SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS
MAY 2009–APRIL 2010

Michelangelo's First Painting
June 16–September 7, 2009

Michelangelo's biographers wrote that his first painting copied a well-known engraving by the German artist Martin Schongauer (1448-1491). Made in about 1487-88, The Torment of Saint Anthony has been known for many years, although it has not always received proper attention due to accumulations of discolored varnish and disfiguring overpaints, which obscured the qualities of the picture's masterful execution and remarkable color palette. Michelangelo's First Painting will showcase recent technical examination and scholarly analysis by the Metropolitan Museum's conservators and curators that identify the painting as the one described by Michelangelo's biographers. In addition to The Torment of Saint Anthony, works from the Metropolitan Museum's collection will include Portrait of Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra (1509-1566) and a facsimile of the Schongauer engraving, Saint Anthony Tormented by Demons. The painting was acquired recently by the Kimbell Art Museum, where it will return this fall for display as part of its permanent collection.

Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul
June 23–September 20, 2009

Ancient Afghanistan—at the crossroads of major trade routes and the focus of invasions by great powers and nomadic migrations—was home to some of the most complex, rich, and original civilizations on the continent of Asia. This exhibition will celebrate the unique role of Afghanistan as a center for both the reception of diverse cultural elements and the creation of original styles of art that combine multiple stylistic materials—such as the Hellenized examples from the second-century B.C. city of Aï Khanum, the array of trade goods found in the first-century city of Begram, and the astonishing nomadic gold found in the hoard at Tillya Tepe, which also dates to the first century. It will also commemorate the heroic rescue of the heritage of one of the world's great civilizations, whose precious treasures were thought to have been destroyed. Among the highlights of the exhibition will be gold vessels from the Tepe Fullol hoard; superb works and architectural elements from Aï Khanum; Indian-style sculptural masterpieces in ivory, plaster medallions, and Roman glass from Begram; and extraordinary turquoise-encrusted gold jewelry and ornaments from the tombs at Tillya Tepe.
The exhibition is made possible in part by Raymond and Beverly Sackler and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The exhibition was organized by the National Geographic Society and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and the Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston.
It is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and an
indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Accompanied by a catalogue.

Augustus Saint-Gaudens in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
June 30–November 15, 2009

The Metropolitan Museum of Art owns some 45 sculptures by Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907), the American Beaux-Arts sculptor who worked in New York, Paris, and Cornish, New Hampshire. The Museum's collection fully represents the range of his oeuvre—from early cameos to innovative painterly bas-reliefs to reductions after stirring public monuments for East Coast cities. Through the lens of the Museum's unparalleled holdings as well as some related loans, this exhibition will offer a reappraisal of Saint-Gaudens's groundbreaking role in the history of late 19th-century American sculpture and the Aesthetic Movement.
The Eugénie Prendergast Exhibitions of American Art are made possible by a grant
from Jan and Warren Adelson.
Accompanied by a Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin.
Press preview: Monday, June 29, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Vermeer's Masterpiece The Milkmaid
September 10–November 29, 2009

On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's historic voyage to Manhattan from Amsterdam, that city's Rijksmuseum will send The Milkmaid, perhaps the most admired painting by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer (1632—1675) to the Metropolitan Museum. To celebrate this extraordinary loan, the Metropolitan Museum will present Vermeer's Masterpiece The Milkmaid, a special exhibition that will bring together all five paintings by Vermeer from its collection, along with a select group of works by other Delft artists, placing Vermeer's superb picture in its historical context. Along with The Milkmaid, important works will be on view by Pieter de Hooch, Gabriël Metsu, Nicolaes Maes, Emanuel de Witte, Hendrick van Vliet, and Hendrick Sorgh, all masters who, like Vermeer, were active during the remarkable period of exploration, trade, and artistic flowering that occurred during the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century. Vermeer's Masterpiece The Milkmaid will mark the first time that the painting has traveled to the United States since it was exhibited at the 1939 World's Fair 70 years ago.
The exhibition is made possible in part by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation.
Accompanied by a publication.
Press preview: Tuesday, September 8, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Imperial Privilege: Vienna Porcelain of Du Paquier, 1718–44
September 22, 2009–March 21, 2010

The second porcelain factory in Europe able to make true porcelain in the manner of the Chinese was established in Vienna in 1718. Founded by Claudius Innocentius du Paquier, the small porcelain enterprise developed a highly distinctive style that remained Baroque in inspiration throughout the history of the factory, which was taken over by the State in 1744. Du Paquier produced a range of tablewares, decorative vases, and small-scale sculpture that found great popularity with the Hapsburg court and the Austrian nobility. This exhibition will chart the history of the development of the Du Paquier factory, setting its production within the historic and cultural context of Vienna in the first half of the 18th century. The porcelain to be featured will be drawn from both the Metropolitan Museum and the premier private collection of this material.
The exhibition is made possible by Eloise W. Martin and the Melinda and Paul Sullivan Foundation for the Decorative Arts.
Accompanied by a publication.
Press preview: Monday, September 21, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Looking In: Robert Frank's: The Americans
September 22–December 27, 2009

