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• Medieval and Renaissance Treasures from London's Victoria and Albert Museum to Go on View at Metropolitan Museum May 20

  Sunday, April 27, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  The Victoria and Albert Museum in London holds one of the world's finest collections of European decorative arts. Thirty-five of its masterpieces will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning May 20, 2008, in the exhibition Medieval and Renaissance Treasures from the Victoria and Albert Museum, while the V&A prepares a new suite of galleries for its collection. Dating from 300 to 1600, the exhibition will include superb examples of sculpture, metalwork, ceramics, and glass that are rarely lent. Most have never been on view in New York.

• SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS MAY 2008–APRIL 2009

  Wednesday, April 23, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: Information provided below is subject to change. To confirm scheduling and dates, call the Communications Department at (212) 570-3951. CONTACT NUMBER FOR USE IN TEXT IS (212) 535-7710.

• METROPOLITAN MUSEUM CONCERTS MAY 2008

  Wednesday, April 23, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  Itzhak Perlman and the Perlman Music Program, and MMArtists in Concert
  Conclude Their Series, Arnold Steinhardt Plays the Bach Chaconne,
  The Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival is Led by Elena Bakshirova,
  and Richie Havens and Steve Ross Return to the Metropolitan Museum

• Master Photographers' Work of 1840-1940 Highlighted from Rich Holdings of the Metropolitan Museum

  Tuesday, April 22, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  Framing a Century: Master Photographers, 1840-1940 tells the story of photography's first 100 years through the work of 13 key figures who helped shape the aesthetic and expressive course of the medium: Gustave Le Gray, Roger Fenton, Carleton Watkins, William Henry Fox Talbot, Julia Margaret Cameron, Nadar, Edouard Baldus, Charles Marville, Eugène Atget, Walker Evans, Man Ray, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Brassaï. Opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on June 3, 2008, the exhibition will present 10 to 12 iconic works by each of these influential artists, to convey a broad sense of their contributions to photography. Many of the works displayed in Framing a Century are drawn from the acclaimed Gilman Paper Company Collection, which was acquired by the Museum in 2005.

• Masterpieces of Modern Design: Selections from the Collection

  Thursday, April 17, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  Opening May 6, 2008, this installation showcases many of the most significant works in the Metropolitan Museum's modern design collection. The major design movements are represented through works created by some of the most renowned designers of the 20th century.

• Sculptures by Renowned American Artist Jeff Koons On View at Metropolitan Museum April 22

  Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  Sculptures by Jeff Koons (b. 1955) – an American artist known internationally for his controversial and intriguing contributions to contemporary art – comprise The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2008 installation on The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, opening April 22. The installation will feature three large-scale and brilliantly colored works: Balloon Dog (Yellow) of 1994-2000, Coloring Book of 1997-2005, and Sacred Heart (Red/Gold) of 1994-2007 – all made of high chromium stainless steel with transparent color coating. These sculptures have never before been on public display. They will be situated in the 10,000-square-foot open-air space that offers spectacular views of Central Park and the New York City skyline. Jeff Koons on the Roof will be the 11th consecutive single-artist installation on the Cantor Roof Garden.

• Splendid Featherwork Of Ancient Peru To Go On View At Metropolitan Museum

  Sunday, April 13, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  An unprecedented exhibition of luxury items from ancient Peru, embellished with brilliantly colored feathers of Amazonian rainforest birds, went on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on February 26. Bringing together more than 70 works from public and private collections in the United States and the Metropolitan's own holdings – many of which have never been displayed before – Radiance from the Rain Forest: Featherwork in Ancient Peru explores the more than 2,000-year-old tradition of sophisticated feather-working that prospered in ancient Peru. The exhibition was made possible by the Friends of the Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.

• Brad Kauffman Named Vice President for Merchandising at Metropolitan Museum

  Sunday, April 13, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  Brad Kauffman has been named Vice President and General Manager of Merchandise and Retail of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, effective June 2, it was announced today by Emily K. Rafferty, President of the Museum. He will assume responsibility for the management and merchandising of the Museum's shops, catalogs, wholesale, and the online Met Store (www.metmuseum.org/store).

• Metropolitan Museum Lectures in the Grace Rainy Rogers Auditorium

  Thursday, April 3, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  For tickets, call the Concerts & Lectures Department at 212-570-3949, or visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets, where updated schedules and programs (including additional lectures that are free with Museum admission) are also available. Tickets are also available at the Great Hall Box Office, which is open Tuesday-Saturday 10-5:00, and Sunday noon-5:00. Student discount tickets are available for some events; call 212-570-3949.

• Metropolitan Museum Offers Array of Amenities to French-Speaking Visitors

  Sunday, March 23, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  Audio guide tours, a floor plan, a guidebook, and guided gallery tours are among the visitor amenities available to French speakers at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

• Metropolitan Museum Lectures in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

  Wednesday, March 19, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  For tickets, call the Concerts & Lectures Department at 212-570-3949, or visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets, where updated schedules and programs (including additional lectures that are free with Museum admission) are also available. Tickets are also available at the Great Hall Box Office, which is open Tuesday-Saturday 10-5:00, and Sunday noon-5:00. Student discount tickets are available for some events; call 212-570-3949.

• Photography on Photography: Reflections on the Medium since 1960

  Thursday, March 13, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  Photography on Photography: Reflections on the Medium since 1960, on view from April 8 through October 19, 2008, is the second exhibition in the Museum's new gallery for contemporary photographs. Photography on Photography presents four decades of photographs by artists in the permanent collection who have made photography itself their subject and taken aim at its claims of objectivity and its ubiquity in modern life. Featured in the exhibition are works by Vito Acconci, William Anastasi, Lutz Bacher, Liz Deschenes, Roe Ethridge, Robert Heinecken, Sherrie Levine, Robert Mapplethorpe, Richard Prince, Thomas Ruff, Allen Ruppersberg, Karin Sander, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Andy Warhol, as well as recently acquired photographs by Moyra Davey, Kota Ezawa, Janice Guy, Josephine Pryde, James Welling, Christopher Williams, and Mark Wyse.

• SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS - JANUARY–APRIL 2008

  Wednesday, March 12, 2008, 4:00 a.m.

  EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: Information provided below is subject to change. To confirm scheduling and dates, call the Communications Department at (212) 570-3951. CONTACT NUMBER FOR USE IN TEXT IS (212) 535-7710.

• Classic/Fantastic: Selections from the Modern Design Collection

  Wednesday, March 5, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  Order and disorder, reason and emotion, restraint and excess — opposing impulses such as these have influenced design since the beginning of civilization. Classic/Fantastic: Selections from the Modern Design Collection, opening December 21 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, juxtaposes these divergent approaches, presenting an Apollonian/Dionysian dichotomy of design philosophies in the modern era. Of the approximately 75 works in a wide range of media — including furniture, metalwork, ceramics, glass, textiles, and drawings — half will be devoted to designs rooted in the centuries-old vocabulary of classicism, updated yet still linked to the rules and traditions of the past, and the other half to romantic and surreal subjects of fantasy, drawn from the realm of pure imagination. A number of works from the Metropolitan Museum's collection will be exhibited for the first time, including tables by Costa Achillopoulo and John Dickinson, a Dutch Rozenburg ceramic covered vase (ca. 1900-14), a Danish lamp by Sigfrid Wagner (1905), a Dale Chihuly Venetian series glass vase (1989), and flatware designed by the American Marion Weeber (1965-70).

• How to Read Chinese Paintings to be Discussed in Metropolitan's New Installation (Chinese)

  Tuesday, March 4, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  中國人有句話說：“一圖勝千言”。有鑒于此，將於2008年三月一日在大都會博物館開幕的特展 “書畫名品的奧妙：如何解讀中國畫” 對中國書畫進行圖像分析，將原作與放大的細部照片並列，以顯示每件作品的奧妙之處。展出的大都會博物館收藏的書畫共有三十六件，有時一個展廳只針對兩三件作品，透過精彩的細部放大，使觀衆了解其風格、構圖、或内容。作品的年代跨越八世紀到十七世紀的一千年，題材包括人物、山水、花鳥、和宗教畫，是大都會館藏中的精華。

• Metropolitan Museum Offers Array of Amenities to Chinese Visitors (Chinese)

  Tuesday, March 4, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  紐約市大都會博物館為便利華人遊客，提供中文語音導覽設備、樓層平面圖、以及博物館導覽。

• How to Read Chinese Paintings to be Discussed in Metropolitan's New Installation

  Monday, March 3, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  A Chinese saying summarizes the dichotomy between image and text this way:

• Metropolitan Museum Offers Array of Amenities to Chinese Visitors

  Monday, February 25, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  An Audio Guide, floor plan, and guided gallery tours are among the visitor amenities available to Mandarin speakers at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

• One Million Visitors Drawn to New Greek and Roman Galleries at Metropolitan Museum

  Thursday, February 21, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  (New York – February 22, 2008) The Metropolitan Museum of Art tallied the one millionth visitor to its acclaimed New Greek and Roman Galleries on February 21. In the ten months since the galleries opened (on April 20, 2007), they have attracted an average of some 3700 people per day. This is approximately 27% of the Museum's total attendance during that same period. More than one in four visitors to the Museum viewed the new galleries.

• Jasper Johns's Shades of Gray Revealed in Major Metropolitan Museum Exhibition Opening February 5

  Wednesday, February 20, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  Opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on February 5, Jasper Johns: Gray will be the first exhibition to examine the use of the color gray in the work of American artist Jasper Johns. From the mid-1950s to the present, gray has been a consistent thread in Johns's practice and an important means for the artist to evoke different moods and to explore a range of formal ideas. This major exhibition offers a new lens through which to see the work of this pivotal American artist, bringing together 119 paintings, reliefs, drawings, prints, and sculptures. Jasper Johns: Gray features masterworks of Johns's career — such as Canvas, Gray Target, Jubilee, 0 through 9, No, Diver, and The Dutch Wives — as well as works from the artist's recent Catenary series and new works never before exhibited.

• Metropolitan Museum Names Firm to Aid in Trustee Search for Next Director

  Sunday, February 3, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  (NEW YORK, February 4, 2008)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art today announced that it has retained the New York-based executive search firm Phillips Oppenheim to help organize and staff the international search for the institution's next Director. The firm will work closely with the Museum's Trustees' recently designated Search Committee, which is chaired by Annette de la Renta, with S. Parker Gilbert serving as vice-chairman.

• John Wilmerding, Noted Scholar of American Art, to Lecture at Metropolitan Museum on Three Masters of Contemporary American Realism

  Wednesday, January 30, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  The eminent American art historian John Wilmerding will deliver a subscription lecture series – Masters of Contemporary American Realism – at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, on three consecutive Tuesday evenings, beginning January 29. He will consider the technical inventiveness and imaginative variety of the American artists Richard Estes, Robert Indiana, and Tom Wesselmann, situating their later careers within the broader context of American and modern art.

• Gustave Courbet, Radical and Rebellious 19th-Century Artist, Featured in Retrospective at Metropolitan Museum

  Tuesday, January 29, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  It is impossible to tell you all the insults my painting of this year has won me, but I don't care, for when I am no longer controversial I will no longer be important.

• Rare Korean Screens Depicting Scholars' Books and Objects On View at Metropolitan Museum

  Tuesday, January 29, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  A special installation of magnificent Korean screens dating from the late 19th to the early 20th century will go on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on March 11. Featuring four screens drawn from American collections, Beauty and Learning: Korean Painted Screens will highlight a unique genre of Korean painting known as ch'aekkŏri (books and things), which flourished in Korea from the late 18th to the early 20th century. These screens, portraying books and objects, can be seen as representations of a scholar's study or studio. Approximately 20 objects, including ceramics and bronzes similar to those illustrated in the screens, will complement the installation. This is the first exhibition to focus on the subject in the United States.

