Time has flown by and we find ourselves in the final week... The registrar has asked me to get in the grades by Friday but I think it will be fine to submit them on Sunday morning, July 10. So... If you have any thing else you'd like to post, please do it by 10 am Sunday at the latest....
I am so pleased with the way the class went for you both. The writing, enthusiasm and photography came together perfectly. The aim of this class was realized wonderfully!
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The museum opened in 1870 in a different location in New York City than where the iconic Fifth Ave building is today. In 1880, the museum opened its doors to its current location. The original building design is where the current Robert Lehman gallery is located and has since been expanded and constructed around. The Met as we know it, with Neoclassical design and spacious lobby was opened and created in 1902 by Richard Morris Hunt. Over the years, they have significantly expanded and grown its collection to over two million square feet of space. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is also affiliated with The Met Cloisters which focuses on Medieval art and history. Their mission is as follows: "to be located in the City of New York, for the purpose of establishing and maintaining in said city a Museum and library of art, of encouraging and developing the study of the fine arts, and the application of arts to manufacture and practical life, of advancing the general knowledge of kindred subjects, and, to that end, of furnishing popular instruction"(https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met). Their purpose and guidance for running the museum continues to be the core of everything the museum does, and they remain innovative in how they achieve their goals.
While here, they had several special exhibits. An Anthology of Fashion, Dutch Masterpieces, The African Origin of Civilization and Kimono Style are just some examples. One of my favorite features of the Met is how they really create a story and give context in their exhibits for the audience to engage and gain better understanding. I also noticed how the museum is using technology more with music and projections on to the art and exhibits such as the Temple of Dendur.
An Anthology of Fashion
African Origin of Civilization
On June 20 I went to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, NY with my partner Tim. Our trip there was fun in itself, getting to take the train in and then the subway. I've seen many videos of people on the subway entertaining other passengers either by playing an instrument, singing, or dancing, and in our subway car a guy was breakdancing! For all the times I've gone in to the city I had yet to see someone perform, so it was a cool experience getting to see someone do something they love and make other people smile and be impressed by their skills. After walking to the Met from the subway station, we had to wait in a little bit of a line but it went by pretty quick. There were tons of people sitting out on the steps just eating lunch or talking with friends, so we made note of that to do after we were done with our visit. The security guards were very kind and helpful, and we used the kiosks to check in with. Instead of grabbing a map we decided to go in to the closest exhibit and wander around in the direction of things that caught our eyes. The Met, as I will talk about later, has so much history and purpose, besides just being a beautiful piece of architecture in the center of New York City. It has been a long time since I have last seen the Met, so much so I don't even remember the last time I went, so getting to go back with someone who was visiting a major art museum like that for the first time was a wonderful experience.
The Met has over 5,000 years of art from across the globe in its exhibits, with two in person locations: The Met Fifth Avenue & The Met Cloisters, as well as their online collection: The Met Experience. The Met was founded on April 13, 1870, originally designed by architects Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey. With all the expansions that the museum has done, the original structure is completely surrounded by the new architecture. One of their big accomplishment was in 1910, when they were the first museum to acquire a work by Henri Matisse. The Met now holds 26,000 ancient Egyptian objects which makes it the largest collection of Egyptian art outside of Cairo, Egypt. This is not their only giant collection, as their American Wing now holds the most comprehensive collection of American paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts. Every time you visit, there are tens of thousands of objects to see placed around the museum's two-million-square-foot building. The Met does an incredibly thorough job of conserving the pieces that live there, now the job site of nearly 100 conservators, conservation scientists, and conservation preparators. The Met has evolved as the world has, and now is using 3D printers to help create shields to go around pieces for when they need to be moved to help keep them safe as well as conserve their look and color.
My favorite piece from the Met (pictured below) is a soft-paste porcelain wine bottle cooler. There are two total, and this piece caught my eye the second I walked into the room it was in. The vibrancy of the blue is beyond impressive to me, with the stunning decorative elements painted on in both gold and polychrome enamels. I am always impressed when I see a piece of art, particularly sculpture or ceramics, that has lasted as beautifully as this one for thousands of years. This piece is part of the porcelain dinner services made for King Louis XV of France. This service required the development of new models since it was the first of this size of dinnerware, and was the first to use this turquoise ground color also known as bleu celeste. Both wine coolers, the second not pictured, are very similar in decoration but have subtle differences in the flower paintings and gilding. These coolers, as well as the other pieces delivered to King Louis XV in his dinnerware and dessert set, were the beginning of the Vincennes factory becoming a serious name for soft-paste porcelain.
I'd also like to say hi to Ariana! I know you've been commenting under my posts and I really appreciate it. I keep trying to comment under yours but it says an error occurred and won't let me publish anything. I'm so glad you had a great trip to the Met too, and all the other museums as well. It's been so fun getting to see your experience and the pieces you took pictures of compared to mine since, as we both mentioned, it's next to impossible to see everything in one museum like the Met in just one visit. I hope you're having a great summer, and I'm sorry I haven't been able to comment under your posts! Also to answer your question, I didn't get to visit the fashion exhibit – it's one of the things I want to go back to see!! :)
Information:
https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met
https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/history
https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/conservation-and-scientific-research/conservation-stories/history-of-conservation
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/205250?ft=two+wine+bottle+coolers&offset=0&rpp=40&pos=3
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/the-collection
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Hi class! Hope everyone is having a good summer so far! This past Thursday June 23rd, I took the train with my mom to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. It was a great day, the rain was no where in sight and this was my mom's first time at the Met. We got there early before the museum opened, and there was already a line out the door. As we made our way in, I made mistake number one and forget to pick up a map so PLEASE make sure you grab one when you first get in. We did locate one after making our way halfway through the first floor, but the guards were super helpful and it was like they all had a GPS in their head of how to get from point A to point B. For the photo essay, I decided to focus one of my favorite exhibits from the day: Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents. This exhibit in particular was fascinating to me because during the time period of his life, America was in the period of Reconstruction and his art reflects life in the South. It also is interesting because the curators made special note to tell the story of his life through use of his work. As the audience, we can grasp how his life and travels influenced his paintings and use of color to depict nature. His time in the Bahamas was represented quite vibrantly, and his use of dark colors to capture storms and nature's ferocity was great technique. He spent the last 25 years of his life in Maine, and his work from that time period is indicative of the landscape there. (Side note: the museum was extremely busy and it was hard to get the proper angles and close-ups of the art. I hope everyone enjoys!)
