SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS JANUARY-APRIL 2003

African-American Artists, 1929–1945:
Prints, Drawings, and Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
January 15–May 4, 2003

More than 80 works by African-American artists—drawn exclusively from the collection of the Metropolitan—include prints by Robert Blackburn, Elizabeth Catlett, William H. Johnson, Raymond Steth, and Dox Thrash, among others, as well as paintings and watercolors by Jacob Lawrence, Joseph Delaney, Lois Mailou Jones, Horace Pippin, Romare Bearden, Samuel Joseph Brown, Palmer Hayden, and Bill Traylor. Focusing on the years 1929–45, the selection reflects aspects of daily life for African Americans during the latter part of the Harlem Renaissance, the Depression and New Deal era, and World War II.

The Metropolitan Museum is collaborating on related educational programs with The Studio Museum in Harlem, which is simultaneously mounting an exhibition titled Challenge of the Modern: African-American Artists 1925–1945, on view from January 23 to March 30.

The exhibition is made possible by The Fletcher Foundation and Fletcher Asset Management, Inc.

Additional support has been provided by Jane and Robert Carroll.

Accompanied by a catalogue.

Chinese Export Porcelain at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
January 14–July 13, 2003

On display in The Erving and Joyce Wolf Gallery in The American Wing are 80 works from the Museum's important collection of Chinese porcelain made for export to both Europe and America. The selection of objects, dating from the early 16th century to the last quarter of the 19th century, includes bowls and vases, services and tureens, reverse glass paintings, and works in ivory.

The exhibition and its accompanying publication are made possible by

Mary and Marvin Davidson.

The first comprehensive survey of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings ever presented in America, this international loan exhibition brings together nearly 120 works of extraordinary beauty by one of the great masters of all time. Even in an era of boundless scientific discovery and technological invention, and of sublime artistic and humanistic achievement, Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) stands as a supreme icon in Western consciousness—the very embodiment of the universal Renaissance genius. The exhibition surveys Leonardo's staggering contribution as an artist, scientist, theorist, and teacher. Gathered from private and public collections in Europe and North America, the selection of drawings includes rarely exhibited works and illustrates a great variety of drawing types. The exhibition also integrates a small group of drawings by artists critical to Leonardo's formation in Florence and to his multifaceted activity in Milan, in an attempt to offer a unified view of the great master's legacy.

The exhibition is made possible by Morgan Stanley.
Additional support has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.
An indemnity has been granted by the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
The exhibition catalogue is made possible by The Drue E. Heinz Fund.
Press preview: Tuesday, January 21, 10:00 a.m.–noon

This major retrospective features 70 stunning photographs by one of today's leading contemporary artists, whose body of work is of truly global reach and ambition. Ranging from early black-and-white views of city streets in the United States and Europe to recent, large-scale views of primeval jungles and forests in Asia and South America, Struth's photographs show the actual condition of our world's cultures and traditions on the cusp of a new millennium. The exhibition highlights his celebrated "Museum" series—monumental pictures of people visiting museums, churches, and other cultural destinations around the world that reconcile the timeless and the ephemeral, the real and the spiritual ideal. Also included are his mesmerizing individual and family portraits, landscapes, and rapturous flower studies. Accompanying the exhibition is a spectacular projection of Struth's one-hour video portraits in the Museum's Great Hall, constituting the first time the work of a living artist has been shown in the monumental space.

Complementing this exhibition is a related display of works (in The Howard Gilman Gallery) entitled Thomas Struth: Streets that presents an expanded view of his classic black-and-white streetscapes. Included is the artist's seminal "Streets of New York" portfolio, not seen in its entirety since 1978, as well as photographs from the 1980s made in the great cities of Europe, America, and Asia—distinctive portraits of place that capture the irreducible character and visible history of our urban environments.

The Thomas Struth: Streetsexhibition is made possible in part by Philip Morris Companies Inc.

Additional support has been provided by the Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund.

The exhibition was organized by the Dallas Museum of Art.

Accompanied by a catalogue.

Press preview: Monday, February 3, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Klee the Voyager
February 4–May 4, 2003

A selection of works recording the artist's forays into regions exotic, domestic, and imagined. The 25 images, mainly watercolors and some paintings spanning the years 1914 to 1937, are all from The Berggruen Klee Collection at the Museum.

Recent Acquisitions: Works on Paper
February 4–May 4, 2003

An exhibition of drawings acquired over the past 15 years, with a focus on abstraction. Chosen from the Department of Modern Art's collection, the selection presents drawings by artists of several nationalities, with distinctive personal styles. These works are shown together at the Museum for the first time.

This exhibition examines the impact of Spanish painting on French artists, presenting some 150 paintings by masters of Spain's Golden Age—Velázquez, Murillo, Ribera, El Greco, and Zurbarán—as well as masterpieces by the 19th-century French artists they influenced, among them Delacroix, Courbet, Millet, Degas, and, most notably, Manet. The exhibition also includes works by American artists such as Sargent, Chase, Eakins, Whistler, and Cassatt, who studied in France but learned to paint like Spaniards. An exhibition on this subject has never before been attempted at this scale and depth, and it promises to be revelatory. Napoleon's Spanish campaigns (1808–14) marked a turning point in the French perception of Spanish painting, which, up to that time, had been virtually ignored and poorly represented in the French royal collections. Yet, only two decades later, in 1838, King Louis Philippe inaugurated the Galerie Espagnole at the Louvre, placing on view his extraordinary collection of hundreds of Spanish paintings. Although this collection was sold in 1853, these paintings left an indelible impression in France and by the 1860s, the French taste for Spanish painting was perceptible at each Paris Salon. At the core of the exhibition are 30 paintings by Manet, including many of his so-called "Spanish" works of the 1860s. A special feature devoted to the exhibition will be available on the Metropolitan Museum's Web site.