This exhibition will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Americans, Robert Frank's influential suite of black-and-white photographs made on a cross-country road trip in 1955–56. Although Frank's depiction of American life was criticized when the book was released in the U.S. in 1959, it soon became recognized as a masterpiece of street photography. Born in Switzerland in 1924, Frank is considered one of the great living masters of photography. The exhibition will feature all 83 photographs published in The Americans and will be the first time that this body of work is presented to a New York audience. In addition, the exhibition will include a full set of contact sheets that Frank used to create the book; earlier photographs made in Europe, Peru, and New York; a short film by the artist on his life; and his later re-use of iconic images from the series.
The exhibition is made possible by Access Industries and the Blavatnik Family
Foundation.
Additional support is provided by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation.
It was organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Accompanied by a catalogue.
Press preview: Monday, September 21, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Watteau, Music, and Theater
September 22–November 29, 2009

The exhibition will demonstrate the place of music and theater in Watteau's art, exploring the tension between an imagery of power, associated with the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and a more optimistic and mildly subversive imagery of pleasure, developed in opera-ballet and theater in the first years of the 18th century. It will show that the painter's utopian vision was directly influenced by musical works devoted to the island of Cythera, the home of Venus, and to the Venetian carnival, and will shed new light on, and offer new interpretations of, the subjects of a number of Watteau's pictures. In addition to material drawn from various departments of the Museum, there will be a number of major loans of paintings and drawings by Watteau and his contemporaries from other collections in the United States and Europe. The exhibition is made possible by The Florence Gould Foundation.
It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
The catalogue is made possible by the Drue E. Heinz Fund.
Press preview: Monday, September 21, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Eccentric Visions: The Worlds of Luo Ping (1733–1799)
October 6, 2009–January 10, 2010

Luo Ping was one of the most versatile, original, and celebrated artists in 18th-century China. The youngest of the so-called Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou, he was a fiercely independent artist whose works—including portraits, landscapes, and flower paintings—deeply influenced the course of later Chinese painting. Organized by the Museum Rietberg, Zurich, the exhibition, which consists of 37 paintings by Luo Ping, members of his family, and his mentor Jin Nong, is drawn primarily from leading museums in China and will feature a number of "National Treasures" that have never been shown in the West. In New York it will be complemented by around a dozen works from the Museum's collection and from several local private lenders.
The exhibition is made possible by Credit Suisse.
Additional support is provided by The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation.
The exhibition was organized by the Museum Rietberg, Zurich.
Accompanied by a catalogue.
Press preview: October 5, 10:00 a.m.–noon

American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765-1915
October 12, 2009–January 24, 2010

This loan exhibition of more than 100 masterpieces of American painting explores a major mode of artistic expression from the pre-Revolutionary era to the beginning of World War I: figural scenes of ordinary people engaged in life's tasks and pleasures. In the exhibition's first section (ca. 1765–1830), John Singleton Copley, Charles Willson Peale, Samuel F. B. Morse, and others produce evocative portraits that tell personal stories and reflect the shift from colonies to nation. The second section (ca. 1830–1860) includes multi-figured compositions by William Sidney Mount, George Caleb Bingham, Lilly Martin Spencer, and others that help to define national identity and national character. In the exhibition's third section (ca. 1860–1876), Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, Thomas Eakins, and others respond to the Civil War and, going forward, encode Reconstruction and the Centennial in pictures that contribute to healing the nation's spirit. In the fourth and final section (ca. 1876–1915), Homer and Eakins are joined by John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, John Sloan, George Bellows, and others who respond to new subjects and new expressive modes in an increasingly cosmopolitan age. Throughout, attention is directed to the stories that the artists tell, the means by which they tell them, and how they have been read by contemporaneous and modern observers.
The exhibition is made possible by Alamo Rent A Car, The Marguerite and Frank A. Cosgrove Jr. Fund, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, the Henry Luce Foundation, and the Oceanic Heritage Foundation.
The catalogue is made possible by the William Cullen Bryant Fellows.
Press preview: October 5, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Art of the Samurai: Japanese Arms and Armor, 1156–1868
October 21, 2009–January 10, 2010

