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John Townsend: Newport Cabinetmaker
Monday, March 7, 2005, 5:00 a.m.
During the second half of the 18th century, the New England seaport of Newport, Rhode Island, became a leading center of American furniture-making, with members of the Townsend and Goddard families dominating the trade. Preeminent among these stellar cabinetmakers was John Townsend (1733-1809), whose meticulous craftsmanship and elegant designs set a standard that was seldom matched. The Metropolitan Museum of Art will celebrate his pivotal role in the history of American furniture this spring with John Townsend: Newport Cabinetmaker.
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Matisse: The Fabric of Dreams--His Art and His Textiles
Monday, March 7, 2005, 5:00 a.m.
The first exhibition to explore Henri Matisse's (1869–1954) lifelong fascination with textiles and its profound impact on his art will open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on June 23, 2005. Matisse: The Fabric of Dreams – His Art and His Textiles features approximately 30 paintings and 35 works on paper displayed alongside examples from Matisse's personal collection of fabrics, costumes, and carpets. The exhibition marks the first public showing of Matisse's textile collection – referred to by the artist as his "working library" – which has been packed away in family trunks since Matisse's death in 1954. The exhibition remains on view at the Metropolitan through September 25, 2005.
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Miniature Masterpieces on View in Cameo Appearances Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum
Monday, March 7, 2005, 5:00 a.m.
Cameo Appearances will put on display, beginning March 8, more than 160 superb examples of the art of hardstone carving from The Metropolitan Museum of Art's wide-ranging collections. Inspired by the recent acquisition of a magnificent jasper carving of the head of Medusa by Benedetto Pistrucci, the exhibition traces cameo carving from Greco-Roman antiquity to the 19th century, highlighting the Metropolitan's rich holdings of neoclassical Italian cameos by the great gem-carvers Pistrucci, Girometti, and Saulini. Cameo Appearances also considers related subjects such as cameo glass, illuminates the differences between cameos and intaglios, and touches on fakery.
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Special Rooftop Viewing Opportunity Extended at Metropolitan Museum for The Gates
Sunday, February 27, 2005, 5:00 a.m.
(Monday, February 28, 2005)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art's special 'window' onto The Gates – its opening of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden – will be extended through this week, it was announced today. Offering visitors exceptional views of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's spectacular work of art in Central Park – The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979-2005, the rooftopwill be kept open to the public, weather permitting, until the monumental work of art is dismantled. The Gates' 16-day installation in Central Park officially ended on Sunday, February 27, but the extended viewing opportunity provides additional opportunities for the public to view the gates positioned near the Museum until they are disassembled by volunteers sometime during the week of March 1.
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Matisse: The Fabric of Dreams His Art and His Textiles
Wednesday, February 2, 2005, 5:00 a.m.
The first exhibition to explore Henri Matisse's (1869-1954) lifelong fascination with textiles and its profound impact on his art will open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on June 23, 2005. Matisse: The Fabric of Dreams – His Art and His Textiles features approximately 30 paintings and 35 works on paper displayed alongside examples from Matisse's personal collection of fabrics, costumes, and carpets. The exhibition marks the first public showing of Matisse's textile collection – referred to by the artist as his "working library" – which has been packed away in family trunks since Matisse's death in 1954. The exhibition remains on view at the Metropolitan through September 25, 2005.
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Metropolitan Museum Offers Special Viewing Opportunities and Events in February for Christo and Jeanne-Claude's The Gates in Central Park
Wednesday, February 2, 2005, 5:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will offer visitors an array of viewing opportunities – highlighted by the special off-season opening of its Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden (weather permitting) – as well as other events to provide exceptional access to Christo and Jeanne-Claude's widely anticipated public work of art The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979–2005, which will be installed in Central Park February 12-27, 2005 (weather permitting).
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From Filippo Lippi to Piero della Francesca: Fra Carnevale and the Making of a Renaissance Master
Monday, January 31, 2005, 5:00 a.m.
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet."
--William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
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First Major Retrospective of Rubens Drawings in the U. S. Opens at Metropolitan Museum
Friday, January 14, 2005, 5:00 a.m.