Accenture is the proud sponsor of the exhibition.

The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Musée d'Orsay.

An indemnity has been granted by the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Accompanied by a catalogue.

Press preview: Monday, February 24, 10:00 a.m.–noon

From the clothing of ancient Greece to such modern evocations as Madame Grès's emblematic draped creations and Versace's Neoclassical loincloths, classical dress has profoundly inspired and influenced art and design over the millennia. Drawing on paintings, photographs, sculpture, and decorative arts from classical times to the present, cinema and theater costumes, and clothing from the 18th century onward, the exhibition reveals the many ways in which classical dress has become a truly ageless style. Included, for example, is clothing from the Directoire and Empire periods, presented alongside art from the Museum's collection by Nattier, David, and Ingres. Moving into the 20th century, the fashion designs of Vionnet, Yves Saint Laurent, Fortuny, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Gucci, Halston, and Issey Miyake are juxtaposed with costumes created for Isadora Duncan's dance performances and for films such as One Touch of Venus.

The exhibition and the accompanying catalogue are made possible by GUCCI.

Additional support for the exhibition has been provided by Condé Nast.

Press preview: Monday, April 28, 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

Roy Lichtenstein on the Roof
May 1–November 2, 2003, weather permitting

A selection of six brightly painted or patinated bronze and aluminum sculptures by the American artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923–1997) will be installed in the most dramatic outdoor space for sculpture in New York City: The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, which offers a spectacular view of Central Park and the New York City skyline. The installation will consist of works completed in the 1990s, including a group of "brushstroke" figures and a 17-foot-wide house. Beverage and sandwich service will be available from 10 a.m. until closing, including Friday and Saturday evenings.

Press preview: Wednesday, April 30, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus
May 8–August 17, 2003

This exhibition will explore through art the emergence of the world's first city-states and empires in Syria and Mesopotamia during the third millennium B.C. and will relate these developments to artistic and cultural connections stretching from the eastern Aegean to the Indus valley and Central Asia. The works of art, many brought together for the first time, illustrate the splendor of the most famous sites of the ancient world including the Royal Graves of Ur, the palace and temples of Mari, the citadel of Troy, and the great cities of the Indus Valley civilization. The exhibition will include approximately 400 works of extraordinary sculpture, jewelry, seals, relief carving, metalwork, and cuneiform tablets.

The exhibition is made possible by Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman.

Additional support has been provided by The Hagop Kevorkian Fund.

An indemnity has been granted by the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

The exhibition catalogue is made possible in part by The Hagop Kevorkian Fund and The Adelaide Milton de Groot Fund, in memory of the de Groot and Hawley families.

Press preview: Monday, May 5, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Max Beckmann's "Hell"
May 9–August 10, 2003

This installation celebrates the Museum's recent acquisition of Max Beckmann's famous portfolio of 11 lithographs entitled "Hell" (1919). In unusually large and evocative images, the artist narrates his journey through a city unhinged by violence and vice. The portfolio was inspired by Beckmann's visit to Berlin in March 1919, where he witnessed one of the most bloody and cruel episodes of the German Revolution following World War I.

Charles Demuth
May 9–August 10, 2003

An exhibition featuring the Museum's collection of masterful watercolors by American modernist Charles Demuth (1883–1935). Ranging in date from 1914 to 1929, the works illustrate the artist's two signature styles applied to his best-known subjects: floral arrangements, delicately drawn and tinted, and architectural sites rendered with hard-edged precisionism. Of particular note is his lively Bermuda series (1917) picturing exotic fish, tropical landscapes, and sailboats.

Central Park: A Sesquicentennial Celebration
May 15–August 31, 2003

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the legislation (July 21, 1853) that designated as "a public place" the lands that were to become New York's Central Park, the Museum will be mounting an exhibition about the design and construction of the park. The principal focus will be the original presentation plans and drawings, by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted, for their "Greensward" plan, which won the 1858 competition to design the park. A selection of working drawings and contemporary photographs will illustrate the actual construction of the park according to that design. In addition to objects in the Museum's collection, there will be numerous loans, most notably from the Municipal Archives and the Department of Parks of the City of New York.

Manet and the American Civil War: The Battle of the "Kearsarge" and the "Alabama"
June 3–August 17, 2003

This exhibition focuses on The Metropolitan Museum of Art's recent acquisition, Manet's The "Kearsarge" at Boulogne. During the American Civil War, when Union forces blocked Confederate ports, the Confederacy countered by waging guerrilla warfare on Union merchant shipping. One of the most skilled Confederate raiders was the sloop-of-war, the Alabama. On June 19, 1864, the U.S.S. Kearsarge and the C.S.S. Alabama fought off the coast of Cherbourg, France. The Alabama sank less than two hours after the first shot was fired. The battle captivated the attention of the French people, and Manet, who as a teenager had served in the French navy, raced to Boulogne to see the victorious Kearsarge. He painted a depiction of the battle (which he did not witness), now in Philadelphia, as well as a portrait of the Kearsarge, now in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This dossier exhibition will contain five seascapes painted by Manet in Boulogne during the summer of 1864. Additional related material—paintings by other artists, photographs, newspaper articles, and other items—will also be on view.