• Three Spectacular Vases Lent by Italy to Metropolitan Museum for Four Years Replace Euphronios Krater

  Tuesday, January 22, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  As a result of the agreement negotiated by Philippe de Montebello, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, the Republic of Italy is lending the Metropolitan Museum three outstanding ancient Greek vases for a period of four years. Supplementing the Laconian drinking cup already on loan (since November 2006 and lent by the Museo Nazionale in Ceveteri), the three additional pieces – a jug in the shape of a young woman's head (end of sixth century B.C.); a cup signed by the potter Euxitheos and the painter Oltos, depicting the assembly of gods on Mount Olympos (515-510 B.C.); and a vase of the fourth century B.C. showing Oedipus solving the riddle of the sphinx – will go on view among related works in the Museum's Greek and Roman Galleries on Wednesday, January 16, 2008. These loans come to the Met in exchange for the return of the Euphronios krater to Italy. The krater will remain on view at the Metropolitan Museum through Sunday, January 13, 2008.

• Metropolitan Museum's Multicultural Initiative to Celebrate Tenth Anniversary at January 24 Gala Benefit "Evening of Many Cultures"

  Thursday, January 17, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Multicultural Audience Development Initiative will mark its tenth anniversary on January 24, 2008, with its first-ever gala benefit, An Evening of Many Cultures. At the event, two of the founding members of the initiative, Lowery Stokes Sims and Richard V. Clarke, will be honored for their longstanding commitment to the Museum and to its outreach efforts. The celebration will feature special evening viewings in the Museum's constellation of galleries reflecting many of the cultures of the world. Also on view will be the acclaimed exhibition Eternal Ancestors: The Art of the Central African Reliquary and new installations of works by the contemporary, African-American artist, Kara Walker, and the African artist, El Anatsui.

• Metropolitan Museum Concerts February 2008

  Tuesday, January 15, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  Stephen Kovacevich Continues PianoForte, Joan Kwuon and André Previn Offer a Recital, The Guarneri String Quartet and MMArtists in Concert Continue Series, and Trio Capuçon Appears on Accolades

• Poussin and Nature: Arcadian Visions

  Monday, January 14, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  "I would like… to join the curves of the women to the shoulders of the hills…Like Poussin, I would like to put reason in the grass and tears in the sky."
  Paul Cézanne (1839-1906)

• Gayle Perkins Atkins Elected a Trustee at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

  Monday, January 14, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  Gayle Perkins Atkins has been elected to the Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, representing the borough of Manhattan, it was announced today by James R. Houghton, the Museum's Chairman. The election took place at the January 8 meeting of the Board of Trustees.

• Lee Friedlander: A Ramble in Olmsted Parks

  Wednesday, January 9, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the design for Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted's 843-acre New York City masterpiece, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present Lee Friedlander: A Ramble in Olmsted Parks. On view from January 22 to May 11, 2008, the exhibition will feature 36 photographs, most never before on public display. Friedlander describes these striking photographs, culled from a 20-year exploration of public parks and private estates designed by North America's premier landscape architect, as "one photographer's pleasurable and wandering glances at places that bear the great vision of Mr. Olmsted."

• John A. Moran Named Honorary Trustee at Metropolitan Museum

  Wednesday, January 9, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  John A. Moran has been elected an Honorary Trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was announced today by James R. Houghton, the Museum's Chairman. His election took place at the January 8 meeting of the Board.

• Mark Fisch Elected a Trustee at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

  Wednesday, January 9, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  Mark Fisch has been elected to the Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was announced today by James R. Houghton, the Museum's Chairman. Mr. Fisch's election took place at the January 8 meeting of the Board.

• After Three Decades as Director, Philippe de Montebello Announces Retirement from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

  Tuesday, January 8, 2008, 5:00 a.m.

  (New York, January 8, 2008)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that Philippe de Montebello—whose long and storied career at the Museum has spanned nearly a third of the institution's entire history—will retire after more than 30 years as its eighth, and longest-serving, Director. Mr. de Montebello, who first joined the staff as a curatorial assistant in 1963, became Director in 1977, and assumed the additional role of Chief Executive Officer in 1998, plans to step down by December 31, 2008.

• "blog.mode: addressing fashion" Sparks Dialogue at Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute

  Monday, December 17, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  As a living art, fashion is open to multiple readings, and blog.mode: addressing fashion at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from December 18, 2007, through April 13, 2008, presents approximately 65 costumes and accessories dating from the 18th century to the present — all recent Metropolitan Museum acquisitions — and invites the public to share their reactions via a blog on the Museum's website. Over the duration of the exhibition, which will take place in The Costume Institute galleries, individual costumes and accessories will be posted on the blog periodically with commentary from curators Harold Koda and Andrew Bolton, and, where relevant, from contemporary designers.

• Metropolitan Museum Acquires Diane Arbus Archive

  Monday, December 17, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  (New York, December 18, 2007)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that it has acquired the complete archive of Diane Arbus (1923-1971), the legendary American photographer known for her revelatory portraits of couples, children, nudists, carnival performers, and eccentrics. The Estate of Diane Arbus has selected the Museum to be the permanent repository of the artist's negatives, papers, correspondence, and library. The Museum will collaborate with the Estate to preserve Arbus's legacy and to ensure that her work will continue to be seen in the context of responsible scholarship and in a manner that honors the subjects of the photographs and the intentions of the artist.

• Metropolitan Museum Launches First-Ever Korean Audio Guide

  Monday, December 17, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has inaugurated its first-ever Audio Guide in Korean. The tour – called The Director's Selections – features commentary by Museum Director Philippe de Montebello about 58 masterpieces, which have been selected by him from the Museum's world-renowned collection of more than two million works of art.

• Metropolitan Museum Concerts January2008

  Monday, December 10, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  For tickets, call the Concerts & Lectures Department at 212-570-3949, or visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets, where updated schedules and programs are also available. Tickets are also available at the Great Hall Box Office, which is open Tuesday-Saturday 10-5:00, and Sunday noon-5:00. Student discount tickets are available for some events; call 212-570-3949.

• Tibetan Arms and Armor from the Permanent Collection

  Monday, December 3, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  An installation of rare and exquisitely decorated armor, weapons, and equestrian equipment from Tibet and culturally related areas of Mongolia and China will go on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on December 14. Featuring approximately 35 objects dating from the 15th to the 20th century, Tibetan Arms and Armor from the Permanent Collection will explore this little known aspect of Tibet's rich artistic and historic culture. Drawn from the Museum's own collection – one of the most important in the world – the installation includes several recent acquisitions that have never before been exhibited or published.