The first major retrospective ever to be devoted to the drawings of Peter Paul Rubens in the United States will open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on January 15, 2005. Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640): The Drawings will bring together 115 of the versatile Baroque master's finest and most representative drawings, including dozens that have never before been on view in the United States. Court painter, diplomat, and international celebrity, Rubens was one of the most influential artists of northern Europe in the 17th century. Best known for his paintings, this universal genius is among the most imaginative of draftsmen. His topics vary from engaging biblical scenes to alluring nudes, from animated and stately portraits to poignant animal studies, and from landscapes sketched from nature to complex allegories.
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SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS JANUARY - APRIL 2005
Friday, December 31, 2004, 5:00 a.m.
New Exhibitions
Upcoming Exhibitions
Continuing Exhibitions
New and Recently Opened Installations
Closing Soon
Traveling Exhibitions
Visitor Information
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Renaissance Splendors of Dresden Court on View at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sunday, October 24, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
Visitors to the Electoral-princely collections in Renaissance Dresden encountered room after room of treasures proclaiming the refined splendor of the court—exquisite gold and silver objects embellished with precious and semi-precious stones and exotic materials, ivory turnings, ebony furniture, clocks, automatons, and decorated tools. In the first exhibition on Dresden to be held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 25 years, Princely Splendor: The Dresden Court, 1580-1620, nearly 250 of these major works of art and precious objects—on loan from the Dresden State Art Collections (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden), and in particular the fabled Green Vault—will be on view. This exhibition will illustrate the richness of one of the most spectacular princely collections of Europe—the Dresden Kunstkammer—as it existed around 1600. Reflecting the broad range of the collections amassed by the Electors of Saxony during this period of unusual prosperity, the exhibition will also include rare arms and armor, paintings, and sculptures, including several bronzes by Giambologna.
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Landmark Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Art— Featuring Recently Excavated Treasures Never Seen in U.S.— Opens at Metropolitan Museum
Wednesday, September 29, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present a landmark exhibition of ancient Chinese art – the largest ever to be organized with loans from across Mainland China – beginning October 12, 2004. Bringing together more than 300 works of extreme rarity and art historical importance, many of which have never before been exhibited outside China, China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD will tell the story of Chinese art and culture from the Han to the Tang dynasty, a period of major transformation for Chinese civilization due to massive immigrations from northern Asia into China and extensive trade contacts with all parts of Asia. The exhibition will feature objects in an astounding variety of media – including objects in jade, bronze, gold, silver, metal, stone, and wood, as well as textiles, works on paper, and wall paintings – ranging in size from an enormous sculpture of a fantastic animal to a small gold coin.
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Heritage of Power: Ancient Sculpture from West Mexico The Andrall E. Pearson Family Collection
Monday, September 27, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
An exhibition of more than 40 ceramic sculptures made in the western region of Mexico two thousand years ago will open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on October 19, 2004. The volcanic highland areas of the contemporary Mexican states of Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit are the source of the three-dimensional sculptures that portray ancestors, warriors, ballplayers, dancers, and musicians, among other depictions of life and ritual. Ranging in size from a few inches to about two-and-a-half feet in height, the sculptures in Heritage of Power: Ancient Sculpture from West Mexico – The Andrall E. Pearson Family Collection are drawn from holdings that emphasize the human figure, and its activities and concerns.
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SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS SEPTEMBER–DECEMBER 2004
Sunday, August 29, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS
SEPTEMBER–DECEMBER 2004
New Exhibitions
Upcoming Exhibitions
Continuing Exhibitions
New and Recently Opened Installations
Traveling Exhibitions
Visitor Information
Closing Soon
SPECIAL NOTE
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Gilbert Stuart, Renowned Portraitist of America's First Presidents, To Be Featured in Full Retrospective at Metropolitan Museum
Sunday, August 29, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), the most successful and resourceful portraitist of America's early national period, is best remembered today for his many incisive likenesses of George Washington. This fall, in the artist's first retrospective in nearly four decades, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will show nearly 100 exceptional works that reveal his talent for capturing both the appearance and the character of his many prominent clients. Representing all periods of Stuart's long career and featuring works drawn from private collections and museums in America and Britain, Gilbert Stuart opens on October 21.