The exhibition is made possible by Prudential Securities.

The exhibition catalogue is made possible in part by the Oceanic Heritage Foundation.

Press preview: Monday, June 2, 10:00 a.m.–noon

The Photography of Charles Sheeler
June 3–August 17, 2003

The first full-scale retrospective of the photographic work of American artist Charles Sheeler (1883–1965), this exhibition will comprise 120 rare photographs, many of them unique, from all of the artist's major series: images of his house and barns in Doylestown, Pennsylvania (1915–17); views of skyscrapers in lower Manhattan (1920); the Ford Motor Company Plant at River Rouge (1927); Chartres Cathedral (1929); and several images of American industry made for Fortune magazine in the 1930s. Also included will be a number of Sheeler's early nudes and little-known late photographs, which were employed in place of traditional sketches as "notes in shorthand" for his paintings of the 1940s and 1950s.

This exhibition was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

All photographs were drawn from The Lane Collection.

Accompanied by a catalogue.

Press preview: Monday, June 2, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Charles Sheeler's Contemporaries
June 3–August 17, 2003

Complementing The Photography of Charles Sheeler
, described above, this installation will present work by other photographers of the period who also drew inspiration from the American city, the machine, and the radical formal innovations of European modernism. Approximately 40 rare vintage photographs from the Museum's collection and that of the Gilman Paper Company will be shown, including work by Alfred Stieglitz, an important early influence, Paul Strand, Morton Schamberg—who shared Sheeler's first exhibition at Marius de Zayas's famed Modern Gallery in 1917—Ralph Steiner, Edward Weston, and others.

Press preview: Monday, June 2, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Hendrick Goltzius, Dutch Master (1558–1617): Drawings, Prints, and Paintings
June 26–September 7, 2003

This exhibition is the first major retrospective of the work of this virtuoso Netherlandish mannerist, comprising spectacular figural displays in prints, remarkable pen paintings on parchment, vivid portraits and nature studies in colored chalk and silverpoint, as well as remarkable paintings of mythological and religious subjects on canvas and copper. On display will be some 69 drawings, 80 prints, and 13 paintings.

The exhibition is made possible in part by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional support has been provided by The Schiff Foundation.

The exhibition has also been supported by the Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund.

The exhibition has been organized by the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and The Toledo Museum of Art.

An indemnity has been granted by the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Accompanied by a catalogue.

Press preview: Monday, June 23, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Celebrating Saint Petersburg
Late spring 2003–fall 2004

To celebrate the 300th anniversary of Saint Petersburg, this exhibition will inaugurate the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Special Exhibitions Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum. On view will be the Museum's principal holdings of Russian and European art, either made in the "Venice of the North" or formerly in Saint Petersburg collections, spanning the period from about 1700 through the early 20th century. Highlights of the display will be the spectacular bust of Alexander Menshikov, the first governor of Saint Petersburg, and the newly acquired Imperial Tula steel table from Pavlovsk Palace.

The Responsive Eye: Ralph T. Coe and the Collecting of American Indian Art
September 9–December 14, 2003

Formed over the last half century, the Ralph T. Coe Collection of American Indian Art represents all the regions and periods by which American Indian art is known today. Dating from 2000 B.C. to the present, the works are diverse aesthetically and materially. They range from the button blankets of the Pacific Northwest to the archaeological sculpture of the Southeast and include masks, ornamented deerskin shirts, pipe bowls, beaded bags, and baskets, among other works. Two hundred objects will be shown.

The exhibition catalogue is made possible in part by the Mary C. and James W. Fosburgh Publications Fund.

French Daguerreotypes
September 23, 2003–January 4, 2004

French Daguerreotypes is the first-ever major survey of an art that, from the moment in January 1839 when Louis Daguerre first showed his invention to members of the French Academy of Sciences, changed the history of visual representation forever. The daguerreotypes shown—magically precise, one-of-a-kind photographic images on silver-plated sheets of copper—include key early monuments in the history of photographic art as well as hitherto unseen examples of medical, scientific, ethnographic, and exploratory photography of the 1840s and 1850s drawn from major European and North American museums as well as from private collections and smaller institutions.

The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Réunion des Musées Nationaux and the Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

Educational programs have been made possible by The Georges Lurcy Charitable and Educational Trust.

Accompanied by a catalogue.

Treasures of a Lost Art: Italian Manuscript Painting of the Middle Ages and Renaissance
September 30, 2003–February 1, 2004

This exhibition will present to the public for the first time the impressive collection of Italian illuminated manuscripts formed by Robert Lehman (1891–1969). Comparable only to the Cini Collection in Venice in its breadth and scope, the collection originally comprised 145 pieces ranging in date from the 13th to the 16th century, and equally divided among the major centers of manuscript production in Italy. The Metropolitan's display will include 101 single leaves and two bound volumes, many of which are unknown even to scholars. Included are works by some of the most famous names in Italian painting, such as Duccio di Buoninsegna, Stefano da Verona, and Cosimo Tura, as well as visually stunning examples by leading figures in the history of Italian manuscript illumination.

Accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue of all the pieces formerly in the collection.