This will be the first comprehensive exhibition devoted to the arts of the samurai. Arms and armor will be the principal focus, bringing together the finest examples of armor, swords and sword mountings, archery equipment and firearms, equestrian equipment, banners, surcoats, and related accessories of rank such as fans and batons. Drawn entirely from public and private collections in Japan, the majority of objects date from the rise of the samurai in the late Heian period, ca. 1156, through the early modern Edo period, ending in 1868, when samurai culture was abolished. The martial skills and daily life of the samurai, their governing lords, the daimyo, and the ruling shoguns will also be evoked through the presence of painted scrolls and screens depicting battles and martial sports, castles, and portraits of individual warriors. The exhibition will conclude with a related exhibition documenting the recent restoration in Japan of a selection of arms and armor from the Metropolitan Museum's permanent collection. This will be the first exhibition ever devoted to the subject of Japanese arms and armor conservation.
The exhibition is made possible by The Yomiuri Shimbun.
Additional support is provided by the Jessica E. Smith and Kevin R. Brine Charitable Trust, Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New York, Inc., and Oceanic Heritage Foundation.
The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Agency for Cultural Affairs of the Government of Japan, and the Tokyo National
Museum.
The catalogue is made possible by the Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation, Inc.
Additional support is provided by the Doris Duke Fund for Publications.
Press preview: October 19, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Pablo Bronstein at the Met
October 6, 2009-February 21, 2010

For this exhibition, Pablo Bronstein (b. 1977) will create two new bodies of work addressing the nature of the museum. Several large ink drawings will portray a mythical history of the Metropolitan Museum, imagining the building under construction and giant works of art being transported or installed. In parallel, a series of smaller digital images, to be displayed on tables under glass, will focus on a hypothetical future of the Museum. The exhibition is the sixth in an ongoing series highlighting the work of contemporary artists that has featured Tony Oursler, Kara Walker, Neo Rauch, Tara Donovan, and Raqib Shaw.
Press preview: Monday, October 5, 10:00 a.m. –noon

The Young Archer Attributed to Michelangelo
November 3, 2009

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present the marble sculpture Young Archer, attributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti (Florence 1475- Rome 1564), in its Vélez Blanco Patio beginning this fall for ten years as part of a special loan from the French Republic, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. The Young Archer first entered the United States after it was obtained by architect Stanford White for the Manhattan residence of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney at 972 Fifth Avenue. The fragmentary marble figure of a nude youth, which is missing arms and lower legs, remained in the Fifth Avenue mansion for decades after it become the Cultural Services office of the French Embassy. Displayed in the entrance hall above a fountain, the sculpture was visible from the sidewalk, but remained unremarked until 1990 when it was observed by Metropolitan Museum Curator James David Draper, the first scholar to publish its whereabouts.
In 1997 New York University professor Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt's attribution of the marble to the young Michelangelo caused a stir, but was championed by Draper and many scholars, while others disagreed. The exhibition will include illustrated text panels outlining the Young Archer's history and indicating various schools of thought so that viewers can make up their minds accordingly.
Press preview: Monday, November 2, 10:00 a.m. –noon

Annual Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche
November 24, 2009–January 6, 2010

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 and lighting ceremonies will add to the enjoyment of the holiday display.
The exhibit of the crèche is made possible by gifts to The Christmas Tree Fund and
the Loretta Hines Howard Fund.

The Drawings of Bronzino
January 20–April 18, 2010

This exhibition is the first ever dedicated to Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572), and will present nearly all the known drawings by, or attributed to, this leading Italian Mannerist artist, who was active primarily in Florence. A painter, draftsman, academician, and enormously witty poet, Bronzino became famous as the court artist to the Duke Cosimo I de' Medici and his beautiful wife, the Duchess Eleonora di Toledo. This monographic exhibition will contain approximately 60 drawings from European and North-American collections, many of which have never before been on public view.
Accompanied by a catalogue, authored by a team of international scholars, to be published by the Metropolitan Museum.

Playing with Pictures: The Art of Victorian Photocollage
February 2–May 9, 2010

Sixty years before the embrace of collage techniques by avant-garde artists of the early 20th century, aristocratic Victorian women were already experimenting with photocollage in the 1850s and 1860s. The compositions they made with photographs and watercolors are whimsical and fantastical, combining human heads and animal bodies, placing people into imaginary landscapes, and morphing faces into common household objects. Such images, often made for albums, reveal the educated minds as well as the accomplished hands of their makers. With sharp wit and dramatic shifts of scale akin to those Alice experienced in Wonderland, these images stand the rather serious conventions of early photography on their heads. The exhibition will feature approximately 55 works from public and private collections.
The exhibition is made possible by The Hite Foundation in memory of Sybil E. Hite.
The exhibition was organized by the Art Institute of Chicago.
Accompanied by a catalogue.

The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry
March 2–June 13, 2010

The Belles Heures (1405-1408/9) of Jean de Berry, a treasure of The Cloisters collection, is one of the most celebrated and lavishly illustrated manuscripts in this country. Because it is currently unbound, it is possible to exhibit all of its illuminated pages as individual leaves, a unique opportunity never to be repeated. The exhibition will elucidate the manuscript, its artists – the young Franco-Netherlandish Limbourg Brothers – and its patron, Jean de France, duc de Berry. A select group of precious objects from the same early-15th-century courtly milieu will place the manuscript in the context of the patronage of Jean de Berry and his royal family, the Valois. The exhibition is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Michel David-Weill Fund.
The catalogue is made possible by the Michel David-Weill Fund.

