Displaying items by tag: Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has announced plans for a major renovation of its Lila Acheson Wallace Wing. Completed in 1987, the Wing houses the museum’s Modern and contemporary collection, which includes works by the circle of early American modernists around Alfred Stieglitz, including Arthur Dove, Marsden Hartley, Georgia O'Keeffe, and John Marin; large-scale paintings by Abstract Expressionists, such as Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko; and modern design, from Josef Hoffmann and members of the Wiener Werkstätte to Art Nouveau jewelry by René Lalique.

The Met, which is the largest art museum in the United States, is in the midst of re-evaluating its layout, and addressing the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing’s shortcomings is a top priority. As it stands, the Wing does not allow for a chronological presentation of the museum’s collection, creating a disjointed visitor experience. To remedy the issue, The Met plans to rebuild the Wing, potentially from scratch. Enhanced exhibition space will also allow the museum to better display its Modern and contemporary art holdings, which got a considerable upgrade last spring when philanthropist and cosmetics mogul Leonard A. Lauder donated 79 Cubist paintings, drawings, and sculptures.

If you've ever wanted to wallpaper your living room with the work of the old masters, now's your chance. The Metropolitan Museum of Art this month released an astounding 394,000 high-resolution images to the public. Visitors to the Met’s website can sort images by artist, medium, location, and era, and freely download images that are generally at least 10 megapixels in size.

The Met’s collection is one of the most extensive in the world, with more than 500 Picassos available for download, along with dozens of paintings from Monet, Van Gogh, and Degas. Aside from European painters, the collection also includes photographs of Aztec stonework, Greek sculpture, and Chinese calligraphy. Looking for an image of a 200-year old spittoon from India? It's yours.

All the romance, history and adventure of the American West comes to life in the first full-scale exhibition of western bronzes ever put together: The American West in Bronze, 1850–1925, running at the Denver Art Museum, May 11-August 31, 2014.

Simon Shaw, Co-Head of Sotheby’s Worldwide Impressionist & Modern Art Department, commented: “A key factor in tonight’s successes was our longstanding relationships with top collectors, and our partnership with them throughout the sale process – the three works from the Private American Collection that led our sale, Monet’s Le Pont japonais, and more were non-competitive consignments. It was a privilege to offer Picasso’s spectacular Le Sauvetage exactly a decade after we last auctioned it in New York, and we are thrilled to see its price double in that time. We are pleased to once again deliver exceptional results on behalf of a great American institution, with Monet’s Sur la Falaise à Pourville selling for well over its high estimate to benefit the Acquisitions Fund of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”

Yet another ancient statue looted in the 1970s from a single remote temple in the jungles of Cambodia has turned up in the United States, this time at Christie’s, which is voluntarily paying to return it to its homeland.

Christie’s sold the statue, a 10th-century sandstone depiction of a mythological figure known as Pandava, to an anonymous collector in 2009, but bought it back earlier this year after officials determined that the sculpture had been looted.

Winslow Homers in the shadow of a defunct Beech-Nut baby food plant. A Rembrandt, Picasso, Rubens and Renoir up the hill from a paper mill. The founder of the Hudson River School vying for attention amid baseball memorabilia and old farm machinery.

There are plenty of treasures to be found among the collections of lesser-known, off-the-beaten-path art museums dotting upstate New York. But they're well worth the trek for anyone looking for great art in unexpected places, whether it's the rolling, bucolic countryside typical of many areas or the industrial grittiness of riverside mill towns.

Between 1786 and 1788, the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya painted four portraits of the Count of Altamira’s family. For the first time ever, these works, which are dispersed in public and private collections, will be exhibited together at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

“Red Boy,” which depicts Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga, and “Condesa de Altamira and her daughter, Maria Agustina” are part of the Met’s collection. With help from the Spanish Consulate in New York, the Met was able to procure Goya’s portrait of Count Altamira, Vicente Isabel Ossorio de Miscoso from the Bank of Spain as well as the painting of his son, Vicente Joaquin de Toledo, which belongs to a private collection. The exhibition also includes a fifth portrait of the Count’s middle son, Juan Maria Osorio, which was painted by Goya's protege, Augustín Esteve. The work is on loan from the Cleveland Museum of Art.  

Goya was contracted to paint a series of portraits of people connected to the Bank of San Carlos (now the Bank of Spain), which included the Count, one of the bank’s first directors and an important collector and patron of the arts. The Count was so pleased with Goya’s work that he commissioned the artist to do the rest of the Altamira family portraits. The Altamira paintings are among Goya’s earliest portraits of aristocrats. He was later appointed First Court Painter to the Spanish Crown.

“Goya and the Altamira Family” will be on view at the Met through August 3.

The Morgan Library & Museum in New York has organized an exhibition that explores the importance of sky studies in landscape art. During the second half of the 18th century, landscape artists often worked outside, using oil paint on paper to quickly capture their ever-changing view. The varying effects of light, the subtle hues of the atmosphere, and the fleeting shape of clouds made the sky the perfect subject for artists hoping to develop and refine their techniques.

The exhibition at the Morgan features sky studies by artists from France, Germany, and Scandinavia, including Johan Christian Dahl, Carl Gustav Carus, and Eugène Louis Boudin. The works on view have been drawn from the collection of oil sketches acquired by Morgan Trustee Eugene V. Thaw and his wife, Clare. The Thaws are well-known for having built one of the finest collections of drawings in private hands. In 1975, the couple promised their collection to the Morgan, which is internationally recognized for its holdings in works on paper.

In 2009, the Thaws donated their collection of more than 130 oil sketches jointly to the Morgan and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Sky Studies: Oil Sketches from the Thaw Collection” includes sketches from the 2009 gift as well as newly acquired pieces.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is currently hosting the Global Museum Leaders Colloquium, a twelve-day program aimed at forging links and developing dialogues between some of the world’s most influential museums. The fourteen participants represent a wide variety of institutions, including national, state, municipal, and private museums. The colloquium will explore the major challenges that museum directors face, including management issues, conservation matters, and the well-being of the global economy.

The colloquium is the first of its kind at the Met, and has been spearheaded by the museum’s Director and CEO, Thomas P. Campbell. In a press release from the museum, Campbell said, “Ideally, this exchange of ideas and expertise will generate collaborative thinking that will prove beneficial not only to the participating institutions but to museums on a much broader scale.”

The Met has been an international institution since its founding in 1870 and has continued to collaborate with museums across the globe through exhibitions as well as training and research projects. In addition, the museum organizes a number of programs that bring international curators, conservators, and scholars to New York.

Participants in the Global Museum Leaders Colloquium include Mohammed Fahim Rahimi, Chief Curator at the National Museum of Afghanistan; Victoria Noorthoorn, Director of the Museo de Arte Moderno in Buenos Aires; Liang Gong, Director of the Nanjing Museum; Stijn Huijts, Director of the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht; and Steven Sack, Director of the Origins Center in Johannesburg.

In 2013, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art sold 3,290 objects worth a total of $5.4 million -- the institution’s highest revenue from such sales in eight years. So far, $3 million worth of paintings have been sold in 2014.

The works, which were offered at auction, previously resided in the museum’s storage facility. In 2013, the Met reported a $4.4 million operating deficit, which was said to be caused by Hurricane Sandy and other factors. The institution stated that the proceeds from the sales did not go toward its debt. Rather, the museum sold the works to refine its collection and to make room for future acquisitions. Museums are forbidden by the state Board of Regents from selling artworks in order to fund operating costs.

The Met sold Old Master paintings, Renaissance works, and clothing and accessories from its Costume Institute. The museum currently owns upward of 1.5 million objects.