El Greco
October 7, 2003–January 11, 2004

This major retrospective exhibition consists of approximately 60 works by the great 16th-century painter Domenikos Theotokopoulos, known to posterity as El Greco. The works on view will span the whole of his career, from his origins as a painter of icons in his native Crete to his training in Venice and his definitive move to Toledo, Spain. The exhibition will explore the character of El Greco's unique style and its expression of spirituality. There will be sections devoted to his depiction of saints, a selection of his large-scale altarpieces, a representation of his work as a sculptor, his rare excursions into mythological themes, and a fine group of his psychologically intense portraits. The last American exhibition devoted to El Greco was held twenty years ago, in 1982, in Madrid, Washington, and Toledo, Ohio. Building on that signal event, this exhibition will be more focused and more selective. The guest curator is Professor David Davies of the University of London, an eminent El Greco scholar. The exhibition is a joint venture with the National Gallery, London.

The exhibition is funded by the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation in celebration of its 25th Anniversary.

Accompanied by a catalogue.

Crossing the Channel: French and British Painting in the Age of Romanticism
October 7, 2003–January 4, 2004

Some 80 paintings and 35 works on paper by such artists as Constable, Bonington, Delacroix, and Gericault will chart the cultural exchanges between France and Britain between 1820 and 1840. A selection of major works that created a dialogue between the two national schools will emphasize artistic affinities in terms of subject, technique, and theoretical approaches.

Accompanied by a catalogue.

Sanford Robinson Gifford, 1823–1880
October 8, 2003–February 8, 2004

Only the second retrospective of this Hudson River School master's work since the Metropolitan's memorial exhibition in 1880, this exhibition will include nearly 70 paintings of sites in America, Europe, and the Middle East.

Accompanied by a catalogue.

The Art of Oribe and Momoyama Culture
October 21, 2003–January 11, 2004

The Art of Oribe and Momoyama Culture will explore the dramatic stylistic changes in Japanese ceramics during the 16th century, as illustrated by the colors and shapes of Oribe ware produced during the Momoyama period (1573–1615). Named after Furuta Oribe (1544–1615), a warlord and the foremost tea master of the time, Oribe ceramics are characterized by a previously unseen use of bold colors, patterns, and unique shapes. The exhibition—consisting of nearly 200 works, including screen paintings, ceramics, lacquerware, and textiles—will examine the origins of Oribe ceramic ware, its development during the brief but brilliant Momoyama period, and its relationship to contemporary arts. It will also elucidate the influence of Japan's first encounter with Europeans, namely Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch merchants who actively engaged in trade with Japan during the period. Featuring many works never before seen outside Japan, this is the first comprehensive presentation on the subject to be mounted in the West.

The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in collaboration with The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu.

Accompanied by a catalogue.

A Private Passion: 19th-Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, Harvard University Art Museums
October 23, 2003–January 11, 2004

Some 70 paintings and twice as many drawings and watercolors by 19th-century French and British artists will be featured in this selection from the legendary Winthrop Collection, bequeathed in 1943 to the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University. Masterpieces by David, Ingres, Gericault, Chassériau, and Moreau will be seen alongside great works by Blake, Turner, Rossetti, and Burne-Jones, as well as the American artists Whistler, Homer, and Sargent.

The exhibition catalogue is made possible by the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation Inc. and the Doris Duke Fund for Publications.

Philip Guston
October 28, 2003–January 4, 2004

A major retrospective exhibition of the art of Philip Guston (born Montreal, Canada, 1913; died Woodstock, New York, 1980) will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It will be the most comprehensive survey of the artist's work to date, comprising more than 100 paintings and drawings, from Guston's precocious beginnings as a Symbolic Realist in the 1930s, through his renown as an Abstract Expressionist in the 1950s and early 1960s, to his later figurative works that had a great impact on American and European art of the 1970s and 1980s. The exhibition is being organized by the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, where it will be on view from March 30 to June 8, 2003. It will then travel to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (June 28–September 28, 2003) and, following the exhibition at the Metropolitan, it will be shown at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (January 24–April 12, 2004).

Accompanied by a publication to be produced by Thames & Hudson.

Heritage of Power: Ancient Sculpture from West Mexico The Andrall E. Pearson Family Collection
November 6, 2003–February 8, 2004

Created between 300 B.C. and A.D. 300 to acknowledge life's important events, the ceramic sculpture of west Mexico is noted for its variety, spontaneity, and the overwhelming presence of the human image. Important members of society and their forebears are honored in roles that are significant for community and family. Placed upon death in major tombs, the sculptures commemorate high social position and personal power and wealth. Forty ceramic objects from the distinguished Pearson collection will represent the three major west Mexican regions, Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit.

Accompanied by a catalogue.

Richard Avedon: Portraits
Through January 5, 2003

Although Richard Avedon first earned his reputation as a fashion photographer, his greatest achievement has been his stunning reinvention of the genre of photographic portraiture. Featuring approximately 180 works, this exhibition spans the artist's entire career, from his earliest portraits in the late 1940s through his most recent work. At the core of the installation is a powerful group of portraits of many of the key artistic, intellectual, and political figures from the late 1950s through the early 1970s, including several large murals, perhaps the grandest photographic portraits ever staged. Also featured are boldly scaled photographs from the ambitious series ,I>In the American West and a poignant sequence of portraits of the artist's father taken shortly before his death. Avedon's portraits of artists and intellectuals of the last 20 years, including John Cheever, Roy Lichtenstein, and Harold Bloom, complete this artist's collection of individuals who have shaped our world.

Accompanied by a catalogue.

