SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS MAY - AUGUST 2006

AngloMania focuses on British fashion from 1976 to 2006, a period of astounding creativity and experimentation. In their search for novelty over the past 30 years, designers have looked to past styles with an appetite that is as audacious as it is rapacious. Focusing on their postmodern, historicizing tendencies, this exhibition presents a series of tableaux based on Britain's rich artistic traditions. The irony of satirical prints, the romance of landscape paintings, and the glamour and bravado of grand manner portraits are evoked through a wide spectrum of British designers. The exhibition is set in the Metropolitan Museum's English period rooms—the Annie Laurie Aitken Galleries—to create a potent dialogue between the past and the present.
The exhibition and its accompanying book are made possible by Burberry.
Additional support has been provided by Condé Nast.

This is the first American retrospective devoted to A. L. Girodet-Trioson (1767–1824), a favored but rebellious pupil of Jacques-Louis David. Girodet's idiosyncratic style fuses David's Neoclassical ideal with his own prescient Romantic vision. A selection of approximately 110 paintings and works on paper reflects his originality and the diversity of his works, from mythological subjects to portraits and representations of Napoleon's military triumphs. The exhibition is supported by The Isaacson-Draper Foundation.
The catalogue is made possible by The Isaacson-Draper Foundation and The Florence Gould Foundation. Additional support for the catalogue is provided by the Getty Research Institute and the Getty Grant Program.
The exhibition was initiated by the Cleveland Museum of Art and organized by the Musée du Louvre, Paris, and the Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, in collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, with the special support of the Musée Girodet, Montargis.
It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

On Photography: A Tribute to Susan Sontag
June 6–September 4, 2006

A major force in New York intellectual life for over 40 years, the novelist, essayist, and critic Susan Sontag (1933–2004) was renowned for her brilliant and impassioned writing on photography. This exhibition of some 40 photographs drawn from the Metropolitan's collection pays tribute to Sontag's extraordinary contribution to the history of the medium. Nearly all the text in the exhibition is drawn from Sontag's own vividly aphoristic prose. In some cases, the photographs relate directly to her discussions of individual works or photographers, among them August Sander, Edward Weston, Diane Arbus, and Robert Mapplethorpe. In other cases, small groupings of photographs provide a visual complement to broader insights and ideas about the medium and the ways in which it has shaped our world.

Early in the first millennium A.D., Maya kings elaborated on an inherited tradition for interacting with supernatural powers by portraying themselves in the roles and costumes of divinities. Using specific symbolic attributes and performing conjuring rituals evoking deities and deified ancestors, the kings of city-states such as Calakmul in Mexico, Tikal in Guatemala, and Copan in Honduras rendered themselves divine. This exhibition includes items of kingly regalia, objects that depict their real and mythic actions, and works that were part of these activities, ranging from large-scale relief sculpture in stone, to ceramic vessels of distinctive shape, to objects of carved jade, shell, bone, and pearl.
The exhibition was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
In New York, the exhibition is supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The exhibition is also made possible in part by generous grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Accompanied by a catalogue.

Raphael at the Metropolitan: The Colonna Altarpiece
June 20–September 4, 2006

In 1901, J. Pierpont Morgan acquired the last major altarpiece by Raphael still in private hands. Painted by the young artist for a convent in Perugia, the work was dismantled in 1663 and pieces were subsequently owned by Queen Christina of Sweden, the Colonna family in Rome, and the King of Naples and the Two Sicilies. To obtain his prize, Morgan paid the phenomenal sum of two million francs. News of the banker's acquisition caused a sensation in the press and the picture was judged to be the most important ever to cross the Atlantic. Since 1916 it has been one of the treasures of the Metropolitan Museum. This exhibition reunites the two main panels with all the scenes from its predella for the first time in almost 350 years. A rich selection of drawings and paintings by Raphael produced close in time to the Colonna Altarpiece, including a preparatory study for the background of the altarpiece and a cartoon for the Metropolitan's predella panel, are also included.
The exhibition is made possible by the Homeland Foundation, Inc.
Additional support is provided by the Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund.
The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Accompanied by a publication.

Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde September 14, 2006–January 7, 2007

At the age of 29, Ambroise Vollard (1866–1939) established himself as an art dealer in Paris with the presentation of Cézanne's first solo exhibition. Over the succeeding years Vollard bought and sold pictures by Bonnard, Cézanne, Degas, Derain, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Maillol, Matisse, Picasso, Redon, Renoir, Rouault, Rousseau, Vlaminck, Vuillard, and others. This exhibition will include seven paintings from Vollard's 1895 Cézanne exhibition; a never-before-reassembled triptych from his 1896–97 Van Gogh retrospective; the masterpiece Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) from his 1898 Gauguin exhibition; paintings from Picasso's first French exhibition (1901) and Matisse's first solo exhibition (1904); and three pictures from Derain's London series, painted in 1906–7 at Vollard's suggestion. Additionally, the exhibition will feature dozens of ceramics, sculpture, prints, and livres d'artiste commissioned and published by Vollard. Also displayed are numerous portraits of Vollard by leading artists, among them Cézanne, Renoir, Bonnard, and Picasso.
The exhibition is made possible by The Florence Gould Foundation.
Education programs are made possible by The Georges Lurcy Charitable and Educational Trust. The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, and the Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris.
It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Accompanied by a catalogue.
Press preview: Tuesday, September 12, 10:00 a.m.–noon

New Orleans after the Flood: Photographs by Robert Polidori
September 12–December 2006

Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on August 29, 2005. Within days the city's fragile levee system failed and 80 percent of New Orleans was under water. For the artist Robert Polidori, the tragedy became a meditation on contemporary life, on our culture in decline. This small exhibition presents approximately 20 photographs of flooded and abandoned homes in New Orleans and memorializes the first anniversary of one of America's worst natural disasters.

Sean Scully: Wall of Light
September 26, 2006–January 14, 2007

This exhibition will present recent work by abstract artist Sean Scully (American, b. Ireland, 1945), specifically his Wall of Light series of paintings, watercolors, pastels, and aquatints. Inspired by the artist's first visits to Mexico in the early 1980s, where he observed the play of light and shadow on ancient stone walls, this ongoing and distinctive body of work focuses on an exploration of abstract forms affected by light, evoking a range of emotional and narrative themes. Paintings from 1998 to the present are constructed with rectangular bricklike forms, closely fitted and arranged in horizontal and vertical groupings as if in a wall, and characterized by broad, gestural brushstrokes, a wide range of luminous colors built up in layers, and varying degrees of overall light and darkness. The core of the exhibition will feature some 35 small-, medium-, and large-scale paintings on canvas, with related watercolors, pastels, and aquatints. The exhibition is made possible by Paula Cussi and Ignacio Garza Medina.
Corporate support is provided by UBS.
The exhibition was organized by The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
Accompanied by a publication.
Press preview: Monday, September 25, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Set in Stone: The Face in Medieval Sculpture
September 26, 2006–February 18, 2007

The Museum's rich collection of medieval heads, complemented by loans from American and European collections, will show the compelling power and diversity of the human face as represented from the end of the Roman empire to the dawn of the Renaissance. Many of these sculptures were violently broken from their bodies in past centuries, and the exhibition will reveal the detective work involved in "reconnecting" them. Organized thematically, the exhibition will explore such artistic issues as iconoclasm, portraiture, the use of nuclear technology to determine provenance, and head reliquaries as power objects. The exhibition will thus draw together science and connoisseurship, archaeology and history. The exhibition is made possible by The Florence Gould Foundation.
Additional support is provided by the Michel David-Weill Fund.
Accompanied by a catalogue.
Press preview: Monday, September 25, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Americans in Paris, 1860–1900
October 24, 2006–January 28, 2007

