The Story of MetCollects: How New Acquisitions Debut at The Met

A few highlights from the fifty episodes published since MetCollects launched in 2014

«MetCollects is an online series that celebrates works of art new to the Museum's collection. Each episode debuts a new acquisition, looking at the object or artwork through the fresh eyes of photographers and the enthusiastic voices of The Met's curators, leading scholars, and artists.

The monthly series launched in 2014 and published its fiftieth episode this month. In light of this milestone, we decided to take a look back at the feature's beginning, and a look ahead to the coming year. We've also highlighted a few of our favorite episodes.»

Looking Back

Every month since January 2014, MetCollects has unfurled the red carpet to welcome a new acquisition to The Met collection, inviting the public to get the "First Look." Each episode marks the beginning of the admiration, appreciation, and investigation these works of art will be treated to by future researchers and visitors to the Museum.

While The Met has acquired many works of art over the last four years, the fifty works selected by the Director's Office so far were chosen for their artistic range and for their power to transform the kind of stories the Museum tells.

Many of these works have emerged from private collections, so when they arrive at the Museum, they don't yet have any online presence or documentation. The idea behind MetCollects was to provide more than just a monolithic, textbook-ready image of each work. We wanted to convey a sense of both scale and detail, giving the viewer an experience much like that of visiting the object in the galleries, where they can linger over it, walk around it, lean in close.

The first slide of Episode 6 / 2016, showing Peter Zeray's set for photographing Simon Bening's Book of Hours

MetCollects calls upon the talent of the photographers in The Met's Imaging Department, assigning each episode to a different photographer so that the series offers different perspectives. Every photographic essay contains twenty-six different images, giving visitors a chance to see the works through the photographers' eyes, a view more dramatic and intimate than a gallery visit might allow. And each episode opens with a behind-the-scenes view of the photographer's studio to emphasize the effort that goes into each shoot.

The photographs are accompanied by a brief text by the curator that harnesses his or her excitement and shares it with the public. Some curators have written about how they discovered the work, some about the hunt, and others about the scholarly influence they anticipate the work will have in its new context.

Sometimes objects have a more in-depth story best told in conversation with a curator, conservator, artist, collector, or an outside scholar. In these cases, we produce a three-minute video to accompany the photographic essay. We came up with the idea of starting every video with a question—not a question to be answered didactically within the video, but a question to frame the work of art in a thought-provoking way: What does time look like? Can art be too real? What does it take to revive a masterwork? How does an outsider get in?

These questions are open-ended, reflecting the unlimited connections and conversations the acquisitions will inspire in their new home.

The Fiftieth Episode

MetCollects' goal is to represent new acquisitions from all seventeen curatorial departments at the Museum, and we're almost there.

Episode 1 / 2018

In January we launched the first-ever episode on a remarkable acquisition of The Costume Institute, Ensemble by Viktor and Rolf. Photographer Anna-Marie Kellen employs dramatic lighting to play with the whimsical nature of the ensemble, producing a photo essay that brings out the playful and Surrealist aspects of the work.

This month we are celebrating the fiftieth episode of MetCollects. Focusing on a masterpiece of Tibetan painting, Episode 2/2018: Chakrasamvara and consort Vajravarahi coincides with Asia Week New York, which takes place in New York City from March 15 to March 24 and includes an array of exhibitions and special events at The Met Fifth Avenue.

Top: Episode 2/2018: Chakrasamvara and consort Vajravarahi. Bottom: "Chakrasamvara and consort Vajravarahi," details

The fiftieth episode demonstrates the brilliant use of photography to examine an object up close. Hyla Skopitz's stunning photographs of Chakrasamvara and consort Vajravarahi reveal extraordinary details, such as a foot crushing a demon and a necklace of tiny skulls. These elements are difficult to see even when you are standing in front of the object, now on view at The Met Fifth Avenue in gallery 253.

The acquisition of Chakrasamvara and consort Vajravarahi demonstrates the transformative impact that gifts and acquisitions can have on The Met collection.

This painting is one of nineteen works of Nepalese and Tibetan art that The Met has received from the Zimmerman Family Collection through both purchases and generous gifts. John Guy, Florence and Herbert Irving Curator of the Arts of South and Southeast Asia in the Department of Asian Art, explains that these offerings have "radically transformed our already important holdings of Tibetan and Nepalese art, helping us to build bridges between our Himalayan holdings and the arts of India and China. They have elevated The Met's collection of Himalayan art to a place of world leadership."

Zimmerman Family Collection acquisitions are highlighted in the exhibition Crowns of the Vajra Masters: Ritual Art of Nepal, currently on view in gallery 251.

Coming Up

Looking ahead, MetCollects plans to highlight a wide range of artworks: a Max Beckmann painting with a mysterious subject (Modern and Contemporary Art), an elaborate gilded coffin lid (Egyptian Art), a gift of a collection of Native American masterworks (The American Wing), and a rare Spanish Hebrew Bible (Medieval Art). And that's just the beginning, as the Museum looks ahead to celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2020.

Sign up to receive a monthly email when each new episode is launched. (Sign up for The Met newsletter at the bottom right of this page. When you receive the confirmation email, click "Set your email preferences." This will bring you to a page where you can check the box for MetCollects.)

MetCollects is made possible through the continued generous support of Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Dana's Picks

Episode 12 / 2014: Électricité by Man Ray

This episode offers an opportunity to view an unusual artist portfolio not on display in our galleries. This dynamic assemblage of ten rayographs by Man Ray was commissioned by a private power company. Hyla Skopitz's photographs of the album include details of the cover, endpapers, stamps, and signature. The essay, by Jeff L. Rosenheim, curator in charge of the Department of Photographs, reveals the fascinating story behind this extraordinary album.

Sarah's Picks

Episode 11 / 2016: "How does an outsider get in?" Kerry James Marshall on his painting Untitled (Studio)

In this episode, we were lucky to interview artist Kerry James Marshall. We met him in the Old Masters area of the European Paintings galleries, where he spoke about what it means to be an African-American artist in the history of painting and the significance of getting black figures onto the walls of The Met.

Episode 9 / 2014: "Can a work of art have a second life?" Thomas Hart Benton's Mural America Today Comes to The Met

This was a rare opportunity to make a more in-depth video on the occasion of an exhibition in the American Wing that was built around this new acquisition. Three curators in Modern and Contemporary Art and the American Wing, along with former director Thomas P. Campbell, discuss the particularly New York history of the mural and how it finally got to The Met.

MetCollects is made possible through the continued generous support of Bloomberg Philanthropies.