Nomadic Art of the Eastern Eurasian Steppes: The Eugene V. Thaw and Other New York Collections
Through January 5, 2003

This exhibition presents the dynamic art of the nomads who roamed the Eastern Eurasian steppes during the first millennium B.C. and influenced the art of the sedentary cultures that came in contact with them. Drawn largely from the collection of Eugene V. Thaw, a recent gift to the Museum, with selections from other private collections and the Metropolitan Museum's holdings, the more than 200 works in bronze, gold, and silver include horse tack and harness fittings, chariot fittings, belt ornaments, garment plaques, weapons, and vessels that are characterized by bold designs and skilled craftsmanship.

The exhibition is made possible in part by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation.

The exhibition catalogue is made possible by The Adelaide Milton de Groot Fund, in memory of the de Groot and Hawley families.

Théodore Chassériau (1819–1856): The Unknown Romantic
Through January 5, 2003

Some 50 paintings and 80 works on paper constitute the first retrospective of the work of Théodore Chassériau since 1933 and the first to be held outside France. Chassériau, a precocious disciple of Ingres, quickly succumbed to Romanticism and developed a personal style that fused Ingres's linear precision with the lush color and exoticism of Delacroix. Chassériau's trip to Algeria in 1846 inspired a wealth of Orientalist images, which highlight a career abruptly terminated by the artist's death at the age of 37. The diversity of his historical, religious, and Orientalist subjects as well as his portraits reveals how state patronage and the emerging art market in France formed his oeuvre.

The exhibition is supported by The Isaacson-Draper Foundation.

The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, the Louvre Museum, Paris, and the Museums of Strasbourg.

An indemnity has been granted by the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

The exhibition catalogue is made possible by The Drue E. Heinz Fund and the Doris Duke Fund for Publications.

Hanukkah Menorah
Romantic
Through January 5, 2003

This elaborately decorated 18th-century menorah—one of the oldest symbols of the Jewish faith—on loan from a renowned private collection, marks the holiday season.

Annual Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche
Through January 5, 2003

The Museum continues a long-standing holiday tradition with the annual presentation of its Christmas tree, a favorite of New Yorkers and visitors from around the world. A vivid 18th-century Neapolitan crèche scene—embellished with a profuse array of diminutive, lifelike attendant figures and silk-robed angels hovering above—adorns the candlelit spruce. Recorded music adds to the enjoyment of the holiday display. Lighting ceremony Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:00.

The installation is made possible by The Loretta Hines Howard Trust.

Portraits: A Century of Photographs
Through January 12, 2003

Designed to complement the Museum's landmark exhibition Richard Avedon: Portraits, this selection of some 50 masterworks surveys the first hundred years of photographic portraiture, from early American and French daguerreotypes through the work of Diane Arbus. The installation highlights classic images of artists and writers, actors and composers, by Nadar, Edward Steichen, and Berenice Abbott, among others. Drawn from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum and the Gilman Paper Company.

Bill Viola: The Quintet of Remembrance
Through January 12, 2003

This exhibition of a single work features the first representation of video art to enter the collection of the Department of Modern Art at the Metropolitan as well as the first major video installation to be acquired by the Museum. The Quintet of Remembrance, 2000, is a color video installation by preeminent video artist Bill Viola (American, b. 1951) inspired by his study of late medieval and early Renaissance paintings and their iconography. Three women and two men independently express the emotions of joy, rapture, anger, fear, and sorrow, in extended slow and soundless motion. Running continuously on a 16-minute loop, this powerful work provocatively connects the art of two eras: early Renaissance Europe and 21st-century America.

Cityscapes by Klee and Feininger
Through January 26, 2003

This installation displays images of cities—German, North African, American, or imaginary—evoked by the two Bauhaus colleagues and friends Paul Klee and Lyonel Feininger. The 24 works, mainly watercolors, drawings, and some paintings, spanning more than 40 years, are all from the Museum's collection.

The Forgotten Friezes from the Castle of Vélez Blanco
Through February 2, 2003

An extraordinary group of six spectacular carved pine friezes has been lent to celebrate the Museum's May 2000 reopening of the renovated Renaissance patio from the Fajardo castle at Vélez Blanco in southern Spain (see page 20). Recently discovered at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, these 16th-century reliefs, each nearly 20 feet in length, were once part of the interior decoration of the rooms adjoining the patio and are boldly carved with classical and mythological scenes.

Blithe Spirit: The Windsor Set
Through February 9, 2003

A remarkable collection of French couture including Chanels, Lanvins, Vionnets, and Schiaparellis donated to the Museum in 1946 captures the rapturous elegance of café society in the frivolous, extravagant years immediately preceding World War II. Dating from 1935 to 1940, this group of evening gowns formed part of an earlier exhibition in 1940 organized by Lady Mendl and chaired by the Duchess of Windsor to benefit French War Charities.

At a time when fashion required an appropriate backdrop, the exhibition situates these romantic and spectacular evening gowns within the larger context of the fine and decorative arts of the period. This close relationship between fashion and interior design is expressed through works by Jansen, Emilio Terry, and Jean Michel Franck. At the same time, photographs by Horst, Man Ray, and Hoyningen-Huene reveal the high style of the times. A centerpiece of the exhibition is the Mainbocher dress worn by Wallis Simpson upon her marriage to the Duke of Windsor in 1937.