The exhibition will demonstrate the importance of Paris as a center for late-19th-century American art: as the key venue for study, a magnet for expatriates, and a stimulus for the creation of newly sophisticated American art schools, exhibitions, and criticism. While the exhibition will emphasize American painters who were aligned with vanguard tendencies—Whistler, Sargent, Cassatt, Hassam, Chase, and other American Impressionists—some of the artists who espoused academic principles will also be represented. About 100 oil paintings, arranged thematically, will highlight "Paris as Training Ground and Proving Ground," which will include canvases shown in the Salons and major expositions; "Picturing Paris"; "At Home in Paris"; "Rural Retreats in France," which explores Giverny and other French art colonies where Americans worked as Impressionists; and "Back in the United States," which suggests some of the lessons they brought home.
The exhibition is made possible by Bank of America.
Additional support is provided by the Marguerite and Frank A. Cosgrove Jr. Fund.
The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery, London, and the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston, in association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Accompanied by a catalogue.
Press preview: Monday, October 16, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Coaxing the Spirits to Dance: Art of the Papuan Gulf
October 24, 2006–September 2, 2007

The powerful and graphically elaborate sculpture from the Papuan Gulf area of the island of New Guinea will be presented in a context that demonstrates how deeply embedded art was in the region's social life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The exhibit will display traditional sculptures in the form of masks, figures, and spirit boards that both represented and became the embodiment of supernatural beings that were placated, cajoled, and coaxed to attend to human needs. The exhibit will focus on these sacred objects and the contexts in which they were presented. The juxtaposition of 19th- and 20th-century photographs with the stylistically inventive sculptures—many specifically identifiable in the photographs—illuminates the cultural contexts of the objects and facilitates the presentation of culturally specific ideas while creating a visual biography of the works. Additionally, the images demonstrate how early visitors used photography to record their activities, visualize, and represent the art and cultural practice integral to the well-being of the communities. The selection of rare historical photographs—some exhibited for the first time—taken by early travelers to the Papuan Gulf will be drawn from The Photograph Study Collection of the Metropolitan Museum's Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.
The exhibition was organized by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, in
collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Accompanied by a catalogue.

Glitter and Doom: German Portraits from the 1920s
November 14, 2006–February 18, 2007

The short-lived Weimar Republic saw political, economic, and social turmoil, yet also innovation in literature, music, film, theater, and art. The most vital of the artists working in the various Post-Expressionist styles in Germany in the 1920s were part of the movement toward a deadpan, matter-of-fact realism known variously as Verism and Neue Sachlichkeit. In their best works, their portraits, they depict with clinical detachment the glittering yet doomed and rootless society that flourished or floundered during these years mislabeled The "Golden" Twenties. The exhibition will feature some 40 paintings and some 60 drawings by Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Christian Schad, and Rudolf Schlichter, among others. The exhibition is supported by The Isaacson-Draper Foundation.
Accompanied by a catalogue.
Press preview: Monday, November 13, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Louis Comfort Tiffany and Laurelton Hall—An Artist's Country Estate
November 21, 2006–May 20, 2007

Laurelton Hall, Louis Comfort Tiffany's extraordinary country estate in Oyster Bay, New York, completed in 1905, was the epitome of the artist's achievement and in many ways defined this multifaceted artist. Tiffany designed every aspect of the project inside and out, creating a total aesthetic environment. The exhibition is a window into Tiffany's most personal art, bringing into focus this remarkable artist who lavished as much care and creativity on the design and furnishing of his home and gardens as he did on all the wide-ranging media in which he worked. Although the house tragically burned to the ground in 1957, the exhibition will bring together many of its surviving architectural elements and interior features. In addition, the exhibition will feature Tiffany's personal collections of his own work—breathtaking stained-glass windows, paintings, glass and ceramic vases—as well as Japanese and Chinese tsuba, jades, and ceramics and Native American baskets.
The exhibition is made possible by The Tiffany & Co. Foundation.
It was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in collaboration with
The Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, Winter Park, Florida.
Accompanied by a publication.
Press preview: Monday, November 20, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Annual Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche
November 21, 2006–January 7, 2007

The Museum will continue 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 Nativity scene—embellished with a profuse array of diminutive, lifelike attendant figures and silk-robed angels hovering above—will adorn the candlelit spruce. Recorded music will add to the enjoyment of the holiday display. Lighting ceremony Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:00.
The exhibit of the crèche is made possible by gifts to The Christmas Tree Fund and
the Loretta Hines Howard Fund.