Lamentation for a Prince: Masterpieces of Medieval Tomb Sculpture from the Court of Burgundy
March 2–May 23, 2010

The renovation of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Dijon provides an opportunity for the unprecedented loan of the alabaster mourner figures from the tomb of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, and his wife, Margaret of Bavaria. Each of the 38 statuettes is approximately 40 centimeters (16 inches) high. They were carved by Jean de La Huerta and Antoine Le Moiturier between 1443 and 1470 for the ducal tomb originally in the church of Champmol. They follow the precedent of the mourner figures carved by Claus Sluter and colleagues for the tomb of Duke Philip the Bold (1384-1410). The tombs are celebrated as among the most sumptuous and innovative of the late Middle Ages. The primary innovation was the space given to the figures of the grieving mourners on the base of the tomb, who seem to pass through the real arcades of a cloister. The installation at the Metropolitan will be supplemented by related works from the Museum's collection, including the monumental Enthroned Virgin from the convent at Poligny (established by John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria) that was carved by Claus de Werve, and two mourner figures from the tomb of Jean, the Duke of Berry, uncle of John the Fearless.
Accompanied by a catalogue.

Art of the Korean Renaissance, 1400–1600
Through June 21, 2009

This international loan exhibition presents approximately 45 works of art that illustrate the height of artistic production under court and elite patronage during the first 200 years of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), a time of extraordinary cultural achievements. The diverse yet cohesive group of secular and religious paintings, porcelain, sculpture, lacquer, and metalwork highlights the aesthetics, conventions, and innovations of a Neo-Confucian elite and its artistic milieu. This is the first in a series of special international loan exhibitions at the Museum focusing on significant periods in Korean art history.
The exhibition is made possible by the Korea Foundation and The Kun-Hee Lee Fund
for Korean Art.
The catalogue is made possible by The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation and
The Kun-Hee Lee Fund for Korean Art.
Additional support is provided by the Korea Foundation.

The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984
Through August 2, 2009

This is the first major museum exhibition to focus exclusively on "The Pictures Generation." Educated in the self-reflexive and critical principles of Minimal and Conceptual art, this tightly knit group of artists brought those lessons to bear on a return to recognizable imagery, exploring how images shape our perceptions of ourselves and the world. Featured are 160 works in all media by 30 artists, including Jack Goldstein, Robert Longo, Troy Brauntuch, and Sherrie Levine—artists featured in the original 1977 exhibition entitled "Pictures" at Artists Space—as well as Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, David Salle, Matt Mullican, Louise Lawler, and Dara Birnbaum, among others.
The exhibition is made possible by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and
The Andy Warhol Foundation.
Additional support is provided by The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Inc.
The catalogue is made possible by the Mary C. and James W. Fosburgh Publications
Fund and the Antoinette Kraushaar Fund.

The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion
Through August 9, 2009

Exploring the reciprocal relationship between high fashion and evolving ideals of beauty, The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion focuses on iconic models in the latter half of the 20th century and their role in projecting, and sometimes inspiring, the fashion of their respective eras. The exhibition, organized by historical period from 1947 to 1997, will feature haute couture and ready-to-wear masterworks accompanied by fashion photography and video footage of models who became muses to their generations.
The exhibition is made possible by Marc Jacobs.
Additional support is provided by Condé Nast.
Accompanied by a catalogue.

Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective
Through August 16, 2009

The first major exhibition in New York in 20 years devoted to one of the most important painters of the 20th century, Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective will feature 130 works (65 paintings and 65 archival items) that span the entirety of the artist's full and celebrated career. The landmark exhibition and its accompanying catalogue, which mark the centenary of the artist's birth in Dublin in 1909, will bring together the most significant works from each period of Bacon's career, focusing on the key subjects and themes that run through his extraordinary creative output. This presentation will afford the most comprehensive examination to date of Bacon's sources and working processes, offering a reevaluation of the artist's work in light of a range of new interpretations and archival materials that have emerged since his death in 1992. The Metropolitan will be the sole U.S. venue for this exhibition, which draws from public and private collections around the world.
The exhibition is made possible in part by The Daniel and Estrellita Brodsky
Foundation and Paula Cussi.
The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and
Tate Britain, London, in partnership with the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.
It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the
Humanities. Accompanied by a catalogue.

Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the Middle Ages
Through August 23, 2009

With strokes of genius, artists in the Middle Ages explored the medium of drawing, creating a rich array of works ranging from spontaneous sketches, to powerful evocations of spirituality, to intriguing images of science and the natural world. This exhibition, the first to examine in depth the achievements of the medieval draftsman, includes many works that have never before been lent outside their home countries. Through some 50 examples created in settings as diverse as 9th-century monastic scriptoria to the 14th-century French court, the presentation considers the aesthetics, uses, and techniques of medieval drawings, mastered by artists working centuries before the dawn of the Renaissance. Early maps, artists' sketchbooks, and masterfully decorated manuscripts count among the important loans from American and European museums, and the great national, university, and monastic libraries of Europe.
The exhibition is made possible by the Michel David-Weill Fund.
Additional support is provided by Mrs. Alexandre P. Rosenberg.
The catalogue is made possible in part by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and
the Humanities.

