Schedule of Exhibitions
Through December 2014

CONTACT NUMBER FOR USE IN TEXT IS (212) 535-7710.

Upcoming Exhibitions and Installations
Continuing Exhibitions and Installations
New Galleries
Traveling Exhibition 

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS and INSTALLATIONS   

Assyria to Iberia at the Dawn of the Classical Age
September 22, 2014–January 4, 2015 
With the collapse of the Bronze Age, the interconnected world of palatial centers that had developed over two thousand years in the Near East and the eastern Mediterranean fragmented into an array of decentralized merchant and colonial endeavors amid a growing, powerful Assyrian Empire. Yet the legacy of the “Age of Heroes” survived, not only in the writings of Homer, but also in the brilliantly carved ivories, fine metalwork, and luxurious jewelry created by Near Eastern artisans in the early first millennium B.C. This was the world of Odysseus, in which land and sea trade proliferated, with Phoenician merchants expanding through Europe and North Africa, reaching the “pillars of Hercules.” The Assyrians were the first of a succession of western Asiatic powers to conquer foreign lands and carry off tribute and craftsmen to embellish their magnificent palaces. It marked the beginning of a transformative era in the Aegean, characterized by the influx of Near Eastern figural imagery depicting a supernatural world of fantastic creatures. The visual arts of this time create a compelling picture of the origins and development of artistic traditions in the western world and their deep roots in the interaction between the ancient Near East and the lands along the shores of the Mediterranean.
Major support is provided by The Hagop Kevorkian Fund, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman.
Additional support is provided by an Anonymous Foundation and the Friends of Inanna.
It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Accompanied by a catalogue. 


Kimono: A Modern History
September 27, 2014–January 19, 2015
To tell the fascinating story of the survival of indigenous traditional dress, even as international fashion trends captivated elite societies around the world, this exhibition focuses on the evolution of designs in Japanese garments from the 17th century to the present day. Among the more than 60 kimomo that will be featured, including some 20 loans, are both sumptuous garments custom-made for wealthy patrons and everyday wear available for sale to the general public. The kimono is a simple garment but one with a complex history shaped by the evolution of weaving, dyeing, and embroidery techniques. The kimono has long served as a tableau on which to inscribe, describe, and absorb the effects of modernization, and as such it chronicles Japan’s efforts to shape its national identity on the world stage. The exhibition will also include paintings, prints, and illustrated books, as well as lacquerware and ceramics that present kimono as a pictorial theme. 
The exhibition is made possible by The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation Fund.  

Thomas Hart Benton’s America Today Mural Rediscovered
September 30, 2014-April 19, 2015
This exhibition celebrates the gift of Thomas Hart Benton’s epic mural America Today from AXA to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in December 2012. Benton (1889–1975) painted this mural for New York’s New School for Social Research to adorn the school’s boardroom in its International Style modernist building on West 12th Street. Showing a sweeping panorama of American life throughout the 1920s, America Today ranks among Benton’s most renowned works and one of the most remarkable accomplishments in American art of the period. The Museum will feature the 10-panel mural in a space that recreates the boardroom in which it originally hung, while adjacent galleries will show many of Benton’s studies for both the mural itself and for exploring its key themes: industry, progress, and urban life.
The exhibition is made possible by AXA.
AXA is the brand name of AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company (New York, New York), the primary U.S. subsidiary of the global AXA Group (AXA S.A.).  
Accompanied by a Bulletin.

Thomas Struth: Photographs  
September 30, 2014-February 16, 2015
Featuring 14 photographs, this exhibition surveys the Metropolitan’s unparalleled holdings of this contemporary master’s work and includes major photographs acquired since the Museum’s celebrated retrospective 11 years ago. Two key loans from private collections in New York City complete the presentation: Struth’s iconic interior study Pantheon, Rome(1990) and his signature image from the “Paradise” series, Paradise #1, Daintree, Australia (1998).