• $567 MILLION ECONOMIC IMPACT ON NEW YORK CITY AND NEW YORK STATE GENERATED BY METROPOLITAN MUSEUM'S NEW GREEK AND ROMAN GALLERIES

  Sunday, December 2, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  (New York, December 3, 2007) – National, regional, and foreign tourists visiting The Metropolitan Museum of Art's recently opened New Greek and Roman Galleries so far have spent a combined $567 million during their visits to New York City as of November 20, according to a Museum audience survey released today. Using the standard ratios for calculating tax revenue impact, the direct tax benefit to New York City and New York State from these visitors in the seven months since the galleries opened is estimated at $56.7 million.

• The Wisteria Dining Room in New Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture

  Sunday, December 2, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  A complete and fully furnished Art Nouveau dining room designed by Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer shortly before World War I – The Wisteria Dining Room – has been installed within The Metropolitan Museum of Art's renovated and expanded New Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture, opening to the public on December 4, 2007. The room – which has been in storage for the past 40 years because of lack of space in which to exhibit it prior to the expansion of the galleries – is the only complete French Art Nouveau interior on display in an American museum.

• Expanded and Renovated Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture

  Friday, November 30, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art's renovated and expanded Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture will reopen on December 4, 2007. The newly refurbished galleries – which occupy nearly 35,000 square feet, including 8,000 square feet of new exhibition space named the Henry J. Heinz II Galleries in recognition of a major gift made by his widow, the long-time Metropolitan Museum Trustee Drue Heinz – will showcase European paintings from the Museum's world-renowned collection, dating from 1800 through the early 20th century. This new presentation will feature a more thorough display of the Museum's 19th-century collection, augmented with seminal works from the early modern era.

• Expanded and Renovated Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture To Reopen December 4 at Metropolitan Museum

  Friday, November 30, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art's renovated and expanded Galleries for 19th- and Early 20th-Century European Paintings and Sculpture will reopen on December 4, 2007. The newly refurbished galleries – which occupy nearly 35,000 square feet, including 8,000 square feet of new exhibition space named the Henry J. Heinz II Galleries in recognition of a major gift made by his widow, the long-time Metropolitan Museum Trustee Drue Heinz – will showcase European paintings from the Museum's world-renowned collection, dating from 1800 through the early 20th century. This new presentation will feature a more thorough display of the Museum's 19th-century collection, augmented with seminal works from the early modern era.

• Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche on Display for Holiday Season at Metropolitan Museum

  Monday, November 19, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  The Christmas tree and Neapolitan Baroque crèche at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a long-established yuletide tradition in New York, will be on view for the holiday season from November 20, 2007, through January 6, 2008. The brightly lit, 20-foot blue spruce – with a collection of 18th-century Neapolitan angels and cherubs among its boughs and groups of realistic crèche figures flanking the Nativity scene at its base – will once again delight holiday visitors in the Museum's Medieval Sculpture Hall. Set in front of the 18th-century Spanish choir screen from the Cathedral of Valladolid, with recorded Christmas music in the background and daily lighting ceremonies, the installation reflects the spirit of the holiday season.

• Christmas Tree and Neapolitan Baroque Crèche on Display for Holiday Season at Metropolitan Museum

  Monday, November 19, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  The Christmas tree and Neapolitan Baroque crèche at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a long-established yuletide tradition in New York, will be on view for the holiday season from November 20, 2007, through January 6, 2008. The brightly lit, 20-foot blue spruce – with a collection of 18th-century Neapolitan angels and cherubs among its boughs and groups of realistic crèche figures flanking the Nativity scene at its base – will once again delight holiday visitors in the Museum's Medieval Sculpture Hall. Set in front of the 18th-century Spanish choir screen from the Cathedral of Valladolid, with recorded Christmas music in the background and daily lighting ceremonies, the installation reflects the spirit of the holiday season.

• Contemporary Artist Tara Donovan's Dazzling New Installation Opens at Metropolitan Museum

  Thursday, November 15, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  A new, large-scale work conceived specifically for display in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's galleries by New York-based artist Tara Donovan (American, born 1969) comprises the exhibition Tara Donovan at the Met, on view from November 20, 2007, through April 27, 2008.

• Metropolitan Museum Concerts December 2007

  Thursday, November 15, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  Hélène Grimaud Continues the PianoForte Series with Members of New York Philharmonic, Salzburg Marionettes Perform a New Production of The Sound of Music Featuring Broadway Vocal Talent (Extra Performance Added), and
  Christmas Concerts Feature Chanticleer, Aulos Ensemble, and More

• Jeffrey M. Peek Elected a Trustee at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

  Monday, November 12, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  Jeffrey M. Peek has been elected to the Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was announced today by James R. Houghton, the Museum's Chairman. Mr. Peek's election took place at the November 13 meeting of the Board.

• Newly Renovated and Reinstalled Wrightsman Galleries for French Decorative Arts To Open in Fall at Metropolitan Museum

  Sunday, November 4, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Wrightsman Galleries, currently undergoing extensive renovations and reinstallation, will reopen on October 30. The spectacular 18th-century rooms, which include the De Tessé Room, the Cabris Room, the Paar Room, the Varengeville Room, the Bordeaux Room, and the Crillon Room, house the Museum's renowned collection of French furniture and related decorative arts. Named for Jayne and Charles Wrightsman, who amassed one of the finest private collections in America of the decorative arts of the ancien régime, the galleries opened to the public between 1969 and 1977. The Wrightsmans' splendid gifts strengthened the Museum's already important collection of French 18th-century interiors and furnishings. Mrs. Wrightsman, a Trustee Emerita, continues her generosity to the Metropolitan Museum to this day, and has made these renovations possible.

• Newly Renovated and Reinstalled Wrightsman Galleries for French Decorative Arts To Open in Fall at Metropolitan Museum

  Sunday, November 4, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Wrightsman Galleries, currently undergoing extensive renovations and reinstallation, will reopen on October 30. The spectacular 18th-century rooms, which include the De Tessé Room, the Cabris Room, the Paar Room, the Varengeville Room, the Bordeaux Room, and the Crillon Room, house the Museum's renowned collection of French furniture and related decorative arts. Named for Jayne and Charles Wrightsman, who amassed one of the finest private collections in America of the decorative arts of the ancien régime, the galleries opened to the public between 1969 and 1977. The Wrightsmans' splendid gifts strengthened the Museum's already important collection of French 18th-century interiors and furnishings. Mrs. Wrightsman, a Trustee Emerita, continues her generosity to the Metropolitan Museum to this day, and has made these renovations possible.

