A Walk Through the American Wing


Book Description

The Metropolitan’s renowned American Wing is where the Museum’s unsurpassed collection of American fine and decorative art is on permanent public display, from masterpieces of painting, sculpture, and drawing to exquisite examples of the finest American furniture, silver, glass, ceramics, and textiles. This handsome volume presents an overview of the collection and provides an informative walk through the American Wing’s richly furnished period rooms and stunning architectural displays. These include the magnificent marble façade of the Branch Bank of the United States—the entrance to the original American Wing when it opened in 1924—and the restored living room of a Frank Lloyd Wright prairie-style house. The comprehensive survey of paintings and sculpture begins with early colonial portraiture and from there follows the emergence and development of a national fine-arts tradition, including significant movements and genres such as the Hudson River School, neoclassical sculpture, and American Impressionism. -- Metropolitan Museum of Art website.




The American Style


Book Description

Issued in connection with an exhibition held June 7 through Nov 6, 2011, at the Museum of the City of New York.




Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1964-2005


Book Description

The present volume, Publications of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1964-2005, is a successor to a volume published by the Museum in 1965 entitled Publications of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1870-1964. These two bibliographic volumes endeavor to list all the known books, pamphlets, and serial publications bearing the Museum's imprint, and issued by the institution during the first 135 years of its existence (through June 2005). The first volume was compiled by Albert TenEyck Gardner, at the time an Associate Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture, and the present volume has been compiled from the Annual Reports issued by the Museum during the relevant years. Together the two volumes testify to the tremendous contributions made to knowledge by the curators and conservators of the Metropolitan and by the many other experts who have contributed to the Museum's exhibition catalogues. Various issues of the Bulletin emphasize the great sweep of the Museum's acquisitions during these years, and the exhibition catalogues--a number of them Alfred H. Barr Jr., Award or the George Wittenborn Award--testify to the continuity of the institution's dedicated program to enrich people's lives through knowledge of art. (This title was originally published in 2006.)




Duncan Phyfe


Book Description

"Duncan Phyfe (1770-1854), known during his lifetime as the "United States Rage," to this day remains America's best-known cabinetmaker. Establishing his reputation as a purveyor of luxury by designing high-quality furniture for New York's moneyed elite, Phyfe would come to count among his clients some of the nation's wealthiest and most storied families. This richly illustrated volume covers the full chronological sweep of the craftsman's distinguished career, from his earliest furniture-- which bears the influence of his 18th-century British predecessors Thomas Sheraton and Thomas Hope--to his late simplified designs in the Grecian Plain. More than sixty works by Phyfe and his workshop are highlighted, including rarely seen pieces from private collections and several newly discovered documented works. Additionally, essays by leading scholars bring to light new information on Phyfe's life, his workshop production, and his roster of illustrious patrons. What unfolds is the story of Phyfe's remarkable transformation from a young immigrant craftsman to an accomplished master cabinetmaker and an American icon."--Publisher's website.




American Impressionism & Realism


Book Description

An exhibition publication featuring curatorial essays and works from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York




American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art


Book Description

The Metropolitan Museum's preeminent collection of early colonial furniture is expertly documented in this long-awaited publication. It covers the full spectrum of furniture forms made during the 17th and early 18th centuries--from chairs and other seating to tables, boxes, various types of chests and cupboards, and desks. Each of the 141 objects is thoroughly described with detailed information on provenance, construction, condition, inscriptions, dimensions, and materials. Photographed anew in color for this volume, each piece is explicated in terms of the styles and craftsmanship of the period and is evaluated in light of comparative pieces in public and private collections throughout the country. One appendix contains photographic details of construction and decorative elements, and another has drawings of joints and moldings.




Girl Meets God


Book Description

Like most of us, Lauren Winner wants something to believe in. The child of a reform Jewish father and a lapsed Southern Baptist mother, she chose to become an Orthodox Jew. But as she faithfully observes the Sabbath rituals and studies Jewish laws, she finds herself increasingly drawn to Christianity. Taking a courageous step, she leaves behind what she loves and converts. Now the even harder part: How does one reinvent a religious self? How does one embrace the new without abandoning the old? How does a convert become spiritually whole. In GIRL MEETS GOD, this appealingly honest young woman takes us through a year in her search for a religious identity. Despite her conversion, she finds that her world is still shaped by her Jewish experiences. Even as she rejoices in the holy days of the Christian calendar, she mourns the Jewish rituals she still holds dear. Attempting to reconcile the two sides of her religious self, Winner applies the lessons of Judaism to the teachings of the New Testament, hosts a Christian seder, and struggles to fit her Orthodox friends into her new religious life. Ultimately she learns that faith takes practice and belief is an ongoing challenge. Like Anne Lamott's, Winner's journey to Christendom is bumpy, but it is the rocky path itself that makes her a perfect guide to exploring spirituality in today's complicated world. Her engaging approach to religion in the twenty-first century is illuminating, thought-provoking, and most certainly controversial.




The Little Bookroom Guide to New York City with Children


Book Description

The Little Bookroom Guide to New York City with Children focuses on what parents with good taste want to know: how to see New York City in a child-centered way… without passing up any of the city’s sophisticated food, sights, or shops just because the kids are along. Organized around EAT, PLAY, SHOP, and STAY, the authors take you to well-known museums and attractions, but also take you out of tourist-thronged Midtown and into corners of the city that New Yorkers themselves love to take their children. They share strategies for must-sees that can easily overwhelm (the dazzling but daunting Metropolitan Museum of Art, Chinatown, Chelsea Market) and share the offbeat and little known places their own kids love (a matzoh factory, a classic film showing, a chance to dance with ballerinas). Chicken tenders? Fuggedaboutit! The authors take you to the hip food truck scene, to world-class restaurants that welcome children (one has a $5 noodle bowl for kids that’s under the radar), to word-of-mouth neighborhood favorites that only the locals frequent, and offer an array of delectable options in every part of town, at every price. Shopping in NYC is like nowhere else: you can find cool kids clothes and toys that make unforgettable souvenirs of an unforgettable trip.




The Greater Journey


Book Description

"New York Times"-bestselling, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author McCullough presents the enthralling story of the American painters, writers, sculptors, and doctors who journeyed to Paris between 1830 and 1900 and how they altered American history.




All the Beauty in the World


Book Description

"A fascinating, revelatory portrait of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and its treasures by a former New Yorker staffer who spent a decade as a museum guard"--