Grand Design: Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Renaissance Tapestry
October 8, 2014–January 11, 2015 
This international loan exhibition will explore the achievements of the great northern Renaissance master, Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502-1550). As the impressive body of his surviving drawings makes clear, Coecke was a master designer, devising projects across media, from tapestry series, to panel paintings, prints, stained glass and goldsmith’s work. The exhibition will unite 19 of the grand tapestries he designed, woven in the great workshops of Brussels for collectors from Emperor Charles V, France’s François Ier and Henry VIII of England, to Cosimo de Medici, juxtaposed with a selection of his panel paintings, including a monumental triptych,  and more than 30 drawings and prints. Coecke was also the translator and editor of influential Italian architectural treatises that will be included in the exhibition. In the midst of this productivity, Coecke also travelled extensively, and among the exhibits will be the fascinating woodcut frieze he designed, over 14 feet in length, recording his experiences in Constantinople.
The exhibition is made possible by the Siebold Stichting Foundation and Fukushima Medical University. 
Additional support is provided by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the Gail and Parker Gilbert Fund, the Diane W. and James E. Burke Fund, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and The Hochberg Foundation Trust.
Accompanied by a catalogue. 

Cubism: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection
October 20, 2014–February 16, 2015 
This major exhibition of the essential Cubists—Georges Braque (French, 1882–1963), Juan Gris (Spanish, 1887–1927), Fernand Léger (French, 1881–1955), and Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973)—and accompanying publication will trace the invention and development of Cubism through the Leonard A. Lauder Collection, with its unparalleled holdings in this foundational modernist movement. This will mark the first time that the Collection, which Mr. Lauder pledged to the Museum in April 2013, is shown in its entirety, including the most recent addition, Léger’s The Village. The exhibition will present these 81 iconic paintings, works on paper, and sculpture: 17 by Braque, 15 by Gris, 15 by Léger, and 34 by Picasso.  
The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication that will serve as a resource for the study of these four artists and their role in inventing and extending the definitions of Cubism.
The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Press Preview: Tuesday, October 14, 10:00–noon.

Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire
October 21, 2014–February 1, 2015
The Costume Institute’s first fall exhibition in seven years will explore the aesthetic development and cultural implications of mourning fashions of the 19th and early 20th centuries.  Approximately 30 women’s ensembles, many of which are being exhibited for the first time, will reveal the impact of high-fashion standards on the sartorial dictates of bereavement rituals as they evolved from 1815 to 1915.  The thematic exhibition will be organized chronologically and feature objects primarily from The Costume Institute’s collection, including mourning gowns worn by Queen Victoria and Queen Alexandra. 

Painting with Thread: Chinese Tapestry and Embroidery, 12th–19th Century
October 25, 2014–July 26, 2015
The thinness and strength of silk makes it the ideal material for weaving or embroidering elegant painting-like images characterized by fluent outlines, rich colors, and even the addition of calligraphic inscriptions and seals. Drawn from the Metropolitan’s superb holdings of Chinese tapestries and embroideries, this installation presents dramatic landscapes, flowers and birds, famous immortals, and stunning examples of calligraphy, showcasing the artistic imagination and technical sophistication of China’s textile artists. 

Sumptuous: East Asian Lacquer, 14th –20th Century
October 25, 2014–July 26, 2015
For more than two millennia, lacquer has been a primary medium in the arts of East Asia. This installation explores the many ways in which this material has been manipulated to create designs by painting, carving, or by inlaying precious materials such as gold or mother-of-pearl.  Drawn entirely from the permanent collection, this display celebrates the artistry and creativity needed to work this demanding material while also illustrating both the similarities and the differences found in the lacquer arts of China, Korea, and Japan.    
      