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Princely Splendor: The Dresden Court, 1580–1620
Sunday, August 29, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
Visitors to the Electoral-princely collections in Renaissance Dresden encountered room after room of treasures proclaiming the refined splendor of the court—exquisite gold and silver objects embellished with precious and semi-precious stones and exotic materials, ivory turnings, ebony furniture, clocks, automatons, and decorated tools. In the first exhibition on Dresden to be held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 25 years, Princely Splendor: The Dresden Court, 1580-1620, nearly 250 of these major works of art and precious objects—on loan from the Dresden State Art Collections (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden), and in particular the fabled Green Vault—will be on view. This exhibition will illustrate the richness of one of the most spectacular princely collections of Europe—the Dresden Kunstkammer—as it existed around 1600. Reflecting the broad range of the collections amassed by the Electors of Saxony during this period of unusual prosperity, the exhibition will also include rare arms and armor, paintings, and sculptures, including several bronzes by Giambologna.
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The Colonial Andes: Tapestries and Silverwork, 1530–1830
Tuesday, August 3, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
The arrival of the Spanish in South America in 1532 dramatically transformed the Andean cultural landscape, changing societies that had evolved over thousands of years within less than one generation. The arts, however, continued to thrive amid the upheavals, and an unspoken dialogue evolved between Andean and European artistic traditions. A major exhibition of more than 175 works of art focusing on two uniquely rich and inherently Andean art forms that flourished during the Colonial period – tapestry and silverwork – will open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 29, 2004. The Colonial Andes: Tapestries and Silverwork, 1530–1830 will present the finest examples of Inca and colonial garments and tapestries, as well as ritual and domestic silverwork, drawn from museums, churches, and private collections in South America, Europe, and the United States.
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Romare Bearden at the Met
Monday, August 2, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
On the occasion of the citywide celebration of the artist's life and work, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present a special installation, Romare Bearden at the Met, from October 19, 2004, through March 6, 2005.
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The Armored Horse in Europe, ca. 1475 to 1625
Monday, August 2, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
Forty rare examples of European horse armor – varying in style, construction, and decoration – will go on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on December 14, 2004. The exhibition, The Armored Horse in Europe, ca. 1475 to 1625 – drawn exclusively from the Museum's own collection – will cover the peak period of the use of horse armor from around 1500 through its eventual obsolescence in the early 17th century. Established in 1912, the Metropolitan's Department of Arms and Armor houses the most extensive collection of European horse armor in the United States and one of the most comprehensive in the world.
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China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD
Monday, August 2, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present a landmark exhibition of ancient Chinese art – one of the largest ever to be organized with loans from across Mainland China – beginning October 12, 2004. Bringing together more than 300 works of extreme rarity and art historical importance, many of which have never before been exhibited outside China, China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD will tell the story of Chinese art and culture from the Han to the Tang dynasty, a period of major transformation for Chinese civilization due to massive immigrations from northern Asia into China and extensive trade contacts with all parts of Asia. The exhibition will feature objects in an astounding variety of media – including objects in jade, bronze, gold, silver, metal, stone, and wood, as well as textiles, works on paper, and wall paintings – ranging in size from an enormous sculpture of a fantastic animal to a small gold coin.
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The Games in Ancient Athens: A Special Presentation to Celebrate the 2004 Olympics
Monday, July 26, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
In honor of the modern Olympics that will take place in Athens this summer, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will display a special selection of ancient Greek vases, bronzes, and additional works showcasing aspects of the games that were held in Athens in antiquity. Opening on June 29, The Games in Ancient Athens: A Special Presentation to Celebrate the 2004 Olympics will feature some 50 works of art created between the sixth and the fourth century B.C. depicting chariot races, foot races, wrestling, and discus throwing, among other athletic activities. This presentation, which is drawn entirely from the Museum's extensive collection of Greek art, will be located within the Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery, as well as in adjacent areas of the New Greek Galleries, where examples of athletic art already on view will be highlighted.