Nan Kempner December 12, 2006–March 4, 2007

This Costume Institute exhibition will celebrate the cool glamour, spare elegance, and iconic style of one of the most renowned members of the Best-Dressed List's Hall of Fame, the late Mrs. Thomas L. Kempner, through a selection of her favorite designers and couture ensembles.
Press preview: Monday, December 11, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Barcelona and Modernity: Gaudí to Dalí March 7–June 3, 2007

This will be the first comprehensive exhibition to focus on the diverse and complex period in modern Spanish art known as the "Catalan Renaissance." Based in Barcelona, it reached its peak in the years following the Barcelona Universal Exhibition of 1888 and lasted through the Spanish Civil War, ending with the imposition of the Facist regime of Francisco Franco in 1939. On view will be more than 200 works, including paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, posters, decorative objects, furniture, architectural models, designs, and video. The selection will offer new insights into the progressive movements that sustained Barcelona's quest for modernity and confirmed it as the primary center of radical intellectual, political, and cultural activities in Spain. The exhibition is being organized by The Cleveland Museum of Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in association with Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona. Accompanied by a catalogue.
Press preview: Monday, March 5, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Venice and the Islamic World, 828–1797
March 27–July 8, 2007

This exhibition will examine the relationship between Venice and the Islamic world over a thousand-year period, focusing on artistic and cultural ideas that originated in the Near East and were channeled, absorbed, and elaborated in Venice, a city that represented a commercial, political, and diplomatic magnet on the shores of the Mediterranean. The underlying theme of the exhibition will focus on the reasons why a large number of Venetian paintings, drawings, printed books, and especially decorative artworks were influenced by and drew inspiration from the Islamic world and from its art. "Orientalism" in Venice was based on direct contact with the Islamic world, which brought about new technological, artistic, and intellectual information. These Venetian objects will be studied vis-à-vis works of Islamic art, providing an immediate, comparative visual reference. A second theme that will provide a continuous thread throughout the exhibition deals with the works of Islamic art that entered Venetian collections in historical times, exploring how and why they got there, who brought them, and the nature of the artistic relationship between Venice and the Fatimids and the Mamluks in Egypt, the Ottomans in Turkey, and the Safavids in Iran.
The exhibition is being organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and
L'Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris.
Accompanied by a catalogue.
Press preview: Monday, March 26, 10:00 a.m.–noon

New Permanent Galleries for Hellenistic, Etruscan, and Roman Art
Opening April 20, 2007

The opening of a new complex of Hellenistic, Etruscan, and Roman galleries will complete the re-installation of the permanent galleries of the Department of Greek and Roman Art. The galleries will contain Hellenistic art and the legacy that traces the story of Rome from the Republican period through the "Golden Age" of Augustus' Principate to the conversion of Constantine the Great in A.D. 312. The main focal point of the re-installation will be the completely refurbished Roman court—to be named the Leon Levy and Shelby White Court—which will link together the various galleries and themes. These will include displays of the art of Magna Graecia and the world of the Etruscans, together with the stunning collection of Roman wall paintings that is unrivaled outside of Italy. A high point of the display of the art of the Late Hellenistic and Early Imperial period will be the newly reconstructed cubiculum from the villa at Boscoreale and the Black Bedroom from Boscotrecase. In addition, on the mezzanine floor overlooking Fifth Avenue, there will be a large display of study material covering the entire cultural and chronological span of the department's collection.
Press preview: Monday, April 16, 10:00 a.m.–noon

The Art of Medicine in Ancient Egypt
Through May 7, 2006

The causes of illnesses were little understood in ancient Egypt, and their prevention and cure were a major concern for most Egyptians—one that informs much of ancient Egyptian art, yet has been given relatively little attention. This exhibition highlights objects from the Museum's collection that address this concern, allowing visitors to appreciate them in new ways. Included is the rarely seen Edwin Smith Papyrus, one of the world's oldest scientific documents, which is on loan from the New York Academy of Medicine.
The exhibition is made possible in part by Raymond and Beverly Sackler.
Additional support for the exhibition and its accompanying catalogue has been provided by The Adelaide Milton de Groot Fund, in memory of the de Groot and Hawley families.