African and Oceanic Art from the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva: A Legacy of Collecting
Through September 27, 2009

The collections of African and Oceanic art in the Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva, begun in the 1920s by Josef Mueller and continued by Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller, represent the culmination of more than eight decades of wide-ranging collecting of works from both regions. Presenting more than 30 highlights from the Barbier-Mueller's holdings of African and Oceanic sculpture, most never before displayed in the United States, this exhibition will explore a rich legacy of connoisseurship. The African works on view will feature a select group of sculptures and masks from western, eastern, and central Africa. From miniature to monumental, made of wood, ivory, metal, and terracotta, the outstanding African works have been selected to illustrate both the creativity of the continent's artists and the discerning eye of the collectors. The Oceanic works will comprise an array of rare and spectacular objects exemplifying the breadth of achievement by artists from across the Pacific. They will include a striking group of figures, masks, and decorative art from Indonesia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Easter Island, and other areas.
The exhibition is made possible by Vacheron Constantin.
It was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in collaboration
with the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva.
Accompanied by a catalogue.

Roxy Paine on the Roof: Maelstrom
Through November 29, 2009 (weather permitting)

American artist Roxy Paine (b. 1966) has created a 130-foot-long by 45-foot-wide stainless-steel sculpture, especially for the Museum's Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden. Giving viewers the sense of being immersed in the midst of a cataclysmic force, Maelstrom (2009) is Paine's largest and most ambitious work to date. The latest in a diverse body of work, this sculpture is one of the artist's Dendroids based on systems such as vascular networks, tree roots, industrial piping, and fungal mycelia. Set against Central Park and its architectural backdrop, the installation explores the interplay between the natural world and the built environment amid nature's inherently chaotic processes.
Beverage and sandwich service will be available on the roof from 10:00 a.m. until closing, including Friday and Saturday evenings.
The exhibition is made possible by Bloomberg.
Additional support is provided by Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon B. Polsky.
The exhibition is also made possible in part by Jill and Peter Kraus.

The New American Wing
Part 2: The Charles Engelhard Court and the Period Rooms
Opened May 19, 2009

A major reordering and upgrading of the American Wing galleries and period rooms has begun, and the final phase is scheduled for completion in early 2011. The Wing will remain open, in part, throughout the three-part project. In Part 2, The Charles Engelhard Court is being transformed to better showcase the sculptures, stained-glass windows, and other works on view, and to facilitate public access. Renovations to the balcony include new glass barrier walls and a rethinking of the ceramics, glass, silver, and pewter installations. The addition of a mezzanine level adds over 3,000 square feet of exhibition space and will house the newly announced promised gift from Robert A. Ellison Jr. of American ceramics, 1876–1956. Many of the 17th- and 18th-century period rooms are being moved or replaced as the Wing's architectural holdings are upgraded. Access to the period rooms is being improved by the installation of a new glass-walled public elevator.
Part 1, New Classical Galleries on the first floor of the American Wing, opened to the public in 2007.

The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries for Byzantine Art and the Medieval Europe Gallery
Opened November 18, 2008

Portions of the Medieval Galleries have been renovated thanks to the generous support of Mary and Michael Jaharis. The apse beneath the Great Hall Stairs has become part of the Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries for Byzantine Art and features the Museum's newly acquired manuscript, the Jaharis Byzantine Lectionary, a rare masterpiece of Byzantine art from around the year 1100. The former Tapestry Hall has become a new gallery of Medieval Europe devoted to works of art in all media from about 1050 to 1300.

Joyce and Robert Menschel Hall for Modern Photography
Opened September 25, 2007

The Joyce and Robert Menschel Hall for Modern Photography is the Metropolitan's first gallery designed specifically for and devoted exclusively to the display of photographs created since 1960. Situated adjacent to the special exhibition galleries for drawings, prints, and photographs and the portion of the Robert Wood Johnson, Jr. Gallery where the earlier history of photography is displayed, Menschel Hall allows the Department of Photographs to show its contemporary holdings within the broader context of photographic traditions and in an exhibition space with appropriate scale and detail. Installations, which change every six months, are drawn from the department's growing permanent collection.

The Wrightsman Galleries for French Decorative Arts
Reopened October 30, 2007

The Wrightsman Galleries for French decorative arts recently underwent extensive renovations to improve climate control, introduce new lighting and fire suppression systems, and incorporate numerous decorative changes. The new lighting, in particular, greatly enhances the revised presentation of the Museum's renowned collection of French furniture and related decorative arts. All of the 18th-century boiseries, as well as many objects, have received conservation treatment and a set of seat furniture has been reupholstered with a modern re-creation of the original embroidered show covers. The galleries include a number of artworks previously not on view, such as a late 18th-century carved and gilded state bed.

