Gifts of Art: The Met’s 150th Anniversary


Book Description

In honor of the institution’s 150th year, this publication celebrates the 203 collectors who committed more than 2,500 works of art to The Met for the sesquicentennial. These meaningful additions change the ways in which we think about the Museum’s holdings and deepen the stories The Met can tell about all the works in the collection. Highlights featured in this volume include an imposing stone head from an Egyptian sarcophagus; an opulent horse armor commissioned by King Philip IV of Spain; a Tibetan war mask; an early American daguerreotype; Sir Edward Burne-Jones’s enigmatic watercolor; an early twentieth-century Japanese bamboo shrine cabinet; poignant photographs made by Robert Frank for his iconic series The Americans; the Cuban American artist Carmen Herrera’s 1949 tondo Iberic; Steve Miller’s 1961 Gibson guitar; important works by Georg Baselitz; art from the Iranian Saqqakhana school; the vibrant bark painting of Aboriginal Australian artist Nonggirrnga Marawili; and recent creations by artists such as Cecily Brown, Peter Doig, Robert Gober, and Wangechi Mutu.




Making The Met, 1870–2020


Book Description

Published to celebrate The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 150th anniversary, Making The Met, 1870–2020 examines the institution’s evolution from an idea—that art can inspire anyone who has access to it—to one of the most beloved global collections in the world. Focusing on key transformational moments, this richly illustrated book provides insight into the visionary figures and events that led The Met in new directions. Among the many topics explored are the impact of momentous acquisitions, the central importance of education and accessibility, the collaboration that resulted from international excavations, the Museum’s role in preserving cultural heritage, and its interaction with contemporary art and artists. Complementing this fascinating history are more than two hundred works that changed the very way we look at art, as well as rarely seen archival and behind-the-scenes images. In the final chapter, Met Director Max Hollein offers a meditation on evolving approaches to collecting art from around the world, strategies for reaching new and diverse audiences, and the role of museums today.




About Time


Book Description

“An hour, once it lodges in the queer element of the human spirit, may be stretched to fifty or a hundred times its clock length; on the other hand, an hour may be accurately represented on the timepiece of the mind by one second.” —Virginia Woolf, Orlando: A Biography, 1928 About Time: Fashion and Duration traces the evolution of fashion, from 1870 to the present, through a linear timeline of iconic garments, each paired with an alternate design that jumps forward or backward in time. These unexpected pairings, which relate to one another through shape, motif, material, pattern, technique, or decoration, create a unique and disruptive fashion chronology that conflates notions of past, present, and future. Virginia Woolf serves as “ghost narrator”: excerpts from her novels reflect on the passage of time with each subsequent plate pairing. A new short story by Michael Cunningham, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Hours, recounts a day in the life of a woman over a time span of 150 years through her changing fashions. Scholar Theodore Martin analyzes theoretical responses to the nature of time, underscoring that time is not simply a sequence of historical events. And fashion photographer Nicholas Alan Cope illustrates 120 fashions with sublime black and-white photography. This stunning book reveals fashion’s paradoxical connection to linear notions of time.




The New British Galleries


Book Description

Celebrating the reopening of the British Galleries, this Bulletin documents years of renovation and rethinking that formed these majestic spaces, which represent more than four hundred years of British decorative arts from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century. Featuring artwork in an extraordinary range of styles and materials, this publication and the redesigned galleries it documents highlight a panoply of Britain’s artistic and economic aspirations. The texts place these works—from masterpieces commissioned by rulers Elizabeth I and George III to luxury goods imported from abroad, including small boxes, scent bottles, and miniature vanity cases—in a uniquely British context while also acknowledging and addressing their global significance. Stunning photography captures highlights from the more than seven hundred works of art in the collection as well as installation views, both past and present.




Splendid Legacy


Book Description

Issued in conjunction with the exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art of over 450 works of art from the legendary Havemeyer collection, formed at the turn of the century by pioneering American patrons of art Henry O. and Louisine Havemeyer, this lavishly illustrated catalogue combines 800 illustration (176 in color) with the collaborative efforts of 27 authors who examine the various aspects of the collection in summarizing essays and in entries on individual works. In addition, one essay is devoted to the Manhattan residence designed for the Havemeyers by Tiffany and Colman. An exhaustive 90-page chronology offers a perspective on the formation of the collection, outlining the roles of friend and advisor Mary Cassatt and a succession of dealers, and focusing on the history of the family and its business interests. 9.25x12.25" Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




Art of the Dogon


Book Description




Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 2018–2020: Part I: Antiquity to the Late Eighteenth Century


Book Description

The first of a special two-part edition of Recent Acquisitions, this Bulletin celebrates works acquired by the Museum in 2019 and 2020, many of which were gifts bestowed in honor of the Museum’s 150th anniversary year. Highlights of Recent Acquisitions 2019–2020 include a sumptuous set of handscrolls depicting The Tale of Genji, a second-century Roman wellhead, a drawing of a landscape by French artist Claude Lorrain, and nearly one hundred Indian paintings. This publication also honors the many generous contributions from donors that make possible the continued growth of The Met's collection.




Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 2016–2018


Book Description

Every two years the fall issue of the Met's quarterly Bulletin celebrates notable recent acquisitions and gifts to the collection. Highlights of Recent Acquisitions 2016–2018 includes Battle of the Little Bighorn by a Lakota artist who fought in that famous conflict as a young man, an exceedingly rare Chinese landscape from the tenth century that is the capstone of a gift of twelve important works from the Oscar L. Tang family, Francesco Salviati’s recently rediscovered portrait of the Florentine doctor Carlo Rimbotti, and examples of a Qur’an and a Hebrew Bible from medieval Spain. This publication also honors the many generous contributions from donors that make possible the continued growth of the Met's collection. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Verdana}




Recent Acquisitions: A Selection: 2018–20: Part II: Late Eighteenth Century to Contemporary


Book Description

The second volume in a special two-part edition of Recent Acquisitions, this Bulletin celebrates works acquired by the Museum in 2019 and 2020, many of which were gifts bestowed in honor of the Museum’s 150th anniversary year. Highlights of this volume include Jean-Baptise Carpeaux’s astonishing portrayal of an African woman in the marble sculpture Why Born Enslaved!, a monumental storage jar by African American potter and poet David Drake, an exquisite lacquer mirror case depicting an 1838 meeting between the crown prince of Iran and the tsar of Russia, and Carmen Herrera’s abstract work dating to 1949, Iberic. This publication also honors the many generous contributions from donors that make possible the continued growth of The Met's collection.




I (Heart) Art


Book Description

A charming, chunky book filled with more than 150 works we love from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The book is divided into different themes for readers to explore, including people, animals, transportation, and places. Accompanying text provides readers with insight into each piece without distracting from the beauty of the work. From paintings to collages to sculptures to photographs, I (Heart) Art helps readers discover the best that the museum has to offer. Among the artists included are Jennifer Bartlett, Romare Bearden, Rosa Bonheur, Canaletto, Mary Cassatt, Marc Chagall, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Hokusai, Winslow Homer, Edmonia Lewis, Claude Monet, Georgia O’Keeffe, Alfred Stieglitz, and Andy Warhol.