The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Koons’ Expensive Distractions Clutter Met’s Summer Rooftop
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
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
(1844-45).
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
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
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
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
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
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.
Fabiola Beracasa Shows Off Semen Necklace, Pink Dress at Met
Who knew socialite Fabiola Beracasa was such a stellar broadcast journalist? In addition to her tireless circuit of charity events, Ms. Beracasa took time out to host a sneak peek at the Met’s “blog.mode: addressing fashion” exhibit, which runs through April 13.
In this clip, Ms. Beracasa has a conversation with Andrew Bolton, curator of the Costume Institute for the past five years. And there are some very compelling featured pieces in the show: Vivienne Westwood’s bubblegum-pink gown, which was fashioned from a single piece of fabric; an interesting item designed by John Galliano for Dior; a “very controversial” item called the Incubus Necklace, which was made from five vials of human semen; and a backless, very revealing dress worn on the runway by model Sophie Dahl.
The Met Opens Doors for New Years Eve Day-Browsing
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is usually closed on Mondays, has opened its doors until 5:30 p.m. tonight. So start your "more museum-going" resolution early and check out Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor, which closes on Jan. read more »
Met Gets Diane Arbus Archives
Diane Arbus' estate has given the photographer's intimate, complete archives to the Met as a gift, along with hundreds of early and unique photographs; negatives and contract prints of 7,500 rolls of film; and hundreds of glassine print sleeves that she personally annotated before her death by suicide in 1971, according to the New York Times. read more »
Meet Harry Mount: Wanker, Wordsmith
Harry Mount is the author of a playful and, considering the historically staid subject matter, irreverent book on the principles of Latin, Amo, Amas, Amat…and All That (Short Books). New Yorker scribe Lauren Collins writes a fittingly playful, albeit not altogether irreverent, “Talk of the Town” on the 36-year-old journalist.
Strolling around the New Greek and Roman galleries at the Metropolitan Museum the other day, Mr. Mount, a self-described “Wanker,” began to wax on the etymology of the word “dick.” The subject, em, arose because he was standing before the very object that supposedly spawned the anatomical term. “It’s very useful, if you’ll forgive the vulgarity, to remember the word ‘dick.’ D-I-C-C, for Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. Ionic is a more feminine column. It’s always got the, as it were, twirly-whirly girls’ curls,” he told the magazine, before describing his London primary school’s policy, wherein Latin classes were required for boys but not girls, as “a hangover.”
Then, sitting to sup at a diner near the Met, the conversation turned decidedly juicy. “I was watching Henry V on the plane over—there’s an accepted period of laddish drunkenness in all cultures,” he said. “The Greeks were keen on wine and sexual misbehavior. There’s a great bit of Plato, often read at weddings, about two halves of the same soul being joined. They always neglect to read the part that says the greatest love of all is between two male halves.” (Mr. Mount maintains this homoerotic contention despite having been rolled down a hill in a Porta-Potty during his salad days at Oxford.) As an aside, The Daily Transom hopes to hear plenty more from said writer in the near future. read more »
Met's Costume Gala to Get Hollywood Treatment
It's a bird...It's a plane...It's Anna Wintour! “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy,” the name of a forthcoming exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum, will also be the theme of the museum's annual Costume Institute gala, where guests are likely to encounter quite the spectacle, reports WWD. Nathan Crowley, who is probably best known for his set designs for movies like Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Batman Begins and The Dark Night, has been hired as the museum’s creative consultant for an exhibit, which will launch on May 5, the same night as the costume fête. The exhibit’s superhero theme will also dictate the look and feel of the party—the aesthetics for which Mr. Crowley—along with Raul Avila—will decide. Giorgio Armani will be the gala’s honorary chair, alongside co-chairs George Clooney, Julia Roberts and, of course, Ms. Wintour.
Met Director Considers Rutelli, "Stolen" Antiquities
Over two years ago, the Italian culture minister, Francesco Rutelli, embarked on a mission to recover stolen antiquities that had somehow landed in the collections of several American museums. At the heart of the conflict was the Metropolitan Museum of Art and its director, Philippe de Montebello. In early 2006, the Italian government convinced the Met to return 20 works of Greek and Roman art that the Italians said were illegally removed from their country. There have been plenty other controversies like this based on cultural property and its return. (Bloggers have shrieked about it.) Mr. Montebello discusses the issue with Time's Richard Lacayo.
LACAYO: The Met's acquisitions policy is updated from time to time. The last update was in September, 2004. Your museum's policy now is that it will not acquire any object that cannot be shown to have been out of its country of origin for at least ten years. Have you considered further changes as a consequence of your dealings last year with Mr. Rutelli? read more »
Ceremonial Offerings
The Met reconsiders the rituals that gave traditional African art its meaning. read more »
At Apollo Circle Benefit, Guests Get Big-Screen Treatment
As young patrons of the Metropolitan Museum of Art arrived in black-tie attire for the Apollo Circle benefit dinner, which was held last Thursday, they didn’t even need to wait until the next day to peruse Patrick McMullan’s party pics to see everyone who was there. Images taken by the photographer were projected onto the walls of the museum, showing guests as they arrived. The large, cinema-sized photos provided most guests with their ideal introduction: “Hey, everybody! Guess who’s here? ... Me!”, they seemed to shout.
