NY Observer > The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Klaus G. Perls, Art Dealer Who Gave Picassos to the Met, Dies at 96

Gillian Reagan — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:59:04 -0400

Klaus G. Perls, the art dealer who gave one of the largest donations ever received by the the Metropolitan Museum of Art's department of 20th-century, died on Monday. His daughter confirmed his death.

African art, as well as works by Picasso, Modigliani, Braque, Léger, Soutine and Pascin have been among their bequests.

Former Met Director to Take on Teaching

Gillian Reagan — Tue, 20 May 2008 10:08:25 -0400

Philippe de Montebello, who stepped down as director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art after 31 years in January, will become New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts' first professor to teach the history, evolution and culture of museums. An announcement will be made tonight at a dinner celebrating the institute’s 75th anniversary, according to the New York Times. In addition to teaching at N.Y.U., he will advise the university on its plan for a new overseas campus at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

“It’s a wonderful new chapter,” said Mr. de Montebello, who earned his master’s degree in art history at the institute. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Mr. de Montebello, who turned 72 on Friday, said he planned to teach full time. But rather than lecturing on what might seem most obvious — how to run a museum, for example, or the history of 15th- and 16th-century French and Netherlandish painting, his scholarly area of expertise — he said he would cover the history of collecting and connoisseurship and the evolution of museums, including the central issue of how the museum’s mission can be defined in today’s world. read more »

Koons’ Expensive Distractions Clutter Met’s Summer Rooftop

Mario Naves — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:09:42 -0400

A few months back, I bumped into a colleague at the Met’s Courbet exhibition. After a polite disagreement about the merits of the 19th-century French painter—he’s a fan, I’m not—we extolled the Met’s stellar run of historical exhibitions mounted under the guidance of since-retired director Philippe de Montebello: Ingres, tapestries, Velázquez, the Greek and Roman galleries, the list goes on.

When the discussion turned to the museum’s forays into contemporary art, the requisite eyeball-rolling ensued. read more »

Morrison Heckscher, On the Park

Tom Acitelli — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:06:04 -0400

Location: Your new book, Creating Central Park, asserts that the park was a testament to democracy, lowercase ‘d.’ But it wasn’t born of it. Can you explain the vote for the park and the general push for the park?

Mr. Heckscher: I would like to start by saying that the whole issue of the park has to do with open space in Manhattan. Central Park is, shall we say, the conclusion of 50 years of political machinations of how to provide, for the city and Manhattan, open space mostly for health reasons—for air and space for the health of the public, and recreation.

Why hadn’t it been done beforehand? read more »

Advertisements for Himself

Mario Naves — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:52:17 -0400

The 19th-century French painter Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) was a big personality, a cultural subversive, a braggart and showman worthy of P. T. Barnum. He was also a paint-handler of exquisite grit and outrageous sensuality—traits that combined into an artist whose greatness just barely redeemed his insufferable narcissism. By the time you’re through with the first gallery of the Met’s “Gustave Courbet,” ringed with 20 or so self-portraits of the artist, you’ll have had quite enough of Courbet.

The arrogance of youth is everywhere in these pictures. read more »

City Museum Disposes of Rockefeller Rooms

Gillian Reagan — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:22:32 -0500

The Museum of the City of New York has decided to quietly dispose of its Rockefeller Rooms to make way for a modernization of its Fifth Avenue building, The Art Newspaper reports. For 70 years, the two period rooms from the Manhattan townhouse of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller have been the museum’s main attractions. The dressing room is likely to go the Metropolitan Museum of Art which is currently reinstalling its suite of American period rooms, slated to reopen in January 2009. read more »

Met Museum Chairman Houghton Gets $4.9 M. for Majestic Co-Op

Max Abelson — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:23:17 -0500

When the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s colossal 71-year-old director Philippe de Montebello announced his upcoming retirement last month, New York’s patrician class wept and gnashed its teeth. Mr. de Montebello, a descendent of Napoleonic aristocracy, and the owner of that honeyed voice on the Met’s audio tours, is irreplaceable.

Now the chairman of the museum’s board, James R. read more »

Met Hires Firm to Find New Director

Gillian Reagan — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 10:14:57 -0500

Now that Philippe de Montebello has announced his departure, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has hired a New York-based executive-recruiting firm to look for a new director. Mr. Montebello plans to retire by the end of the year after leading the museum for more than three decades. The firm, Phillips Oppenheim, specializes in executive searches for the not-for-profit sector with expertise in the museum field (they have helped the Whitney and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago fill executive chairs before). They will help organize a global search and coordinate with the museum's search committee, which is chaired by Annette de la Renta, the Met announced yesterday in a press release. According to the Wall Street Journal, the headhunting task comes as some museum directors across the country are grappling with increasing budgets, decreasing federal and corporate funding, and several years of flat attendance. At least 20 U.S. museums are currently searching for new directors, according to the Association of Art Museum Directors, a New York-based nonprofit representing more than 180 museum directors.

Full press release after the jump. read more »

Met Trades Krater for Vases to Settle Dispute With Italy

Gillian Reagan — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:40:01 -0500

The Euphronios krater, an ancient Greek bowl painted by the Greek artisan Euphronios, has long been the subject of a spat between Italy and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met bought the krater in 1972 for $1 million from Robert Hecht, an antiquities dealer who is now on trial in Rome on charges of conspiring to traffic in looted artifacts (the Observer's Jason Horowitz explains here). read more »

Met's De Montebello Resigns

Gillian Reagan — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:20:37 -0500

Philippe Montebello, the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the past 30 years, announced to the Met’s board of trustees yesterday afternoon that he will resign from his post at the end of the year or until they could find a replacement.

The New York Times reports: read more »