Galleries for Oceanic Art
Opened November 14, 2007

The islands of the Pacific Ocean encompass nearly 1,800 distinct cultures and hundreds of artistic traditions in an area that covers about one-third of the earth's surface. The Museum's new permanent galleries for Oceanic art in The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, completely redesigned and reinstalled, present a substantially larger portion of the Museum's Oceanic holdings than was previously on view. Featuring renowned masterworks from the Metropolitan's Oceanic collection as well as recent acquisitions, the installation displays sculpture and decorative arts from the regions of Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Australia. The displays also feature the Museum's first gallery devoted to the arts of the indigenous peoples of Island Southeast Asia.
The publication is made possible by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation and
The MCS Endowment Fund.

Gallery for the Art of Native North America
Opened November 14, 2007

The Museum's renovated gallery devoted to Native North American art displays approximately 90 works made by numerous American peoples. Ranging from the beautifully shaped stone tools known as bannerstones of several millennia B.C. to a mid-1970s tobacco bag, the objects illustrate a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, artistic styles, and functional purposes, all qualities inherent in the art of the peoples of the North American continent. Works include wood sculpture from the Northwest Coast of North America, ivory carvings from the Arctic, wearing blankets from the Southwest, and objects of hide from the Great Plains. Anchored by the Metropolitan's American Indian holdings drawn from the Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, the installation is augmented by loans from the well-known private collections of Ralph T. Coe of Santa Fe and Mr. and Mrs. Charles Diker of New York.

Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture Including the Henry J. Heinz II Galleries
Opened December 4, 2007

The New Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture have opened to the public with renovated rooms and more than 8,000 square feet of additional gallery space—the Henry J. Heinz II Galleries—to showcase works from 1800 through the early 20th century. The renovated and expanded galleries feature all of the Museum's most loved 19th-century paintings, which have been on permanent display in the past, as well as works by Bonnard, Vuillard, Matisse, Picasso, and other early modern artists. Among the many additions are a full-room assembly of "The Wisteria Dining Room," a French art nouveau interior designed by Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer shortly before World War I that is the only complete example of its kind in the United States; Henry Lerolle's large painting The Organ Rehearsal (a church interior of 1885), recently cleaned; a group of newly acquired 19th-century landscape oil sketches; and a selection of rarely exhibited paintings by an international group of artists.

Masterpieces of Islamic Calligraphy from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Through September 1, 2009

Masterpieces of Islamic Calligraphy from the Islamic Art Department's collection will be on display for a period of three months, showcasing the calligraphic art of the Islamic world, from Spain to south Asia and beyond. The works, ranging in date from the 8th to the 19th century will include several richly illuminated Qur'anic manuscripts, as well as sumptuous album pages in a variety of scripts, examples of inlaid metalwork, fine ceramics, and rare textiles with calligraphic elements. Many calligraphic scripts from early kufic to the later refined nasta'liq, will be shown in a range of media, demonstrating the impact and importance of this most quintessential of art forms.

Napoleon III and Paris
Through September 7, 2009

This dossier photography exhibition will focus on the changing shape of Paris during the Second Empire, when the city's narrow streets and medieval buildings gave way to the broad boulevards and grand public works that still define the urban landscape of the French capital. A prologue will introduce Napoleon III and his family, and an epilogue will depict the ruins of Paris in the aftermath of the Commune. Drawn entirely from the Metropolitan's collection, the exhibition will feature portraits of the Imperial family by Gustave Le Gray and Benjamin Delessert; views of old Paris by Charles Marville; photographs of the New Louvre by Edouard Baldus and of the Opera by Delmaet and Durandelle; and scenes of the destruction of Paris and Saint-Cloud during the Commune by Alphonse Liebert and Pierre-Ambrose Richebourg. The exhibition will also include works in other media from various departments of the Museum.
The exhibition is made possible by The Hite Foundation in memory of Sybil E. Hite.

Japanese Mandalas: Emanations and Avatars
June 18—November 29, 2009

The introduction of Esoteric Buddhism to Japan from mainland China in the ninth century forever changed the visual landscape of Japanese religion, and of Japanese art as a whole. The rituals of Mikkyō Buddhism, or the "Secret Teachings," as the newly imported doctrine was called, involve a preponderance of arrestingly beautiful and fearsome images that aim to reveal ultimate truths to the initiated. At the core of Mikkyō is the Mandalas of Both Worlds, paired cosmic diagrams of the Diamond World and the Womb World. The installation explores the art of Mikkyō Buddhism from the models used to create these mandalas to the images they inspired. Important early iconographic drawings, paintings, sculpture, and textiles from the Metropolitan's permanent collection are displayed with outstanding works from the Brooklyn Museum, the Princeton University Art Museum, the Burke Foundation, and several North American private collections.
The exhibition is made possible by The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation.

