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"Watteau and Words: A Reading of French Poetry" by Philippe de Montebello at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Monday, October 12, 2009, 4:00 a.m.
Philippe de Montebello, Director Emeritus of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and currently the Fiske Kimball Professor in the History of Culture and Museums, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, returns to the Museum for his first public appearance there since last fall, to offer "Watteau and Words: A Reading of French Poetry" on Thursday, November 19, 2009, at 6:00 p.m. The event will take place in the Museum's Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium in conjunction with Watteau, Music, and Theater, an exhibition presented in honor of Mr. de Montebello, who stepped down from his 31-year directorship of the Museum on December 31, 2008.
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American Stories Exhibition to Open on Columbus Day "Met Holiday Monday"
Monday, October 5, 2009, 4:00 a.m.
The public's first opportunity to visit the landmark exhibition American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life 1765-1915 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be October 12 (Columbus Day), the next "Met Holiday Monday." Met Holiday Mondays are extra public viewing days that take place on the Mondays of major holiday weekends, when historically the Museum has been closed.
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Robert Frank's Groundbreaking Photographs Featured in Major Exhibition Marking 50th Anniversary of His Book The Americans
Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 4:00 a.m.
The 50th anniversary of the publication of The Americans, Robert Frank's ground-breaking book of black-and-white photographs, will be celebrated with the major exhibition Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans, on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art September 22, 2009–January 3, 2010. Robert Frank is one of the great living masters of photography, and his seminal book The Americans captured a culture on the brink of social upheaval. The exhibition traces the artist's process of creating this once-controversial suite of photographs, which grew out of several cross-country road trips in 1955 and 1956. Born in Switzerland in 1924, Frank was an outsider encountering much of America for the first time; he discovered its power, its vastness, and—at times—its troubling emptiness. Although Frank's depiction of American life was criticized when the book was released in the U.S. in 1959, The Americans soon became recognized as a masterpiece of 20th-century art. Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans features all 83 photographs from his original book. Remarkably, the exhibition at the Metropolitan will be the first time that this body of work is presented in its entirety to a New York audience.
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"The Enchantress of Florence: A Conversation With Salman Rushdie" on Visual Imagary in his Recent Novel at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Tuesday, October 6, 2009, at 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 4:00 a.m.
Salman Rushdie's latest novel, The Enchantress of Florence, brings together Florentine Italy and Mughal India, and the cultures that lie between them, in a tale that has been described as a "sumptuous mixture of history and fable." On Tuesday, October 6, 2009, at 6:00 p.m., the Metropolitan Museum of Art Concerts & Lectures series will present a conversation with the author and three art historians – Carmen Bambach, Curator of Drawings and Prints, and Navina Haidar Haykel, Associate Curator of Islamic Art, both of the Museum; and David Roxburgh, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor of Islamic Art History at Harvard University – to explore major themes and visual imagery in his novel.
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New Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum Explores Influence of Music and Theater on the Work of Watteau and His Contemporaries
Sunday, September 20, 2009, 4:00 a.m.
Watteau, Music, and Theater, the first exhibition of paintings by the great early 18th–century French painter and draftsman Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684–1721) in the United States in 25 years, is currently on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art through November 29. The exhibition explores the place of music and theater in the work of the artist, comparing the imagery of power associated with the court of the Sun King, Louis XIV, with a more optimistic and mildly subversive imagery of pleasure developed in contemporary opera-ballet and theater. Showing that the painter's utopian vision was influenced directly by these sister arts, it sheds light on a number of Watteau's pictures.
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Painting in Metropolitan Museum's Collection Reattributed to Spanish Master Velázquez
Tuesday, September 8, 2009, 4:00 a.m.
(New York, September 9, 2009)—Thomas P. Campbell, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced today that a technical examination and cleaning of one of its paintings, formerly ascribed to the workshop of Velázquez, has revealed an autograph work by the great 17th-century Spanish master himself. Velázquez is among the most admired Old Master painters, and his work rarely enters the market. The rehabilitation of this picture thus represents a major "new" acquisition for the Museum, which possesses the finest collection of works by the master in America.
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Keith Christiansen to Chair European Paintings Department at Metropolitan Museum
Monday, September 7, 2009, 4:00 a.m.
(New York, September 8, 2009)—Keith Christiansen, the Jayne Wrightsman Curator of European Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1989 and a member of the Museum's curatorial staff since 1977, has been elected John Pope-Hennessy Chairman of European Paintings, it was announced today by the Metropolitan Museum's Director, Thomas P. Campbell. He will replace Everett Fahy, who retired in June, effective immediately. The election took place at the September 8 meeting of the Board of Trustees.
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Director Thomas P. Campbell Announces New Senior Staff Appointments at Metropolitan Museum
Monday, September 7, 2009, 4:00 a.m.
(New York, September 8, 2009)—Thomas P. Campbell, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, today announced four major senior staff appointments:
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Carrie Rebora Barratt Named Associate Director for Collections and Administration at Metropolitan Museum
Monday, September 7, 2009, 4:00 a.m.
(New York, September 1, 2009)—Thomas P. Campbell, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced today that he has named Carrie Rebora Barratt to the position of Associate Director for Collections and Administration, effective immediately. She was formally elected by the Board of Trustees at their September 8 meeting. Most recently, she has been a Curator in the Metropolitan Museum's Department of American Paintings and Sculpture, and Manager of The Henry R. Luce Center for the Study of American Art.
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Peggy Fogelman Elected to Lead Metropolitan Museum's Educational Programs and Initiatives
Monday, September 7, 2009, 4:00 a.m.
(New York, September 8, 2009)—Thomas P. Campbell, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced today that Peggy Fogelman will join the Museum as the Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chairman of Education on October 26, 2009. Ms. Fogelman is currently Director of Education and Interpretation at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. She will succeed Kent Lydecker, who retired from the Museum in December. Ms. Fogelman was elected at the September 8 meeting of the Board of Trustees.