If, like us, you were absent from the hoity-toity fete, check out Park Avenue Peerage’s photos of event chairs Tory Burch, Marina Rust Connor and Marjorie Gubelmann. Joining the fashionable host trio at the party were do-good socialites like Alexis Bryan, Byrdie Bell, Renee Rockefeller, Gigi Mortimer, Elizabeth Lindemann and Berry and Jane Bloomingdale.
Olympians [Park Ave. Peerage]
Financiers Honored Over Artists at the Met?
The Guardian's Richard B. Woodward is perturbed about the Met's recent shows, including its current Age of Rembrandt exhibition, in which large, scripted letters and superfluous descriptions seem to credit the benefactors more than the artists.
He writes:
"[T]he jingling sound of money [is] audible throughout and the subliminal appeals for more of it to replenish the museum's coffers. The title of the show is a misnomer and a ruse. The curators aren't examining the Dutch society that allowed Rembrandt and his contemporaries to flourish but rather celebrating the New York society that could afford to buy their work.
...
With the art market out of control, and old masters priced as bargains compared to the insane auction results for modern and contemporary art, the New York public has a right to expect its most established public museum will offer a critique on or at least haven from the frenzy of the marketplace. But all three of the recent Met shows seemed to exalt those with the smarts or cash to play it and succeed.
Well, "the rich New York collectors and board members who gave us the art and money to build a world-class group of 17th-century Dutch pictures" shows are nothing compared to the Chanel shows forced on the Guggenheim by meddling curator Karl Lagerfield.
Philippe de Montebello Makes Big Money at the Met
Philippe de Montebello, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is the highest paid director of a nonprofit in the country, according to a survey of nonprofit executives conducted by The Chronicle of Philanthropy. read more »
Neo Rauch’s Fractured Fables
All That Glitters Isn’t Gold: Weimar Visages Laid Bare
Making Faces: At the Met, Middle Age's Stony Features
Making Faces: At the Met, Middle Age’s Stony Features
Bond Street Bind
Rendering of 363-371 Lafayette.
Tenants at 20 Bond Street and the developer 363-371 Layfayette Street, Olmstead Propeties, have been in negotiations for months concerning the new development. Aided by big guns from the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art who wrote letters supporting Mr. Close and 20 Bond Street's other tenants, the tenants and the developer are negotiating a mutually beneficial plan that will allow the building to be developed while preserving light for the next-door property.
An attorney for the tenants addressed the board last night and said the negotiations are nearly finished, yet declined to state what any sticking points might remain. Apparently satisfied, the board approved the variance request, with a few modifications.
The developers asked for variances to change the ground floor to retail and the upper floors to residential, which is not allowed in the M1-5B (manufacturing) district, and an increase of floor-area ratio to 5.5, up from 5.0.
In its resolution, the board recommended to permit the retail use of the ground floor, but not to change the upper floors to residential use--instead, it urged the developers to use the upper floors as "joint living-work quarters," with each unit required to be 1,200 square feet, eliminating the balconies from the design (to preserve light and privacy in 20 Bond Street), and that negotiations continue with 20 Bond Street, resulting in a binding agreement.
The community board's decision is, of course, strictly advisory. The Board of Standards and Appeals must sign off on the plans before work starts. read more »
Rembrandt, Birthday Boy, Pulls a Surprise or Two
Ancient Mayan Treasures Still Provoke Troubling Questions
A Queen of All Media Misses Grand Synthesis
A Queen of All Media Misses Grand Synthesis
Sophisticated Sicilian Was In Step With Masters of Northern Europe
Apparitions of One Man’s Mind: Redon Strove to Render Dreams
Fra Angelico Elicits Astonishing Piety At Met Exhibition
Fra Angelico Elicits Astonishing Piety At Met Exhibition
Van Gogh’s Drawings: A Precise Draftsman, Emotional Cauldron
Bohemia's Beautiful Style: The Met's Ticket to Prague
Van Gogh's Drawings: A Precise Draftsman, Emotional Cauldron
Exquisite Portraits, Fauvist Hues And a Handful of Spiritual Quests
From Gauguin's Adopted Home, Ornaments of Remote Islanders
From Gauguin’s Adopted Home, Ornaments of Remote Islanders
Fenton's Photographs Expose Sublime, Ghostly Landscapes
Schmattes of Matisse: Painter Was Obsessed With Textile Design
Schmattes of Matisse: Painter Was Obsessed With Textile Design