Cinnabar: The Chinese Art of Carved Lacquer
August 6, 2009—February 21, 2010

Although lacquer is used in many Asian cultures, the art of carving lacquer is unique to China. In this technique, multiple layers (as many as 200) are applied onto a substructure in the shape of a box or some other container, and individually dried and carved to create lush geometric motifs, or lively representations of figures in landscapes and birds flying amidst flowers. This exhibition, which celebrates the Museum's collection, showcases approximately 50 examples of this art form. It features several newly acquired works, as well as an important, recently restored, 18th-century screen that is displayed for the first time.

Silk and Bamboo: Music and Art of China
September 5, 2009–February 7, 2010

This display of approximately 80 musical instruments and works of art from the Museum's collection will provide an historic record of Chinese musical practices from the fifth century to the present day.
The exhibition is made possible in part by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.

Peaceful Conquerors: Jain Manuscript Painting
September 10, 2009–March 21, 2010

The art of the book in medieval India is closely associated with the Jain religious community, and illustrated palm-leaf manuscripts survive from around the 10th century, while those on paper appear after the 12th, when paper was introduced from Iran. The use of paper permitted larger compositions and a greater variety of decorative devices and borders. Significantly, however, the format of the palm-leaf manuscript was retained. By the end of the 14th century, deluxe manuscripts were produced on paper, brilliantly adorned with gold, silver, crimson, and a rich ultramarine derived from imported lapis lazuli. The patrons of the works were mainly Svetambara Jains, who considered the commissioning of illustrated books and their donation to Jain temple libraries to be an important merit-making activity. A selection of these exquisite manuscripts will be on view, along with bronzes sculptures of Jinas and a ceremonial painted textile.

Sounding the Pacific: Musical Instruments of Oceania
November 17, 2009 – September 6, 2010

Music is a universal human phenomenon. Musical instruments and musical expression, however, take an almost infinite variety of forms throughout the world. This is especially true in Oceania (the Pacific Islands) whose more than 1800 different peoples create an astonishing diversity of musical instruments, from familiar types such as drums, flutes, and the Hawaiian ukulele, to unusual forms such as slit gongs carved in the form of ancestral catfish, bullroarers whose eerie whirring sounds are said to be the voices of supernatural beings, and delicate stringed instruments with sounding chambers fashioned from palm leaves. From the tropical rainforests of Island Southeast Asia, to the deserts of Australia, to remote coral atolls, musical instruments in Oceania play central roles in activities ranging from religious rituals and initiations, to feasts, celebrations, courting, and secular entertainment.
This exhibition – the first in an art museum to be devoted exclusively to Oceanic musical instruments – explores the rich diversity of musical instruments created and used in the Pacific Islands. Drawn primarily from the Metropolitan's collections, the exhibition features more than 60 instruments from small personal types such as panpipes and courting whistles to larger forms played at performances heard by the entire community, such as the exquisitely carved temple drums of the Austral Islands or the imposing sacred slit gongs of New Guinea.

Vienna Circa 1780: An Imperial Silver Service Rediscovered
Spring 2010

Following the acquisition in 2002 of two Viennese silver wine coolers from the Sachsen-Teschen Service, most of the set's surviving parts were discovered in a French private collection. This superb ensemble was last displayed at the beginning of the 20th century. Wine coolers, tureens, cloches, sauceboats, candelabra, candlesticks, dozens of plates, porcelain-mounted cutlery, and other kinds of tableware totaling over 350 items, represent the splendor of princely dining during the ancien régime. It was made for Duke Albert Casimir of Sachsen-Teschen (1738-1822), and his consort, Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria (1742-1798) by the Imperial court goldsmith Ignaz Josef Würth. The Sachsen-Teschen Silver Service, an embodiment of Viennese neo-classicism, will be shown in the context of contemporary silver from other countries.
Accompanied by a catalogue to be published by the MMA.

The Lens and the Mirror: Modern Self-Portraits from the Collection
Through July 12, 2009

This installation includes 42 prints, drawings, photographs, and paintings from the Museum's collection of self-portraits and features such artists as Max Beckmann, René Magritte, and Walker Evans. The works, which date from the 1880s to the 1940s, are on view in the North Mezzanine Gallery of the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing for Modern and Contemporary Art.

Broken Flowers and Grass: Nature and Landscape in the Drawings of Anselm Kiefer
Through August 2, 2009

German artist Anselm Kiefer (b. 1945) deploys landscape as an expressive tool in 28 works drawn from the Museum's collection and presented in the Giaconda and Joseph King Gallery in the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing for Modern and Contemporary Art.