Samuel Palmer (1805–1881): Vision and Landscape
Through May 29, 2006

Samuel Palmer ranks among the most important British landscape painters of the Romantic era. This exhibition—the first major retrospective of his work in nearly 80 years—celebrates the 200th anniversary of Palmer's birth and unites approximately 100 of Palmer's finest watercolors, drawings, etchings, and oils from public and private collections in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, and the United States. The exhibition highlights the artist's celebrated early work, executed in a visionary style inspired by William Blake, and reexamines Palmer's vibrant middle-period Italian studies and masterful late watercolors and etchings. It also includes a selection of works by artists in Palmer's circle. The exhibition is made possible by Gilbert and Ildiko Butler.
Additional support has been provided by William G. and Grace Brantley Anderson,
The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and The Schiff Foundation.
The exhibition was organized by The British Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Accompanied by a catalogue.

Warriors of the Himalayas: Rediscovering the Arms and Armor of Tibet
Through July 4, 2006

This exhibition is the first comprehensive study of armor, weapons, and equestrian equipment from the Tibetan plateau, a subject that has remained virtually unexplored until now. Many rare or previously unknown examples of helmets, body armor, swords, horse armor, saddles, and stirrups are exhibited and published here for the first time. Dating from the 13th to the 20th century, these objects include some of the finest examples of Himalayan ironwork embellished with gold and silver and extremely rare decorated leatherwork.
The exhibition is made possible by The Brine Family Charitable Trust.
The exhibition catalogue is made possible by The Carl Otto von Kienbusch Memorial Fund and the Grancsay Fund.

Hatshepsut: From Queen to Pharaoh
Through July 9, 2006

Hatshepsut, the great female pharaoh of Egypt's 18th Dynasty, ruled for two decades—first as regent for, then as co-ruler with, her nephew Thutmose III (ca. 1479–1458 B.C.). During her reign, at the beginning of the New Kingdom, trade relations were reestablished with western Asia to the east and were extended to the land of Punt far to the south as well as to the Aegean Islands in the north. The prosperity of this time was reflected in the art, which is marked by innovations in sculpture, decorative arts, and such architectural marvels as Hatshepsut's mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri. In this exhibition, the Metropolitan's own extensive holdings of objects excavated by the Museum's Egyptian Expedition in the 1920s and 1930s are supplemented by loans from other American and European museums, as well as by select loans from Cairo.
The exhibition is made possible by Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman.
The exhibition catalogue is made possible by The Adelaide Milton de Groot Fund at the
Metropolitan Museum, in memory of the de Groot and Hawley families.
It was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities, and by generous grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts, Federal agencies.

The Art of Betty Woodman
Through July 30, 2006

American-born artist Betty Woodman (b. 1930) is celebrated internationally for her contribution to contemporary ceramic sculpture and for the interrelationship between ceramics, sculpture, and painting in her work. This retrospective includes some 70 examples of early utilitarian objects, large vessel groups, wall installations, paintings, and drawings. The exhibition is made possible by the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, Inc.
Accompanied by a publication.

Kara Walker at the Met: After the Deluge
Through August 6, 2006

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, contemporary American artist Kara Walker (b. 1969)—widely recognized for her exploration of issues of race, gender, and sexuality through the 18th-century medium of cut-paper silhouettes—juxtaposes a variety of objects from the Museum's collection with her own work in order to explore "the transformative effect and psychological meaning of the sea" and the role assigned to black figures represented in art.

The Fabric of Life: Ikat Textiles of Indonesia
Through September 24, 2006

In many Indonesian societies, textiles are both literally and figuratively interwoven with an individual's life from earliest infancy to the wrapping of the funerary shroud. This exhibition explores the imagery, forms, and functions of one of the most important, widespread, and technically sophisticated of all Indonesian textile traditions—the colorful and boldly patterned fabrics known as ikat. Drawn primarily from the Metropolitan's own collection, the exhibition includes ikat from several distinctive regional traditions, woven with astonishing artistic and technical virtuosity.
This exhibition is made possible through the generosity of the Friends of the Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.