Cultivated Landscapes: Reflections of Nature in Chinese Painting with Selections from the Collection of Marie-Hélène and Guy Weill
Through February 9, 2003

In no other cultural tradition has landscape played a more important role in the arts than in that of China. This exhibition, consisting of more than 75 works drawn largely from the Metropolitan Museum's holdings and featuring selections from the renowned collection of Marie-Hélène and Guy Weill, explores the manifold uses of natural imagery in Chinese painting as a reflection of human beliefs and emotions. The exhibition begins in the 10th century, when landscape painting became an independent genre in China and images of life in reclusion took on a new immediacy as members of society dreamed of finding sanctuary from a disintegrating social order following the collapse of the Tang dynasty. It then moves through the next millennium of Chinese painting, revealing how select flowers and plants may symbolize moral virtues; landscapes celebrating the natural order might laud the well-governed state; wilderness hermitages can suggest political isolation or protest; and gardens may be emblems of an ideal world. One gallery in the exhibition is devoted to paintings given or promised to the Metropolitan Museum by New York collectors Marie-Hélène and Guy Weill and presents major works by masters of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Complementing the display of paintings is a choice group of objects that celebrate landscape and garden imagery in other media.

The exhibition is made possible by The Dillon Fund.

The exhibition catalogue is made possible by The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation.

French Nineteenth-Century Drawings in the Robert Lehman Collection
Through February 9, 2003

Organized to coincide with the publication of the Robert Lehman Collection catalogue of European 19th- and 20th-century drawings, this exhibition touches on many of the great trends in French drawing of the time: the heroic Neoclassicism of David, refined classicism of Ingres, and Romanticism of Delacroix; the richly textured landscapes of the Barbizon School; the figure studies of Degas and Renoir; Seurat's luminous sheets of shaded crayon, and the jewel-like watercolors of Paul Signac and Henri-Edmond Cross. The selection captures another facet of the taste of a great American collector famous for the range and depth of his interests across the entire history of European art.

The exhibition is made possible by Robert Lehman Foundation, Inc.

Accompanied by a catalogue.

A Very Private Collection: Janice H. Levin's Impressionist Pictures
Through February 9, 2003

This intimate exhibition offers visitors the opportunity to see some 35 Impressionist works that graced the Fifth Avenue apartment of Janice H. Levin. Highlights include Claude Monet's views of his garden at Argenteuil and of the cliffs at Pourville; pastels and sculpture by Edgar Degas; lush landscapes by Pierre Bonnard, Eugène Boudin, Berthe Morisot, Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec; and interiors by Morisot and édouard Vuillard. Levin (1913–2001) was an Honorary Trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1993 until her death.

The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue are made possible by The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation.

The Legacy of Genghis Khan: Courtly Art and Culture in Western Asia, 1256–1353
Through February 16, 2003

This exhibition focuses on the period of Ilkhanid rule (a semi-independent branch of the Mongols) in the Iranian region (ca. 1256–1353), which caused a transformation of the locally established artistic language through contact with Far Eastern art of the Yüan period. This era witnessed a number of remarkable achievements within the sphere of art and culture; but the most significant impact was on the arts of the book, which became a means to further the Mongol dynasty's political agenda and legitimize the ruling elite. The exhibition includes more than 200 objects equally divided among illustrated manuscripts, the decorative arts, and architectural decoration.

The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue are made possible in part by The Hagop Kevorkian Fund.

Additional support has been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities and The Adelaide Milton de Groot Fund, in memory of the de Groot and Hawley families.

The exhibition has been organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

An indemnity has been granted by the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Herzfeld in Samarra
Through March 2, 2003

On display is a selection of little-known material that the Department of Islamic Art acquired in 1943 from Ernst Emile Herzfeld, one of the most prominent archaeologists and scholars of Islamic art of the first half of the 20th century. Herzfeld's notebooks, sketchbooks, travel journals, artistically accomplished watercolors and ink drawings, site maps, architectural plans, photo albums, and photographs are included, focusing on material related to Samarra, the temporary capital of the cAbbasid caliphs (A.D. 836–892) situated about 125 miles north of Baghdad in Iraq. The exhibition highlights an especially significant Islamic archaeological site while offering intriguing insights into a pioneer in the studies of Islamic art.

The exhibition is made possible by The Hagop Kevorkian Fund.

The Written Image: Japanese Calligraphy and Painting from the Sylvan Barnet and William Burto Collection
Through March 2, 2003

This exhibition displays 60 works of Japanese calligraphy and painting, spanning a period of more than 1,000 years, drawn from the exceptional collection of Sylvan Barnet and William Burto. The collection—which traces the evolution of Japanese calligraphy from the Nara period (710–84) through the 19th century—includes examples of both the Chinese script (kanji) and the Japanese script (kana). Also included are Buddhist and Shinto mandalas and a portrait of a Zen monk. The presentation of the Barnet and Burto Collection is supplemented by a selection of Japanese paintings and calligraphy from the Metropolitan's holdings.

The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue are made possible in part by the Toshiba International Foundation.

Additional support for the exhibition has been provided by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New York, Inc.

Additional support for this publication has been provided by the Roswell L. Gilpatric Fund for Publications.

The New Violin Family: Augmenting the String Section
Through March 30, 2003

The mysteries behind making a violin sound like a violin are explored in this exhibition. Featuring 13 instruments, including a famous Hutchins Violin Octet, the exhibition chronicles the work of Dr. Carleen Maley Hutchins (b. Springfield, Massachusetts, 1911), a luthier and acoustical scientist who pioneered modern techniques of violin making. A model depicting her scientific process of plate tuning is also on display.