Royal Porcelain from the Twinight Collection, 1800–1850
Through August 9, 2009

The porcelain factories of Berlin, Sèvres, and Vienna achieved an extraordinary level of both artistic and technical skill in the first half of the 19th century, and the quality of painted decoration practiced in these factories at that time has never been surpassed. This exhibition brings together approximately 75 extraordinary examples from these three European porcelain manufactories and illustrates the exchange of ideas and styles between the factories that resulted in some of the most remarkable porcelain ever produced. The exhibition is made possible by Richard Baron Cohen.
Accompanied by a related publication.

Living Line: Selected Indian Drawings from the Subhash Kapoor Gift
Through September 7, 2009

This selection of master drawings represents the distillation of the finest works assembled over two generations of collecting by Subhash Kapoor and his late father, Shree Parshotam Ram Kapoor. The exhibition features a wide variety of works on paper executed principally in black ink, sometimes enhanced with watercolor, typically on fine laminated papers. It includes a number of exemplary finished drawings, which were generally retained within artist studios as reference works upon which finished paintings were based. They were also enjoyed as connoisseurs' objects in their own right, to be viewed by the royal patrons in the privacy of their palaces. Others served as understudies for miniature paintings or for murals. These drawings, principally dating from the 18th century, were produced in the royal ateliers of the courts of Rajasthan and the Pahari hills of the Punjab. The exhibition provides an unfettered insight into the creative process that underlies Indian miniature painting and signals the importance of the art of drawing in the later court arts of Hindu India.

Arts of the Ming Dynasty: China's Age of Brilliance
Through September 13, 2009

Drawn entirely from the extensive resources of the Metropolitan Museum, this exhibition presents the rich diversity of art created under China's Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Its 80 paintings and calligraphies chronicle the parallel evolutions of the courtly and the scholar-amateur traditions. These works are complemented by a generous selection of textiles, ceramics, lacquers, cloisonné, jades, and bamboo carvings that showcase the material prosperity experienced under the Ming, whose name aptly translates as "brilliant."

Epic India: Scenes from the Ramayana
March 24 - September 19, 2010

Among the themes most favored for Indian miniature painting are episodes from the great Indian epic the Ramayama. This classic of early Indian literature is infused with mythology and the legendary exploits of the gods, but above all tells the story of Lord Vishnu in his earthly appearance as Rama, a divine-king revered as the embodiment of nobility and virtue. The mythology of Rama provides the subject matter for an important genre of Indian paintings, and a selection of such works will be exhibited here, along with sculptures and a newly acquired spectacular painted cotton textile depicting a scene from the epic.

Tibetan Arms and Armor from the Permanent Collection
Through fall 2010

This installation presents approximately 35 highlights from the Museum's extensive collection of rare and exquisitely decorated armor, weapons, and equestrian equipment from Tibet and related areas of Mongolia and China, dating from the 13th to the 20th century. Included are several recent acquisitions that have never before been exhibited or published.

American Landscapes
Opened May 20, 2008

The first floor of the newly renovated Robert Lehman Wing displays nine large and superb American landscape paintings from the Metropolitan Museum's collection, enabling visitors to view selected highlights of American art during the major reordering and upgrading of the American Wing galleries and period rooms, scheduled for completion in early 2011.

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.

American Impressionism and Realism: A Landmark Exhibition from the Met

This exhibition will explore the American Impressionists' and Realists' responses to modern life, their simultaneous embrace and elision of their era's perplexing novelties. It will feature 71 judiciously selected works—the best of the Metropolitan's paintings from these two historic traditions—which have never before been displayed together and are not likely to be lent again as an ensemble. It comprises paintings by 34 painters, renowned and less well-known, with leading figures such as Impressionists John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, and William Merritt Chase, and Realists John Sloan and William Glackens, each represented by several of their works. This exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in collaboration with the Queensland Art Gallery and Art Exhibitions Australia.
Accompanied by a catalogue.
The Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
May 30–September 20, 2009

Faces of a New Nation: American Portraits of the 18th and Early 19th Centuries from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

A select group of early American portraits will be displayed at Winterthur during the period of closure of the Met's galleries for American Paintings and Sculpture. The approximately 35 portraits—including works by Copley, Stuart, Trumbull, Peale, Sully, and Morse—were inspired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin of the same title that was published in summer 2003. A special edition of the Bulletin will accompany the exhibition.
Henry Francis DuPont Winterthur Museum, Delaware
July 25, 2009–January 24, 2010

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 in the Main Building 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
September 7, October 12 and December 28, 2009;
January 18, February 15, May 31, 2010
All other Mondays Closed
January 1, Thanksgiving, and December 25 Closed

THE CLOISTERS MUSEUM AND GARDENS HOURS

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

March–October:
Tuesdays–Sundays 9:30 a.m.–5:15 p.m.
Mondays Closed

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

Adults $20.00
Seniors (65 and over) $15.00
Students $10.00
Members and children under 12
accompanied by adult Free

Advance tickets available at www.TicketWeb.com or 1-800-965-4827
For more information (212) 535-7710; www.metmuseum.org
No extra charge for any exhibition

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July 15, 2009

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