• New Uris Center for Education Opens October 23 at Metropolitan Museum after Three-Year Renovation and Reconfiguration

  Monday, October 22, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  Following a three-year renovation and complete reconfiguration, the Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education at The Metropolitan Museum of Art reopens on October 23, 2007. The new center will transform Museum experiences for students and teachers, teenagers and families, scholars and all visitors. It provides an extraordinary range of new, high-tech features to train, inform, and inspire, and beautiful spaces in which to learn, beginning with the majestic and welcoming Diane W. Burke Hall.

• Bridging East and West: The Chinese Diaspora and Lin Yutang (Chinese) 大都會博物館展出林語堂和其家人收藏的中國現代書

  Sunday, October 14, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  著名作家林語堂（1895-1976）和其家人收藏的四十三件中國近代書畫將從九月十五日起，在大都會博物館首次公開展出。林氏後人最近將這批藏品捐贈給大都會博物館。

• Damien Hirst's Shark on Display at New York's Metropolitan Museum for Three Years

  Sunday, October 14, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  (New York, October 16, 2007)--The best-known of contemporary British artist Damien Hirst's conceptual tank pieces, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living – which features a 13-foot tiger shark in a glass tank of formaldehyde – will go on view today in the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing for modern and contemporary art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The work is on a three-year loan from The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Collection.

• Magnificent, Rarely Seen Tapestries on View at Metropolitan Museum this Fall

  Thursday, October 11, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  From the Middle Ages through the late 18th century, the courts of Europe lavished vast resources on tapestries made in precious materials after designs by the leading artists of the day, and works in this spectacular medium were prized by the aristocracy for their artistry and also as tools of propaganda. Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor – on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning October 17 – will offer the first comprehensive survey of high-quality 17th-century European tapestry, and will demonstrate the importance of tapestry as a prestigious figurative medium throughout that century. Organized by the Metropolitan Museum, it is a sequel to the ground-breaking exhibition, Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence, that received widespread public and scholarly acclaim during its presentation at the Metropolitan in spring 2002.

• SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2007

  Thursday, October 4, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: Information provided below is subject to change. To confirm scheduling and dates, call the Communications Department at (212) 570-3951. CONTACT NUMBER FOR USE IN TEXT IS (212) 535-7710.

• New Gallery for Modern and Contemporary Photography to be Inaugurated at Metropolitan Museum in September

  Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  The Metropolitan Museum will inaugurate the Joyce and Robert Menschel Hall for Modern Photography on September 25, 2007, establishing for the first time a gallery dedicated exclusively to photography created since 1960. With high ceilings, clean detailing, and approximately 2,000 square feet of exhibition space, the Menschel Hall is designed specifically to accommodate the large-scale photographs that are an increasingly important part of contemporary art and the Museum's permanent collection. Photographers represented in the collection include such modern masters as Thomas Struth, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Jeff Wall, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, Doug Aitken, and Sigmar Polke.

• First Major Survey of Rare British Photographs from Paper Negatives to be Presented at Metropolitan

  Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  Opening September 25 at the Metropolitan Museum, Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840–1860, is the first major exhibition to survey British calotypes — works of exceptional beauty and rarity which are made from paper negatives and are among the earliest forays into the medium of photography. During the first two decades of photography, British photographers turned their lenses on family, nature, and the landscape at home, and on historic architecture, ruins of past civilizations, and exotica abroad. Impressed by Light presents works by 40 artists, including such masters as William Henry Fox Talbot, David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, Roger Fenton, Benjamin Brecknell Turner, and Linnaeus Tripe, as well as many talented but unrecognized artists. The majority of the works featured have never before been exhibited or published in the U.S. and are unfamiliar to scholars and the public alike.

• Metropolitan Museum to Present Major Gift of Abstract Expressionist and Modern Works from Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman in Fall Exhibition

  Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  One of the preeminent collections of Abstract Expressionism, The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection was given to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2006, contributing significantly to the Museum's holdings in modern art. To celebrate the gift, Abstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art — on view from September 18, 2007, to March 2, 2008 —presents 55 works assembled by one of the most prescient and astute collectors of the mid-20th century.

• Metropolitan Museum Exhibition Sheds New Light on Ancient Egyptian Metal Statuary

  Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  Through their long history, the ancient Egyptians used copper, bronze, gold, and silver to create lustrous, graceful statuary for their interactions with their gods – from ritual dramas in the temples and chapels that dotted the landscape to festival processions through the towns and countryside that were thronged by believers. Opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on October 16, 2007, Gifts for the Gods: Images from Egyptian Temples is the first exhibition ever devoted to these fascinating yet enigmatic works.

• Landmark Age of Rembrandt Exhibition Puts Met's Entire Dutch Paintings Collection of 228 Works on View in September

  Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present, for the first time, all of the Metropolitan Museum's 228 Dutch paintings (dating mostly from the 1600s), widely considered the greatest collection of Dutch art outside Europe. Normally, only about 100 Dutch paintings are on view in the Museum. This comprehensive exhibition will provide a unique opportunity for visitors to view the collection of Dutch paintings as a whole. The exhibition also commemorates the 400th anniversary year of Rembrandt's birth and coincides with the publication of the first complete catalogue of Dutch paintings in the Metropolitan Museum.

• 800th Anniversary of Islamic Poet-Philosopher's Birth Marked in Metropolitan Museum Fall Exhibition

  Tuesday, September 25, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  The mystic writings of the Persian poet known as Rumi (1207-1273) are generally considered to be the supreme expression of Sufism, the mystical trend in Islamic thought and culture. Among the themes he explored were universal religious tolerance, communion with nature as a perception of God dwelling in and reflected in all things, and the soul's quest for a loving reunion with God. Opening October 23 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the exhibition Rumi and the Sufi Tradition coincides with the worldwide celebration of the 800th anniversary of the poet-philosopher's birth. On view will be nearly three dozen works from the Museum's Islamic art collection – including miniature paintings, Islamic calligraphy, ceramics, metalwork, glass, and textiles created between the 13th and the 19th centuries – that evoke the world in which he lived and suggest the scope of his enduring legacy.