The exhibition is partially funded by The Amati, Friends of the Department of Musical Instruments.

Arts of the Spanish Americas, 1550–1850: Works from the Museum's Collection
Through April 6, 2003

A sampling of the Museum's holdings of secular and religious arts made in colonial Latin America. Drawn from the collections of several departments, this installation highlights the creativity of artists working under Spanish rule, from the Rio Grande to the Andes, from the period of evangelization through Independence. The installation includes a selection of the Museum's comprehensive collection of Mexican glazed ceramic ware known as Talavera de Puebla, Mexican and Andean textiles and silver, painting and polychrome sculpture from all over the Spanish-speaking Americas and the Philippines, and a group of wooden keros, the traditional ceremonial drinking vessels of the Andes.

The installation is made possible by Paula Cussi.

Genesis: Ideas of Origin in African Sculpture
Through April 13, 2003

How did the world begin? What is our ancestry? What is the source of agriculture and of kingship, and other societal institutions? African cultures seek to provide answers to these questions through elaborate interwoven traditions of oral history, poetry, and art. Genesis: Ideas of Origin in African Sculpture explores how artists in 17 distinct African cultures have interpreted these ideas and sought to answer these questions. Within that framework, the exhibition explores in depth the nuanced complexity of one noteworthy classical sculptural form, the ci wara antelope headdress of the Bamana people. The exhibition includes 40 exceptional ci wara headdresses, as well as 35 noted masterpieces from across sub-Saharan Africa inspired by distinctive myths of origin ranging from the Dogon of Mali, the Senufo of Côte d'Ivoire, and the Yoruba of Nigeria to the Luba and Kuba of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Chokwe of Angola, and the Ntwane of South Africa.

Genesis: Ideas of Origin in African Sculpture seeks to shed light on the act of human creation as a broad and recurrent theme of African art. While the works of African art included relate to a panoply of social perspectives and traditions, they all reflect a desire to give tangible form to the abstract forces that have shaped the course of human experience. The works of art chosen constitute points of reference that allow individuals to conceive of their place within an expansive history. The artists who executed them have responded to their society's most exalted challenge and in doing so provide insight into their distinctive worldview.

Accompanied by a catalogue.

Presentation Violin Bows and Art Jewelry by Henryk Kaston
Through April 2003

Polish-born Henryk Kaston immigrated to the United States in 1937 and enjoyed a multifaceted career as a violinist—including 35 years with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York City—bow maker, and jeweler. On display are a brooch depicting opera star Risë Stevens as Carmen, five Surrealist pieces commissioned by Salvador Dalí, and ornate presentation bows mounted with ebony, tortoiseshell, ivory, and 18-karat gold set with precious and semiprecious stones.

Arms and Armor: Notable Acquisitions 1991–2002
Through June 29, 2003

This exhibition celebrates more than a decade of acquisitions made since the reinstallation of the Arms and Armor Galleries in 1991. Although high-quality works are becoming increasingly rare, a number of important gifts and purchases have significantly enriched the Museum's renowned collection of European, North American, Japanese, and Islamic arms, increasing its depth and breadth as well as its appeal to scholars and the public alike. Major acquisitions, as well as curatorial purchases of more modest value, are highlighted, and newly explored areas of collecting such as Tibetan arms and armor are presented for the first time.

Accompanied by a catalogue.

Significant Objects from the Modern Design Collection
Through April 2004

On display is a rotating selection of approximately 30 works in all media spanning the period from the late 19th to the early 21st century. Examples of furniture, metalwork, silver, ceramics, and glass—by designers such as Christopher Dresser, Josef Hoffmann, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Carlo Scarpa, Peter Shire, Ettore Sottsass, and Wendell Castle—are shown for their significance, both in art-historical terms and in the context of the Museum's collection.

Medieval Masterworks on Loan from the Morgan Library
Through June 2005

The Metropolitan is displaying seven superb examples of medieval art from the Morgan Library while that facility undergoes renovation. Among them are some of the favorite works of the noted financier and collector J. Pierpont Morgan, a past president of the Metropolitan Museum, including the splendid 12th-century Stavelot Triptych and the dazzling gold and jeweled binding of the Lindau Gospel Book.

Great Waves: Chinese Themes in the Arts of Korea and Japan
March 1–August 17, 2003 (galleries for Chinese Painting and Calligraphy) and March 15–September 29, 2003 (galleries for the Arts of Japan)

This exhibition, presented in both the galleries for Chinese Painting and Calligraphy and in the galleries for the Arts of Japan, explores how Chinese pictorial themes—Buddhist iconography, landscape imagery, flower and bird subjects, and figural narratives—were selectively adopted and reinterpreted by native artists in Korea and Japan.

Deedee Wigmore Gallery of the Arts of Louis C. Tiffany
Opened October 16, 2002

This October, the Museum opened a new gallery devoted to the arts of Louis C. Tiffany, one of the most versatile and talented American artists working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The installation in the new Deedee Wigmore Gallery highlights the Museum's preeminent collections and features Tiffany's windows, lamps, furniture, mosaics, blown Favrile glass vases, pottery, enamelwork, and jewelry. In addition, there is a rotating display selected from the Museum's collection of more than 400 design drawings from Tiffany's studios.