Treasures from India: Jewels from the Al-Thani Collection
October 28, 2014–January 25, 2015 
The Al-Thani collection of Indian jeweled arts represents a collector’s fascination with royal works created over a period of 400 years for Indian nobility, including the imperial Mughals, the Nizams of Hyderabad, and the Maharajas of Rajasthan. The collection also contains jewelry representing a wider international taste, such as Indian-inspired works by Cartier and other 20th-century and contemporary jewelers. Highlights of the Al-Thani collection, about 55 works, include a small number of exceptional courtly objects from the 17th and 18th centuries and a larger group of important gems and jewels reflecting later exchanges, post 1800, between India and the West.
The exhibition is made possible by Cartier.
Press Preview: Monday, October 27, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Bartholomeus Spranger: Splendor and Eroticism in Imperial Prague
November 4, 2014–February 1, 2015 
The first major exhibition devoted to this fascinating artist who served a cardinal, a pope, and two Holy Roman Emperors, it will examine Spranger’s remarkable career through a selection of his rare paintings, drawings, and etchings, most of which will be on loan from international museums and private collections. Bartholomeus Spranger (1546–1611) emerged as one of the most prominent artists at the court of Rudolf II in Prague and the most significant Northern Mannerist artist of his generation. Adding a unique dimension to the exhibition will be works by artists who helped shape Spranger’s artistic horizon.
The exhibition is made possible by the Placido Arango Fund and The Schiff Foundation.  
Accompanied by a catalogue.
Press Preview: Monday, November 3, 10:00 a.m.–noon

El Greco in New York 
November 4, 2014–February 1, 2015 
To commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death of El Greco, the Metropolitan Museum, which holds the most comprehensive collection of works by El Greco outside the Museo del Prado, in Madrid will show together its superlative collection of works by or associated with the Cretan-born artist.
Press Preview: Monday, November 3, 10:00 a.m.–noon

The Art of Collecting Arms and Armor: Notable Acquisitions 2003–2014
November 11, 2014–December 6, 2015
Some 30 works from Europe, the United States, Japan, India, and Tibet, acquired between 2003 and 2014, will be featured in this exhibition. Beyond the well-established categories of finely decorated armor, edged weapons, and firearms, the selection will feature works on paper—mainly drawings and prints—lacquer and textiles, all of which are vital, but often overlooked, in the understanding and appreciation of arms and armor as a universal art form. 
Press Preview: Monday, November 10, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Madame Cézanne 
November 19, 2014–March 15, 2015 
This portrait exhibition of paintings, drawings and watercolors traces Paul Cézanne’s lifelong attachment to Hortense Fiquet–his most painted model. She profoundly inflected his portrait practice for more than two decades. Model, wife, and the mother of young Paul, Hortense was a vital lifelong companion. And yet she was never welcome, neither by his family nor his friends nor, over time, by art historians. Her expression in the painted portraits has been variously described as remote, inscrutable, dismissive, even surly. The portraits are unforgiving. They demand time and patience. They are at once alluring and confounding. And yet they record a complex working dialogue, one which this unprecedented exhibition will explore on many levels. The drawings and watercolors, often taken from fleeting observations of family, illuminate yet another facet of Cézanne’s practice. For all the apparent distance between artist and sitter in the oils, the sketchbook sheets share a tender intimacy often overlooked in the narrative of the artist’s life and work. The exhibition and its accompanying publication will examine an interrelationship of profound importance to Paul Cézanne, his artistic practice, and to the trajectory of portraiture in the modern world. 
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.
Accompanied by a catalogue. 
Press Preview: Monday, November 17, 10:00 a.m.–noon 

Ragamala: Picturing Sound
June 14– December 14, 2014 
The celebration of musical modes, ragas, in painting is a recurring theme in later Indian court painting. The unifying theme is the expression of love, characterized as that between a hero and a heroine, their emotional states explored in sound and imagery, linked to the six seasons – summer, monsoon, autumn, early winter, winter, and spring. Court painters actively explored capturing the essence or flavor of particular ragas as a parallel art form. These paintings, created as suites of pictures, evocatively express the intersections of poetry and music in Indian court art. The exhibition will feature Indian paintings and musical instruments from the Museum’s collection.

