional characters and fashion in Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy, an exhibition at the Museum from May 7 through September 1, 2008. The exhibition features approximately 60 ensembles including movie costumes, avant-garde haute couture, and high-performance sportswear to reveal how the superhero serves as the ultimate metaphor for fashion and its ability to empower and transform the human body.

• Monumental Khatchkar (Stone Cross) – the First on Display in a U.S. Museum – on Special Loan to Metropolitan Museum from Republic of Armenia

  Tuesday, April 29, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  A monumental 12th-century Khatchkar, – a 2,000-pound, nearly 8-foot-tall block of basalt, carved on its surface with symbols of the four evangelists, a massive cross, small birds at fountains, and surrounding patterns of interlacing – is now on display in the Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries for Byzantine art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is on special long-term loan from the State History Museum of Armenia in Yerevan.

• Das Metropolitan Museum of Art bietet seinen deutsch-sprachigen Besuchern eine Reihe von Annehmlichkeiten (German)

  Monday, April 28, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  Audio guides, Museumspläne und Führungen durch Gallerien sind einige der Annehmlichkeiten, die das Metropolitan Museum für seine deutschsprachigen Besucher bereitstellt.