Glimpses of the Silk Road: Central Asia in the First Millennium
Opened August 5, 2002

As seen in the 37 diverse objects that are on view in this new installation of works drawn primarily from the Metropolitan's collection, the art of Central Asia is marked by an astonishing amalgam of different influences, combining Hellenistic imagery and Near Eastern motifs with Chinese and Indian features. Goods and raw materials as well as new ideas, religious beliefs, artistic styles and motifs, and technological innovations were transmitted throughout the region along overland caravan routes that later became known as the "Silk Road." Sculptures from various sites, and rare wall paintings from the Kushan kingdom (ca. 1st century B.C.–early 4th century A.D.) and that of Kucha (ca. 4th–7th century) illustrate the fascinating blend of eastern and western traditions that defines Central Asian art. Buddhist themes, often represented in the sculptures and paintings, reflect the spread of this Indian religion throughout the region and into China. The display also illustrates the transmission of technology and motifs in the applied arts. Perhaps the most outstanding examples of works of art in the Parthian period (247 B.C.–224 A.D.) are two ivory rhytons from Nysa, which combine Iranian and Greek themes and styles. Metalwork, textiles, and stucco produced by the Persians, the Kushans, the Sogdians, the Chinese, and others share numerous themes and decorative elements, interpreting and adapting them into their own creations.

Jacques and Natasha Gelman Galleries: The School of Paris
Newly installed August 2002 (opened June 1, 2001)

A new installation of outstanding works by modern masters from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection is now on view. Included are paintings by Balthus, Bonnard, Braque, Brauner, de Chirico, Derain, Dubuffet, Ernst, Gris, Léger, Matisse, Miró, Modigliani, Mondrian, Picasso, Rouault, Tanguy, and Vlaminck, as well as one painting and three bronzes by Giacometti. These prime works by painters of the School of Paris range in date from 1895 to 1972. Several are icons of 20th-century art, and 19 works on paper are shown for the first time.

Vélez Blanco Patio
Reopened May 12, 2000

The early 16th-century Fajardo castle at Vélez Blanco was an important landmark in the history of the Spanish Renaissance. The ornamental carved marbles that composed the castle's magnificent arcaded patio were acquired early in the 20th century for installation in the Park Avenue home of George Blumenthal, a future president of the Metropolitan Museum, and were bequeathed to the Museum at the time of his death in 1941. The patio, which was reconstructed at the Museum in 1964, recently underwent conservation and refurbishment with the addition of a new marble floor more in keeping with the original structure. In celebration of the reopening of the patio, The Forgotten Friezes from the Castle of Vélez Blanco will be on view through February 2, 2003.

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.

The Print in the North: The Age of Albrecht Dürer and Lucas van Leyden Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Based on the Metropolitan Museum's 1997 exhibition, a selection of masterpieces from the Museum's exceptional collection of German and Netherlandish prints from 1440 to 1550—the age in which printmaking came into its own.

Tour organized with the American Federation of Arts.

Current venue:
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN September 6, 2002– February 23, 2003

Previously shown at:
Currier Gallery of Art, Manchester, NH March 22–June 16, 2002

Treasures of a Lost Art: Italian Manuscript Painting of the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Based on an exhibition that will on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from September 30, 2003 to February 1, 2004 (see p. 8), Treasures of a Lost Art presents to the public for the first time the impressive collection of Italian illuminated manuscripts formed by Robert Lehman (1891–1969). Included are works by some of the most famous names in Italian painting, as well as examples by leading figures in the history of Italian manuscript illumination.

Current and upcoming venues:
Cleveland Museum of Art, OH February 23–May 4, 2003

California Palace of the Legion of Honor,
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA June 7–August 31, 2003 Earthly Bodies: Irving Penn's Nudes, 1949–50

Based on the Metropolitan's recent exhibition, these photographs by one of the world's finest photographers are among the most ambitious and successful female nudes ever made. Folded, twisted, and stretched, with extra belly, mounded hips, and puddled breasts, the fleshy torsos of Penn's models are charged with powerful physical and sexual energy yet remain somehow chaste.

Upcoming/current venue:
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA March 22–July 27, 2003

Previously shown at:
The Art Institute of Chicago, IL June 1–October 6, 2002

Picasso and the School of Paris:
Paintings from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

A loan exhibition of 72 School of Paris paintings from the holdings of the Department of Modern Art, including works by Balthus, Bonnard, Braque, de Chirico, Léger, Matisse, Miró, Modigliani, Picasso, and Soutine. The exhibition is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art for The Yomiuri Shimbun. Current venue:
The Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo December 7, 2002–March 9, 2003

Previously shown at:
Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art September 14–November 24, 2002

Side by Side: American Sculpture from the Collections of the National Academy of Design and The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This exhibition of sculptures in bronze, marble, and plaster compares related casts and carvings from the rich American art holdings of the National Academy of Design and the Metropolitan Museum. Completed between 1860 and 1920, the work of such artists as Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Bessie Potter Vonnoh, and Paul Manship is represented. The thematically diverse statuettes, bas-reliefs, and busts are displayed in pairs, revealing intriguing variations in the artistic process including composition, medium, inscriptions, casting, and patination.

Fridays and Saturdays 9:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
Sundays, Tuesdays–Thursdays 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Mondays Closed

THE CLOISTERS

March–October hours:
Tuesdays–Sundays 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Mondays Closed
November–February hours:

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

Suggested admission to the Main Building and The Cloisters:

Adults $12.00
Students, senior citizens $ 7.00
Members and children under 12
accompanied by adult Free

Tickets not required for special exhibitions

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