• Rare Example of Late 15th-Century Jewish Prayerbook and Christian Manuscript – Illustrated by One Artist – on View at Metropolitan Museum

  Tuesday, September 25, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  Through the winter holiday season at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Hebrew prayerbook on generous loan from The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City and a page from a Latin choir book from the Metropolitan's own collection will be displayed side by side for the first time, both painted at the end of the 15th century by the same Florentine artist. The two works are attributed to Mariano del Buono (1433/4-1504), head of one of the most renowned and prolific ateliers in the city. His work for both Christian and Jewish patrons reveals their shared taste for embellishing books with beautiful lettering and evocative imagery and testifies to a dialogue among members of different faiths that was integral to Italian Renaissance culture.

• Kenneth Jay Lane Named Honorary Trustee at Metropolitan Museum

  Tuesday, September 25, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  Kenneth Jay Lane has been elected an Honorary Trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was announced by James R. Houghton, the Museum's Chairman. The election took place at the September 11 meeting of the Board of Trustees.

• Metropolitan Museum Announces Appointment of Deirdre Larkin as Associate Horticultural Manager at The Cloisters

  Monday, September 10, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art has appointed Deirdre Larkin to the position of Associate Horticulture Manager at The Cloisters. A branch of the Metropolitan, The Cloisters is America's only museum dedicated exclusively to the art of the Middle Ages.

• Virtuosity and Artistic Richness of 18th-Century Chinese Court's Decorative Arts on Display at Metropolitan Museum

  Wednesday, August 15, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  An exhibition featuring a remarkable assemblage of porcelain, metalwork, jade, lacquer, and textiles created during the Qing dynasty of China will go on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on August 25. Drawn from the permanent collection and complemented by select loans, Excellence and Elegance: Decorative Arts of the Eighteenth-Century Qing Court will explore the unprecedented level of technical virtuosity achieved during this period. The exhibition also illustrates the imperial taste for ancient themes, interest in Western motifs, and exacting patronage that contributed to the flourishing of the decorative arts. Among the 60 works on view will be a dazzling selection of rare porcelain wares, decorated with monochrome glaze or enamel colors.

• New Gallery for Art of Native North American Art to Open at Metropolitan Museum in November

  Thursday, August 2, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  A new gallery for the exhibition of the art of Native North American peoples will open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on November 13, 2007. After three years of renovation, the enlarged gallery will display a greater number of Native American works of art than has ever before been on view at the Museum. A select group of approximately 90 works will present the art of various North American peoples, regions, and time periods in which distinct cultural, stylistic, and functional aspects will be shown. The objects range from the beautifully shaped and finished stone tools known as bannerstones that date back several millennia to a mid-1970s tobacco bag made by the well-known Assiniboine/Sioux beadwork artist Joyce Growing Thunder.

• New Galleries for Oceanic Art to Open at Metropolitan Museum November 14

  Tuesday, July 31, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  Following an extensive three-year renovation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will reopen on November 14 its New Galleries for Oceanic Art, a completely redesigned and reinstalled exhibition space for the display of one of the world's premier collections of the arts of the Pacific Islands. Divided into three separate galleries in The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, the 17,000-square-foot exhibition space will present a substantially larger portion of the Metropolitan's Oceanic collection than was previously on view.

• Two Preeminent 19th-Century American Silversmiths Featured in Fall Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum

  Tuesday, July 31, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  Established in Boston in 1808 and relocated to Philadelphia three years later, the silversmithing firm of Thomas Fletcher and Sidney Gardiner produced American silver of unprecedented quality and grandeur. Opening November 20 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Silversmiths to the Nation: Thomas Fletcher and Sidney Gardiner, 1808-1842 is the first exhibition devoted entirely to their work, which, in its grand scale and patriotic imagery, reflected America's coming of age as a commercial, industrial, political, and artistic center. More than 100 examples in silver – from monumental vessels that celebrate military and civic heroes to domestic, ecclesiastical, and personal items resplendent with neoclassical ornament and displaying sophisticated design and craftsmanship – are arranged chronologically and thematically. A rare group of some 35 related drawings, purchased by the Metropolitan in 1953 and never before exhibited together, will offer important insights into the evolution of Fletcher and Gardiner's designs. Of particular interest will be the display of seven works in silver alongside their corresponding design drawings.

• Metropolitan Museum Offers Rare Viewing of Gates of Paradise, Lorenzo Ghiberti's Magnificent Renaissance Masterpiece

  Tuesday, July 31, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  Adored by generations of artists – including Michelangelo, who is reputed to have given them the name "Gates of Paradise" – the magnificent gilded bronze doors of the east portal of the Baptistery in Florence are among the seminal monuments of the Italian Renaissance. The massive 17-feet-high doors were created by the eminent Florentine goldsmith, sculptor, and designer Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455), who decorated them with ten evocative, highly charged, and magically atmospheric scenes from the Old Testament, each superbly carried out in relief ranging from high to low. After more than 25 years of conservation, seven elements of this masterpiece – including three of the narrative reliefs for which they are famous – are in the United States for the first and only time since their creation more than 500 years ago. The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to view them at The Metropolitan Museum of Art begins October 30. After the conclusion of their four-city United States tour, the works return to Florence, to be reassembled in their original bronze framework and placed in a specially designed, hermetically sealed case in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, never to travel again.

• New Galleries for Oceanic Art to Open at Metropolitan Museum November 14

  Tuesday, July 31, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  Following an extensive three-year renovation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will reopen on November 14 its New Galleries for Oceanic Art, a completely redesigned and reinstalled exhibition space for the display of one of the world's premier collections of the arts of the Pacific Islands. Divided into three separate galleries in The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, the 17,000-square-foot exhibition space will present a substantially larger portion of the Metropolitan's Oceanic collection than was previously on view.