The Sacred Lute: The Art of Ostad Elahi
August 5, 2014–January 11, 2015 
In many cultures, music is a catalysis for introspection, meditation, and healing. This exhibition will explore the influence of Ostad Elahi, a Persian thinker, musician, and jurist whose transformation of the art of tanbur—an ancient, long-necked lute—paralleled his innovative approach to the quest for self-knowledge. This small exhibition features instruments from Ostad Elahi’s personal collection, lent by his family.  
The exhibition is made possible in part by the Nour Foundation. 
Press Preview: Monday, August 4, 10:00 a.m.–noon

Innovation and Spectacle in Ancient Chinese Bronze Casting 
Fall 2014—spring/summer 2015
This exhibition features three spectacular fifth century B.C. ritual vessels never before displayed together outside China. Lent by the Shanghai Museum, these wine vessels—a pair of pear-shaped containers and a unique four-legged vessel in the form of a fantastic buffalo—exemplify the artistic sophistication and technical virtuosity of the Houma foundry, a major center of bronze casting in the Eastern Zhou dynasty (770-256 B.C.). The bronzes will be accompanied by two ceramic mold fragments illustrating how the bronzes’ intricate surface décor was achieved and by a small number of related bronzes from the Metropolitan’s collection.

The Pre-Raphaelite Legacy: British Art and Design 
Through October 26, 2014 
Young and impassioned, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood sought to revitalize mid-19th-century British painting with the sincerity and vivid intensity they admired in medieval and early Renaissance art. Although the Brotherhood was short-lived, its influence was profound. This exhibition brings together some 30 objects from across the Museum and from local private collections to highlight the second generation of the Pre-Raphaelites, focusing on the key figures Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Paintings, drawings, furniture, ceramics, stained glass, textiles, and book illustrations from the 1860s through the 1890s, many united for the first time, demonstrate the enduring impact of Pre-Raphaelite ideals as they were adapted by different artists and developed across a range of media. At a time of renewed appreciation for art of the Victorian age, the installation directs fresh attention toward the Metropolitan's little-known holdings in this important area.
The exhibition is made possible by the Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust.
Accompanied by a brochure.
    

The Roof Garden Commission: Dan Graham with Günther Vogt
Through November 2, 2014
American artist Dan Graham has created a site-specific installation atop The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden—the second in a new series of commissions for the outdoor site. The installation comprises one of Graham's unique steel and glass pavilions—structures for which he has been renowned since the early 1980s—set within a specially engineered landscape designed in collaboration with Swiss landscape architect Günther Vogt. Constructed of hedge rows and curves of two-way mirrored glass, the pavilion is both transparent and reflective, creating a changing and visually complex environment for visitors.
The exhibition is made possible by Bloomberg.
Additional support is provided by Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon B. Polsky.
Accompanied by a publication.


Making Pottery Art: The Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection of French Ceramics (ca. 1880–1910)
Through March 15, 2015 
Technically experimental and aesthetically ambitious, the vases made by French potters in the years around 1900 pushed the boundaries of the ceramic medium. The recently acquired Robert A. Ellison Jr. Collection of European Art Pottery includes pieces by the master ceramists Ernest Chaplet, Auguste Delaherche, and Jean Carriès, works of imposing size, beautiful in shape, and dazzling in their glazes. Also presented are the works that inspired them, ranging from Asian ceramics to German stoneware.
       

