Visit the Met . . . see the world! Looking at art—really looking—can be a life-altering experience. With nearly two million works of art spanning 5,000 years, the Met presents the best of human creativity from across the globe. Enjoy world-famous, encyclopedic collections, plus exciting special exhibitions and an array of public guided tours, all free with your admission.
On View This Season ON THE COVER
Balthus: Cats and Girls— Paintings and Provocations (September 25, 2013–January 12, 2014) takes off from the artist’s well-known series of pensive adolescents for whom cats are usually their sole playmates. Included are Balthus’s celebrated portraits of Thérèse Blanchard; colorful interiors in which different girls daydream, read, or nap; and images of Frédérique Tison, his favorite model during the 1950s. The Game of Patience, 1954, by Balthus (Balthasar Klossowski), oil on canvas. Collection Bettina Rheims, Paris. © Balthus
Part of a year-long celebration of The Cloisters’ 75th Anniversary (September 10–December 8, 2013) is Janet Cardiff: The Forty Part Motet, featuring a sound installation by Canadian artist Cardiff (born 1957) and the first presentation of contemporary art at The Cloisters. It consists of 40 highfidelity speakers positioned throughout the acoustically superb Fuentidueña Chapel that continuously play a reworking of a 16th-century 40-part motet, Spem in alium by Thomas Tallis. Left: Janet Cardiff, The Forty Part Motet (2001). Photo: Atsushi Nakamichi / Nacása & Partners Inc. Courtesy of the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, 2009. Right: Fuentidueña Chapel at The Cloisters museum and gardens
Interwoven Globe: The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500–1800 (September 16, 2013–January 5, 2014) highlights an important design story that unfolded during the golden age of European navigation, when textiles often acted as direct currency for spices and other goods. Because trade textiles blended the patterns and skills of the cultures that produced them, and reflected the tastes of the countries that received them, the result was beautiful and historically fascinating objects. Hanging (detail), after 1761, India, for the English market, cotton, drawn and painted resist and mordant, dyed. Courtesy of Titi Halle
The focus of Medieval Treasures from Hildesheim (September 17, 2013–January 5, 2014) is Hildesheim Cathedral, a UNESCO world cultural heritage site with one of the most complete surviving ensembles of church furnishings and treasures in Europe. A major renovation of the cathedral provides an opportunity for this extraordinary exhibition of masterpieces made between 1000 and 1250. Hezilo Cross, before 1079, German (Hildesheim), gold, copper, pearls, gems; wood core covered in silk. Dom-Museum Hildesheim, on loan from the collegiate church Zum Heiligen Kreuz in Hildesheim
Among the many topics treated in Artists and Amateurs: Etching in Eighteenth-Century France (October 1, 2013– January 5, 2014) is the crucial role of the amateur in establishing etching’s unique place in the shifting social terrain of 18th-century Paris. Works by Watteau, Boucher, Fragonard, and many others are featured. Study of Thirteen Heads, 1770, by Jean Jacques de Boissieu, etching; second state of three. The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1967 (67.793.25)
Piero della Francesca: Intimate Encounters (January 13–April 13, 2014) features four masterpieces of private devotional painting by one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance, Piero della Francesca, brought together and exhibited in the United States for the first time.
Silla: Korea’s Golden Kingdom (November 4, 2013–February 23, 2014) is the first exhibition in the West to focus exclusively on the art of the Korean kingdom of Silla. It presents spectacular gold regalia, exquisite Buddhist sculpture, and exotic goods from the Silk Road, all created between 400 and 800 A.D. The objects on view include National Treasures and works never before shown in the United States.
Spotlight on New European Paintings Galleries, 1250–1800
Seated Amitabha Buddha, Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.–935 A.D.), Middle period, before 706, excavated from pagoda at Hwangboksa Temple site, Gyeongju, gold. National Museum of Korea, National Treasure 79
Venetian Glass by Carlo Scarpa: The Venini Company, 1932–1947 (November 5, 2013–March 2, 2014) is devoted to the work in glass of the influential Italian architect Carlo Scarpa (1906–1978), who in the 1930s and 40s worked closely with the founder of Venini Glassworks and Venini master glass blowers to create numerous styles and techniques that thoroughly modernized the ancient tradition of glass blowing. Nearly 300 works are featured. Incisi (engraved) glass vases, ca. 1940–42, designed by Carlo Scarpa for the Venini glassworks. Both in private collections
Jewels by JAR (November 20, 2013– March 9, 2014) features more than 300 pieces by the most acclaimed jewelry designer of the last 35 years—Joel A. Rosenthal, who works in Paris under the name JAR. This exhibition is the first retrospective of his work in America. Orange peel and orange blossom brooch, 2001, by JAR, garnets, diamonds, and enamel; silver and gold
Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China (December 11, 2013–April 6, 2014) presents works by more than 30 contemporary artists active in China and abroad during the past 30 years. In four themes—the written word, landscapes, abstraction, and “beyond the brush”—it seeks to demonstrate that China’s ancient cultural pattern of seeking renewal through the reinterpretation of past models remains a viable creative path. Being Open and Empty (detail), 2005, by Wang Dongling, hanging scroll; ink on paper. Gift of the artist, 2013 (2013.188.2)
The Met’s galleries for its world-renowned collection of European Old Master paintings have reopened after an extensive renovation and reinstallation. Almost one third larger, the gallery space unfolds with a new logic and grandeur, and sculpture, medals, ceramics, and other decorative arts have been judiciously incorporated. Important loans complement the permanent collection and celebrate the reinstallation. New European Paintings Galleries, 1250–1800, view of Gallery 615 looking into Gallery 614.
The American West in Bronze, 1850–1925 (December 18, 2013–April 13, 2014) explores the aesthetic and cultural impulses behind the creation of statuettes with American western themes. Included are representations of American Indians, cowboys and cavalry, pioneers and prospectors, and animals of the plains and mountains. Among the artists represented are Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell, and Paul Manship. End of the Trail, 1918 (cast 1918), by James Earle Fraser, bronze. Purchase, Friends of the American Wing Fund, Mr. and Mrs. S. Parker Gilbert Gift, Morris K. Jesup and 2004 Benefit Funds, 2010 (2010.73)
Charles Marville, Photographer of Paris (January 29– May 4, 2014) is the first exhibition to examine Marville’s life and career in their entirety. Beloved for his pictures of an “Old Paris” on the verge of demolition, Marville (1813–1879) also photographed the city’s scenic parks, modern construction, and cloud-filled skies. Arts et Métiers, 1864, by Charles Marville, albumen silver print from glass negative. Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts, 2007 (2007.167)