The Metropolitan Museum of Art - June 19th

Thomas Hart Benton, American 1889-1975

July Hay, 1943

Egg tempera, methyl cellulose, and oil on Masonite

If you would like to know more about Thomas Hart Benton, please read my paper on The New Britain Museum of American Art.





Arthur Segal, Romanian 1875-1944

Strasse auf Helgoland II, 1924

Oil on board with painted frame

I took a picture of the painting, because of the different shapes and colors that look like shadows.





The Met has everything you could amagin to see. It starts with ancient art and goes through all the diffent periods to today's modern art.

































The Temple of Dendur (1978), an Egyptian monument (ca. 15 B.C.) that was given to the United States by Egypt























Man with a Lollipop

Mougins, August 20, 1958

Oil on paper, mounted on canvas

Picasso


this could be a conversation piece.



Woman and Musketeer

Mougins (Notre-Dame-de-Vie), February 22-March 1, 1967

Oil on Canvas

signed in upper left Picasso


The unique thing about art at least for me is that the more you look at it, the more you appreciate it.

I did not care for Picasso's work at the Wadsworth. Once viewing his collection at the Met, I do appreciate Picasso's work.

In my paper on the Met, I will write about Picasso

My visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art

My wife Jeth and I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art on June 19, 2010. We first stopped at our Aunt and Uncle’s home in Queens for an early lunch. Once lunch was over our relatives offered us a ride to the museum and pick us up once we were finished looking at the art works. We were so thankful to them because we did not have to worry about the parking and driving into the city. We arrived at the Met between 1:00 and 1:30pm.

Upon our arrival, we took some pictures outside the building and were surprised that there were a lot of people sitting on the steps in front of the Met listening to music performed by group of people for tips. Also, on the sidewalk leading up to the Met there were vendors selling some portraits and items about the museum. I was fascinated about the architecture of the building and how big this museum is compared to the ones I already visited and also the amount of people visiting the museum from around the world.

As we entered the building, there are several guards to check on your belongings. We proceeded to the cashier and paid the admission fee of $ 20 for Adults and $10 for students. Then I went to pay and she said pay what you wish, so we gave a $20 dollar donation. This part of the building is called the Great Hall. This is very high ceiling and the design is very beautiful.

This museum is often called by New Yorkers as the MET. This was founded in 1870 by a group of American citizens who wanted to create a museum that will bring art to every person in America. This museum is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. In 1880, the museum moved to its current location in Central Park along 5^th Avenue (from 80^th to 84^th streets). The original gothic-revival-style building has been expanded in size and a lot of additions surrounded the original structure of the building. In 1926, the present structure along 5th Avenue was completed. By 1971, a comprehensive architectural plan was approved and the construction was completed by 1991. The Architects for this project were Kevin Roche John Dinkelou and Associates. The additions to the museum as part of the master plan are: The Robert Lehman Wing which houses the vast collection of old masters, Impressionist and post-impressionist; The Temple of Dendur; The American Wing; The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing; The Lila Acheson Wallace Wing which house Modern Art and the Henry R. Kravis Wing which houses European sculptors and decorative art.

The museum collections include more than two million works of Art from pre-history to the present and from around the world. Now, I know why this is one of the must see museum with the course because you will learn and grasp art from every form and shapes in this museum. There are 17 Curatorial departments at the MET and to see and learn the whole collections; it will take ten full days. This is according to a documentary DVD we bought at MET about the MET. When watching the DVD, we realized that we missed some exhibits. This gives us reasons to revisit the MET, not that we need a reason.

Jeth and I checked and there were no tours available at that time so we got our map and start navigating the museum. This was very challenging because the museum is very crowded and we wanted to see as many galleries as we can, even with the map it was difficult to navigate. There were smaller galleries (rooms) inside the main gallery and it seemed to us to be set up like a maze. Our first stop was Greek and Roman Art galleries. There were vast collections of bases, jewelries and sculptures and this were it is know to be where western art received its routes. It took us 2 hours to finish this gallery.

Then we proceeded to Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas. Here we saw wood sculptures, an example was a canoe that was carved and was only used for spiritual offerings. This canoe was not used to carry people. There was also objects from Pacific islands and from the Americas; clothing from the Eskimos (dress parka) that was worn on for special occasions and rituals and stone sculptures from Mexico. One exhibit was the Kwoma Ceiling. The ceiling is made up of many works of art. These ceilings are used as ceremonial houses. The Kwoma people live in New Guinea.

One amazing exhibit or wing, because this is a permanent part of the museum, which is a must see, is the Temple of Dendur. This exhibit that the Met put together was a gift from Egypt. The temple was moved from Egypt to New York. It is amazing to look at and when you look at the stones of the temple graffiti started back as early as the 1800s or even before. People have written their names on the stones with dates.

Two exhibitions at the Met that were happening during our visit were American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity. This depicts the developing American woman from the 1890’s to the 1940’s and how this affects the way they are seen today. This also depicts on the movement of the American movement in their social, political and sexual liberation. Unfortunately we missed this exhibit and I am sure that would be another must see and the exhibit runs from May 5 – August15, 2010. If the opportunity arises we will go back to see this one. The second exhibit is Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This exhibit runs from April 27 – August 15, 2010. This exhibit shows only works of Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973). It features over 300 works including paintings, drawings, sculptures and ceramics by Picasso. This is a definitely must see exhibit.

It is humorous, that when I saw Picasso at the Wadsworth, I did not care for his art work. Once I saw the collection of Picasso, I can appreciate his art work. This is why I chose to write about Picasso. Picasso was born in October 25, 1881 in Malaga Spain. He died in France, in April 1973. In his lifetime he created more than 22,000 works of art. His works covered a variety of mediums, including sculptures, ceramics, mosaics, stage design and graphic arts. At the age of 15, Picasso was taking advanced classes at the Royal Academy of Art in Barcelona. Picasso’s art works is classified in different periods. The blue period was 1901-1904 were must of the paintings were done in tones of blue and depicted the world of the poor. 1905-1906 was considered to be the “rose period” where his art works depicted characters of circus life. In 1907 he started painting in more abstract and the beginning stages of what later became cubinism and in 1912 his forms became larger and more represent cubinism. Later in his life he turned to fantasy and comic invention. He worked mainly in sculpture, ceramics and in graphic arts producing thousands of drawings, illustrations and stage designs. When you get a chance to see Picasso’s accomplishments you have to admire his artworks.

I could go on and on of all the amazing items to see in all the wings, rooms and galleries that hold different art works, sculptures, jewelry, antique furniture, Period Rooms, musical instruments. The Met is a must see museum. Once you have thought that use visited everything, I recommend that you buy the DVD about the met and you will be surprised at how much you missed, we were.

Reference:

http://www.picasso.com/life/index.php

http://www.ny.com/museums/MET.html

http://www.metmuseum.org