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Landscapes by Revered Chinese Painter Wang Hui in Fall Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum
Monday, August 18, 2008, 4:00 a.m.
The paintings of Wang Hui, the most celebrated artist of late 17th-century China, will be featured in an exhibition opening on September 9 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Landscapes Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui (1632-1717) will trace Wang's artistic development – from his early years as a brilliant reinterpreter of classic landscape styles to the pinnacle of his career, when he was chosen to illustrate the Kangxi Emperor's epic 1689 inspection tour of China's cultural heartland – through 27 paintings drawn from the Taipei and Beijing Palace Museums, Shanghai Museum, and several North American collections. The presentation of Wang Hui's career will incorporate 11 works that have never before been exhibited in the West, including two enormous panoramic landscape handscrolls. Wang's paintings will be complemented by a selection of earlier landscapes, drawn largely from the Metropolitan Museum's holdings, that will highlight the sources of Wang Hui's inspiration.
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Metropolitan Museum Announces Recipients of 2008—2009 Fellowships for Research, Travel, and Study
Wednesday, August 13, 2008, 4:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will host a group of 50 fellows, who consist of graduate students and scholars from the United States and around the world. The fellows will undertake study and research projects, either at the Metropolitan Museum or abroad, for periods ranging from two months to one year, most of them beginning in September 2008.
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Metropolitan Museum to Open on Labor Day "Met Holiday Monday"
Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 4:00 a.m.
Galleries, shops, and dining areas at The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be open to the public on September 1 (Labor Day), the next "Met Holiday Monday." This special viewing day is also the last chance for visitors to see two popular exhibitions: Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy, which has already had more than 400,000 visitors since it opened on May 7, and Radiance from the Rain Forest: Featherwork in Ancient Peru.
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Metropolitan Museum Acquires Lucas van Leyden Drawing
Wednesday, July 23, 2008, 4:00 a.m.
(New York, July 24, 2008)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art has acquired a drawing of the Archangel Gabriel announcing the birth of Christ by the Netherlandish master Lucas van Leyden (Leyden ca. 1494 – 1533 Leyden), it was announced today. The drawing, dating to the 1520s, enters the Museum's collection through the combination of a promised gift by Leon D. and Debra R. Black and purchase by the Museum. It is now the only drawing by the artist in America.
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Buddhist Manuscript Paintings on View at Metropolitan Museum This Summer
Thursday, July 17, 2008, 4:00 a.m.
An installation of 30 palm-leaf folios from Indian illuminated manuscripts will open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on July 29, 2008. Featuring some of the earliest surviving Indian manuscripts, dating from the 10th to the 13th century, Early Buddhist Manuscript Painting: The Palm-leaf Tradition will center on one remarkable Mahayanist Buddhist text, the Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra ('Perfection of Wisdom'), illustrated through the Museum's rare holdings of eastern Indian and Nepalese illuminated palm-leaf manuscripts, book-covers, initiation cards, thankas, and sculptures.
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Nan Rosenthal Retires and Marla Prather Joins Modern Art Department at Metropolitan Museum
Wednesday, July 9, 2008, 4:00 a.m.
(New York, July 10, 2008)—After 15 years as Senior Consultant for modern and contemporary art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nan Rosenthal will retire on July 1, it was announced today by Gary Tinterow, Engelhard Curator in Charge of the Department of Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art at the Metropolitan.
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Metropolitan Museum of Art Announces 2008-2009 Season of Concerts
Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 4:00 a.m.
The 55th Season Opens With Philippe de Montebello Narrating Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Includes the Return of Itzhak Perlman and the Perlman Music Program; Ten Pianists Including Till Fellner Launching a Beethoven Sonata Cycle; the Complete Beethoven String Quartets; the Farewell Season of the Guarneri String Quartet; Patti Smith, Richie Havens, and Lesley Gore; and Music from Mali, Mexico,
Spain, and Turkey
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Luxury Objects of Carved and Inlaid Semiprecious Stones to be Displayed at Metropolitan Museum
Monday, June 30, 2008, 4:00 a.m.
The Italian term pietre dure – literally meaning "hard stones" – refers to the artistic cutting of semiprecious stones, such as agate, lapis lazuli, and other colorful hardstones, to fashion extravagant luxury objects, from architectural ornament and furniture to ornate display items and personal jewelry. Opening July 1 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the landmark exhibition Art of the Royal Court: Treasures in Pietre Dure from the Palaces of Europe will feature more than 170 masterpieces in carved stone, many of them embellished with gold and silver mounts or decorated with exotic woods and other coveted materials. From the Renaissance to the early 19th century, the affluent societies of Europe were mesmerized by works in pietre dure, both as diplomatic gifts and as objects of desire. The presentation at the Metropolitan will offer the most comprehensive overview ever dedicated to this magnificent medium.
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Statement by The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Accident Involving Italian Terracotta Relief Sculpture by Della Robbia
Monday, June 30, 2008, 4:00 a.m.
(NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JULY 1, 2008)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art is saddened to report that late last night or early this morning, a late 15th-century glazed terracotta relief sculpture of Saint Michael the Archangel by Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525), came loose from metal mounts that have long held the framed lunette securely to the wall above a doorway in its European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Galleries. The 62-x-32-inch relief, which has been on view in its current location since 1996, fell to a stone floor and suffered some damage. Preliminary inspection indicates that the relief has not been irrevocably harmed and that it can be repaired and again presented to the public.
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Major Retrospective of British Artist J. M. W. Turner Opens at Metropolitan Museum on July 1
Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 4:00 a.m.
The first major retrospective of the work of celebrated British artist J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) to be presented in the United States in more than 40 years will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning July 1, 2008. The exhibition J. M. W. Turner will represent the artist's extensive iconographic range, from seascapes and topographical views to historical subjects and scenes from his imagination. More than half of the approximately 140 paintings and watercolors on view will be on loan from Tate Britain, which houses the Turner Bequest, the most comprehensive collection of the artist's work in the world. These will be complemented by works from other collections in Europe and North America.