• New Gallery for Art of Native North American Art to Open at Metropolitan Museum in November

  Tuesday, July 31, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  A new gallery for the exhibition of the art of Native North American peoples will open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on November 13, 2007. After three years of renovation, the enlarged gallery will display a greater number of Native American works of art than has ever before been on view at the Museum. A select group of approximately 90 works will present the art of various North American peoples, regions, and time periods in which distinct cultural, stylistic, and functional aspects will be shown. The objects range from the beautifully shaped and finished stone tools known as bannerstones that date back several millennia to a mid-1970s tobacco bag made by the well-known Assiniboine/Sioux beadwork artist Joyce Growing Thunder.

• New Gallery for Modern and Contemporary Photography to be Inaugurated at Metropolitan Museum in September

  Tuesday, July 24, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  The Metropolitan Museum will inaugurate the Joyce and Robert Menschel Hall for Modern Photography on September 25, 2007, establishing for the first time a gallery dedicated exclusively to photography created since 1960. With high ceilings, clean detailing, and approximately 2,000 square feet of exhibition space, the Menschel Hall is designed specifically to accommodate the large-scale photographs that are an increasingly important part of contemporary art and the Museum's permanent collection. Photographers represented in the collection include such modern masters as Thomas Struth, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Jeff Wall, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, Doug Aitken, and Sigmar Polke.

• Ancestral Origins of African Masterpieces Explored in Major Metropolitan Museum Exhibition This Fall

  Monday, July 16, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present a special exhibition of acclaimed sculptural masterpieces from the heart of Africa's equatorial rainforest, beginning October 2, 2007. The exhibition explores not only the significance of the works presented in their countries of origin but also how their reception in the West led them to enter the mainstream of universal art. Organized thematically, Eternal Ancestors: The Art of the Central African Reliquary explains the sources of cultural and spiritual inspiration that led to their creation in equatorial Africa. Drawn from the most important collections of African art in Europe and the United States, the more than 130 works featured in the exhibition relate to 12 distinct traditions in Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of Congo, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They were created to celebrate the lives of an extended family's most notable ancestors and to give expression to their ongoing role as advocates with the divine.

• One of a Kind: The Studio Craft Movement

  Wednesday, July 11, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  The studio craft movement developed in the U.S. during the years after World War II and has flourished internationally over the past 40 years. During this period, craft artists have experimented with non-traditional materials and new techniques, producing bold, abstract, and sculptural art, as well as continuing to make utilitarian objects. One of a Kind: The Studio Craft Movementon view from December 22, 2006, through December 2, 2007, features approximately 50 works from The Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection and will include furniture, ceramics, glass, metalwork, jewelry, and fiber. Many of these works have never been on view at the Metropolitan before, and several are recent acquisitions by the Museum.

• Bridging East and West: The Chinese Diaspora and Lin Yutang

  Wednesday, July 11, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  An exhibition featuring 43 modern Chinese paintings and calligraphies assembled by the noted author Lin Yutang (1895-1976) and his family will go on view to the public for the first time at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 15. The collection was recently donated to the Museum by members of the family.

• Monumental Statues of the Female Pharaoh Hatshepsut on View at Metropolitan Museum

  Wednesday, July 11, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  Two magnificent statues of Hatshepsut – a woman who ruled ancient Egypt as a pharaoh – are on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art this summer, in advance of the re-opening of the Museum's Hatshepsut Gallery later this year. It was announced recently in Cairo that Hatshepsut's mummy – long thought to be lost – has been identified.

• New Gallery for Art of Native North America to Open at Metropolitan Museum in November

  Tuesday, July 10, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  A new gallery for the exhibition of the art of Native North American peoples will open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on November 13, 2007. After three years of renovation, the enlarged gallery will display a greater number of Native American works of art than has ever before been on view at the Museum. A select group of approximately 90 works will present the art of various North American peoples, regions, and time periods in which distinct cultural, stylistic, and functional aspects will be shown. The objects range from the beautifully shaped and finished stone tools known as bannerstones that date back several millennia to a mid-1970s tobacco bag made by the well-known Assiniboine/Sioux beadwork artist Joyce Growing Thunder.

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art Announces the 2007-08 Season of Concerts

  Wednesday, June 27, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  The 54th Season Features Itzhak Perlman's First New York Chamber Series; Eleven Pianists Including Nelson Freire, Hélène Grimaud, Stephen Kovacevich, and Ingrid Fliter; a Violin Series Featuring Janine Jansen and Hilary Hahn; Patti Smith and Dianne Reeves; and The Beaux Arts Trio's New York Farewell Concert

• The Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education

  Wednesday, June 13, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  Following a three-year renovation and complete reconfiguration, the Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education at The Metropolitan Museum of Art will reopen on October 23, 2007. The new Center will transform Museum experiences for students and teachers, teenagers and families, scholars and all visitors. It will provide an extraordinary range of new, high-tech features to train, inform, and inspire, and beautiful spaces in which to learn, beginning with the majestic and welcoming Diane W. Burke Hall.

• Metropolitan Museum Announces Schedule for Summer and Fall 2007 Met Holiday Mondays

  Monday, June 11, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  The main building of The Metropolitan Museum of Art – located at Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street in Manhattan – will be open to the public from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the following Met Holiday Mondays in summer and fall of 2007:

• A Tribute to Lincoln Kirstein (1907-1996)

  Sunday, June 10, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  Although the name of Lincoln Kirstein (1907-1996) today appears most often in the context of dance – specifically ballet – in America, he was also actively involved in theater, writing, and collecting art. Over a span of some 40 years, he donated more than a thousand works from his personal collection to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. These works – found in rare book and print shops around the world – all display some spark of ingenuity, esthetic grandeur, or legerdemain that attracted his eye.

• 世界屈指の竹工芸コレクション、METに寄贈決定！　祝の特別展、人間国宝ら、明治～現代の名工の傑作多数。　６・１３よりMETにて開催

  Friday, June 8, 2007, 3:44 p.m.

• New Galleries for Oceanic Art

  Wednesday, June 6, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  Following an extensive three-year renovation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will reopen on November 14 its New Galleries for Oceanic Art, a completely redesigned and reinstalled exhibition space for the display of one of the world's premier collections of the arts of the Pacific Islands. Divided into three separate galleries in The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, the 17,000-square-foot exhibition space will present a substantially larger portion of the Metropolitan's Oceanic collection than was previously on view.