Contemporary Chinese-born artist Cai Guo-Qiang, known for his elaborate sculpture installations and gunpowder projects, was invited by the Metropolitan Museum to create this site-specific installation for the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, overlooking Central Park with expansive views of the Manhattan skyline. Included are four works that present the artist's reactions to issues of present-day concern: Clear Sky Black Cloud, an ephemeral sculpture that consists of an actual black cloud appearing above the Museum's Roof Garden Tuesdays through Sundays at noon; Transparent Monument, a large sheet of glass at the foot of which lie replicas of dead birds; Nontransparent Monument, a multipart narrative relief sculpture in stone; and Move Along, Nothing to See Here, a pair of life-size replicas of crocodiles cast in resin, pierced with scissors and knives confiscated at airport security checkpoints, that loom over the Roof Garden space.
Beverage and sandwich service is available from 10:00 a.m. until closing, including Friday and Saturday evenings.
The installation is made possible by a grant from Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon B. Polsky.
Additional support has been provided by Caroline Howard Hyman, Alice King and
Roger King, Donna and Benjamin M. Rosen, and Robert C. Y. Wu.

The Armored Horse in Europe, 1480–1620
Through January 14, 2007

The horse was an integral part of medieval and Renaissance culture, not only as a beast of burden but also as a sign of rank and status. For the nobility, equitation was an essential skill, both socially and militarily. Horses played a pivotal role in warfare and often wore armor as elaborate and expensive as that of their riders. Drawing exclusively from items in the reserve collection, many of them unpublished and rarely seen before, this exhibition examines various types of European horse armor in terms of style, construction, and decoration.
Accompanied by a catalogue.

A Taste for Opulence: Sèvres Porcelain from the Collection
Through February 25, 2007

The Sèvres porcelain factory, established in the Château of Vincennes just outside Paris in 1740, quickly became the preeminent producer of porcelain in Europe. Supported in its early years by the patronage of Louis XV, the factory was named the manufacture du roi in 1753 and was purchased by the king in 1759. Catering in large part to the tastes of the court, the factory strove for constant innovation and originality throughout the 18th century, frequently employing the leading artists and designers of the day to provide models and inspiration for the factory's artisans. This installation, which focuses on the diversity of the factory's production, is drawn entirely from the Museum's superb holdings of Sèvres porcelain and from its unparalleled collection of 18th-century French furniture decorated with Sèvres plaques. The exhibition is made possible by The David Berg Foundation.

A Sensitivity to the Seasons:
Spring and Summer (through June 4, 2006)
Autumn and Winter (June 22–December 3, 2006)

The paintings, screens, and objects exhibited in these galleries reflect the Japanese people's keen attentiveness to seasonal changes. Cultivated after the nation's capital was established in 794 in Kyoto, a city surrounded on three sides by mountains and pierced by the Kamo River, a sensitivity to the all-encompassing sweep of the seasons formed the foundation of Japanese life and culture. Literary works of the Heian period (794–1185), such as 31-syllable waka poetry and even grand romances such as the Tale of Genji, were inextricably bound to the seasons. In painting, landscapes were almost always tinged with seasonal signs, and the subject of flowers and birds in paintings was depicted in an appropriate seasonal context. Paintings representing the ordinary and extraordinary activities of the Kyoto citizenry were also arranged into four seasons, or twelve months. A pair of six-panel screens was an ideal format in which to illustrate various subjects—landscapes, flowers and birds, or human activities—over the twelve months of the year.

Rembrandt and His Circle: Drawings and Prints
July 11–October 15, 2006

In celebration of the 400th birthday of Rembrandt, the Metropolitan Museum is displaying a selection of 58 drawings and prints—44 of them by Rembrandt himself—from its extensive collection of works by the great 17th-century Dutch master and artists of his school. With subject matter ranging from the directly observed (landscapes, portraits, and figurative sketches) to the invented (most notably, biblical scenes), Rembrandt's graphic works illustrate his spontaneity, artistic originality, and innovative approach to traditional media.