Early American Guitars: The Instruments of C. F. Martin 
Through December 7, 2014 
Christian Frederick Martin, founder of the great American guitar firm C. F. Martin & Co., was the son of a cabinet maker in Markneukirchen, Saxony. Martin learned to build instruments in the style of the famed Johann Georg Stauffer in Vienna. Due to the restrictive guilds in Markneukirchen, Martin moved to the United States in 1833, settling first in New York City then moving later to Nazareth, Pennsylvania. In the United States, Martin encountered the Spanish-style guitar and incorporated elements from that tradition into his own Viennese style of instrument construction. The result was a new and distinctly American form of the guitar, a style that would become important as a basis for other American makers of the instrument. This exhibition includes 35 instruments from the Martin Museum in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, the Metropolitan Museum, and several private collections.
The exhibition is made possible by The Martin Guitar Company.


Fabergé from the Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation Collection
Through November 27, 2016 
When Matilda Geddings Gray acquired her first piece of Fabergé for her niece, in 1933, she was already a wealthy and sophisticated collector, and the name of the Russian artist-jeweler Peter Carl Fabergé (1846–1920) was almost unknown in the United States. Since then, Fabergé’s art has become widely known and his exquisite objects are now internationally sought after. On long-term loan to the Museum, this selection from the Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation collection, one of the finest in the world,  includes objects created for the Russian Imperial family, such as the Lilies-of-the-Valley Basket—the most important Fabergé creation in the United States—and three Imperial Easter Eggs.
       
NEW GALLERIES

Chinese Treasury
Opened May 19, 2014 
This gallery, which recreates the type of collecting and display found in 18th-century treasure cabinets (duobaoge), features some of the Museum’s most precious works of Chinese art including sculptures and vessels of ivory, rhinoceros horn, glass, porcelain, and jade.  Touchpads allow viewers to read introductory texts for all of the objects as well as to explore further by grouping the works of art digitally by material and by themes.

The Costume Institute’s Anna Wintour Costume Center
Opened May 8, 2014
The Costume Institute galleries reopened on May 8 as the Anna Wintour Costume Center after a two-year renovation, reconfiguration, and updating. The 4,200-square-foot main Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Gallery features a flexible design that lends itself to frequent transformation, as well as a zonal sound system and innovative projection technology. The redesigned space also includes: the Carl and Iris Barrel Apfel Gallery, which orientate visitors to The Costume Institute’s exhibitions and holdings; a state-of-the-art costume conservation laboratory; an expanded study/storage facility that will house the combined holdings of the Met and the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection (which was transferred to the Met in 2009); and The Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library, one of the world’s foremost fashion libraries. The Costume Institute was last refurbished in 1992. 

New European Paintings Galleries, 1250–1800 
Opened May 23, 2013
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s galleries for its world-renowned collection of European Old Master paintings from the 13th through the early 19th century reopened in May 2013 after an extensive renovation and reinstallation. This is the first major renovation of the galleries since 1951 and the first major reinstallation of the collection since 1972. Gallery space has increased by almost one third, making it possible to display more than 700 paintings from the collection and giving the entire floor of galleries a grandeur not seen in half a century. The reinstallation also captures historical crosscurrents between countries and contacts between artists by placing them in adjoining rooms. The Metropolitan Museum’s collection of early Netherlandish, Italian, and French paintings is wide-ranging and includes landmark pictures, while its collection of Dutch school paintings must be counted among the finest in the world. As for individual artists, the representation of Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, Poussin, Velázquez, Goya, and David is the strongest in the western hemisphere, and there are individual masterpieces known to every student of art history, such as Bruegel’s The Harvesters and David’s The Death of Socrates. Key works have been cleaned, conserved, or reframed, and important new loans complement the collection.

TRAVELING EXHIBITION

Ancient Egyptian Queens and Goddesses: Treasures from 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 
Based exclusively on objects from the Museum’s Egyptian art collection, this exhibition highlights the central position of female deities in the ancient Egyptian pantheon and the key roles played by the women of the royal family. Prominent in the exhibition are objects created for Hatshepsut, one of the few ancient Egyptian women to rule as pharaoh. The exhibition was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in collaboration with The Asahi Shimbun.

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum July 19–September 23, 2014 
Kobe City Museum October 13, 2014–January 12, 2015 


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October 10, 2014