Brush and Ink: The Chinese Art of Writing
September 2, 2006–January 21, 2007

In China, calligraphy, "the art of writing," is regarded as the quintessential visual art, ranking above painting as the most important vehicle for individual expression. As such, calligraphy may be appreciated in much the same way as some abstract art—by following the artist's every gesture, reexperiencing the kinesthetic action of creation as preserved in the inked lines. This exhibition traces the 1,600-year history of brush writing from its genesis as a fine art in the 4th century A.D., through successive peaks of individual innovation, to its recent transformation from a universal mark of scholarly status into a form of abstract art. The exhibit features more than 70 works, with examples from the permanent collection importantly augmented by select works from private collections. Mother-of-Pearl: A Tradition in Asian Lacquer
December 2, 2006–April 1, 2007

In the 12th century, craftsmen in southern China refined a longstanding tradition that combined mother-of-pearl and lacquer to create sumptuous painterly scenes of figures in landscapes, and flowers and birds. This exhibition traces the evolution of this astonishing technology in East Asia, India, and Thailand. It explores the importance of lacquer decorated with minute pieces of mother-of-pearl in interregional trade from the 12th to the 19th century, and the development of global trade, particularly works made in India and Japan, in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. New acquisitions as well as important works from the permanent and several pieces on loan illustrate the astonishing variety of effects found in the use of minute pieces of mother-of-pearl to create delicate scenes patterned in shades of white, pink, and green.

The "Hundred Antiques" in Chinese Textiles
Through July 30, 2006

The "hundred antiques," a Chinese decorative pattern that can include antiquities, scholars' objects, and three-dimensional decorative arts of all types, became popular during the 17th century. Especially common in the decorative arts of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), some of the "hundred antiques" were incorporated into patterns of rebuses for auspicious wishes. This installation highlights examples of dress and furnishing textiles from the Museum's collection dating from the 17th century to the late Qing dynasty, decorated with the "hundred antiques" pattern.

The Four Seasons
Through August 13, 2006

Chinese art explores both the transient and the eternal aspects of the natural world and sees in both the beauty and poignancy of the human condition. Narrative paintings present didactic and poetic chronicles of the agricultural calendar. Landscapes not only evoke atmospheric conditions and times of day, but also convey a particular mood or political commentary: a vernal scene may symbolize the flourishing conditions of a well-ordered state; a winterscape may imply conditions that are hostile to virtue and talent. Flower paintings serve not only as seasonal markers but also as emblems of specific virtues. As seen in these poetic works from the Museum's collection, artists imbued nature with rich layers of personal and cultural significance.

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 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York:
Chefs-d'oeuvre de la peinture européenne

The Fondation Pierre Gianadda will for the first time present an entire exhibition devoted to the Met's collection, with a selection of 50 Old Master and 19th-century European paintings. With works dating from the 16th through the 19th century, from many schools, the exhibition will present masterworks by El Greco, Rembrandt, Constable, Poussin, Manet, and Renoir, among others.
Accompanied by a catalogue.

Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny, Switzerland June 23–November 12, 2006
Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain November 30, 2006–March 4, 2007

Lions, Dragons, and Other Beasts:
Aquamanilia of the Middle Ages, Vessels for Church and Table

The entire aquamanilia collection of the Metropolitan Museum, as well as selected examples from other major collections, will be on display. Additional objects drawn from the Metropolitan's extensive collection will provide context. Late Antique, Byzantine, and Islamic works suggest sources and models. Stylistic and technical relationships are explored with other medieval examples in various media such as tapestry and ceramic.
Accompanied by a catalogue.

The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the July 12–October 15, 2006
Decorative Arts, Design, and Culture

MAIN BUILDING HOURS

Fridays and Saturdays 9:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
Sundays, Tuesdays–Thursdays 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Met Holiday Mondays sponsored by Bloomberg 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
in the Main Building
September 4, and October 9, 2006; January 15, February 19, and May 28, 2007
All other Mondays Closed
January 1, Thanksgiving, and December 25 Closed

THE CLOISTERS HOURS

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

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

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

Adults $20.00
Senior citizens $10.00
Students $ 7.00
Members and children under 12
accompanied by adult Free

Advance tickets available at www.TicketWeb.com or 1-800-965-4827

For more information www.metmuseum.org

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