• Metropolitan Museum's Exhibitions Cézanne to Picasso and Americans in Paris Create $377 Million Economic Impact for New York

  Wednesday, May 30, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  (New York, May 31, 2007) – The Metropolitan Museum's concurrent presentation of two acclaimed and widely attended exhibitions in the fall 2006/winter 2007 season – Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde and Americans in Paris, 1860-1900 – generated $377 million in spending by regional, national, and foreign tourists to New York, according to a visitor survey the Museum released today. Using the industry standard for calculating tax revenue impact, the study found that the direct tax benefit to the City and State from out-of-town visitors to the Museum totaled some $37.7 million. (Study findings attached.)

• Neo Rauch at the Met: para

  Thursday, May 17, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  Neo Rauch at the Met: para presents 14 new paintings made specifically for this exhibition by the artist Neo Rauch (b. 1960, Leipzig, Germany), one of the most widely acclaimed painters of his generation. The exhibition — on view from May 22 through October 14, 2007 — is the third in the Museum's series dedicated to artists at mid-career, following exhibitions featuring Tony Oursler in 2005 and Kara Walker in 2006.

• Impressionist and Modern Masterpieces Once Owned by Rival Brother Collectors on View at Metropolitan Museum

  Thursday, May 17, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings: The Clark Brothers Collect will bring together for the first time celebrated masterpieces once owned by rival brother collectors Robert Sterling Clark (1877-1956), founder of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and Stephen Carlton Clark (1882-1960), a former trustee and illustrious donor to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Featuring more than 65 paintings, the exhibition will provide a unique opportunity to appreciate the remarkable legacies of two brothers – heirs to the Singer Sewing Machine fortune and native New Yorkers – who played notable but ultimately divergent roles as patrons of the arts in the United States.

• SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS MAY – AUGUST 2007

  Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: Information provided below is subject to change. To confirm scheduling and dates, call the Communications Department at (212) 570-3951. CONTACT NUMBER FOR USE IN TEXT IS (212) 535-7710.

• Metropolitan Museum Announces Promotions for Suzanne E. Brenner and Lauren A. Meserve

  Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  (New York, May 17, 2007)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art today announced that two members of its Investment Office will assume new and expanded responsibilities this month. The announcements were made by Philippe de Montebello, Director of the Museum, and Emily K. Rafferty, the Museum's President.

• Renowned Contemporary American Artist Frank Stella Explores Architecture and the Leap from Canvas to Space in His First Solo Exhibitions at Metropolitan Museum

  Tuesday, May 1, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  Two concurrent exhibitions featuring recent work by the renowned American artist Frank Stella (born 1936) will open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, 2007.

• Metropolitan Museum to Unveil Spectacular New Greek and Roman Galleries

  Sunday, April 15, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  A spectacular "museum-within-the-museum" for the display of its extraordinary collection of Hellenistic, Etruscan, South Italian, and Roman art – much of it unseen in New York for generations – will open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art this April in its New Greek and Roman Galleries. After more than five years of construction, the long-awaited opening concludes a 15-year project for the complete redesign and reinstallation of the Museum's superb collection of classical art. Returning to public view in the new space are thousands of long-stored works from the Metropolitan's collection, which is considered one of the finest in the world. The centerpiece of the New Greek and Roman Galleries is the majestic Leon Levy and Shelby White Court – a monumental, peristyle court for the display of Hellenistic and Roman art, with a soaring two-story atrium.

• Coaxing the Spirits to Dance: Art of the Papuan Gulf

  Wednesday, March 28, 2007, 4:00 a.m.

  An exhibition of some 60 powerful and graphically elaborate sculptures and 30 rare historical photographs from the Papuan Gulf area of the island of New Guinea will go on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, beginning October 24. Featuring sacred objects as well as photographs, Coaxing the Spirits to Dance: Art of the Papuan Gulf will demonstrate how deeply embedded art was in the region's social life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The exhibition is the first in-depth investigation of these art traditions in 45 years. Drawn from public and private collections, as well as the Museum's own holdings, many of the works will be exhibited for the first time.

• Metropolitan Museum and ARTstor Announce Pioneering Initiative to Provide Digital Images to Scholars at No Charge

  Sunday, March 11, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  In a new initiative designed to assist scholars with teaching, study, and the publication of academic works, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will distribute, free of charge, high-resolution digital images from an expanding array of works in its renowned collection for use in academic publications. This new service, which is effective immediately, is available through ARTstor, a non-profit organization that makes art images available for educational use.

• "An Inside Look" with the Metropolitan Museum's Curators in New Lecture Series Beginning March 14

  Wednesday, March 7, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  (New York, February 27, 2007) Beginning March 14, the work of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's stellar curatorial staff will be highlighted in a special, two-year series of lectures that will be offered to the public in the Museum's Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium. The first four programs – devoted to Egyptian art, European sculpture and decorative arts, arms and armor, and Asian art – will take place this spring.

• Barcelona and Modernity: Gaudí to Dalí (Catalan)

  Sunday, March 4, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  Barcelona and Modernity: Gaudí to Dalí, la primera exposició d'aquest tipus mai muntada a Amèrica, explora el treball innovador i divers d'artistes, arquitectes i dissenyadors en els anys entre l'Exposició Internacional de 1888 i la imposició del règim feixista de Franco el 1939. Barcelona and Modernity ofereix noves visions dels moviments artístics que varen desenvolupar la cerca de la modernitat per part d'una ciutat que es confirmà aleshores com el centre neuràlgic de les activitats intel•lectuals, polítiques i culturals a Espanya.

• Barcelona and Modernity: Gaudí to Dalí (en Español)

  Saturday, February 24, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  Barcelona and Modernity: Gaudí to Dalí — la primera exposición de este tipo jamás montada en América — explora el trabajo diverso e innovador de artistas, arquitectos, y diseñadores de Barcelona en los años entre la exposición universal de Barcelona de 1888 y la imposición del régimen fascista de Francisco Franco en 1939. Barcelona and Modernity ofrece nuevas aproximaciones a los movimientos artísticos que desarrollaron la búsqueda de la modernidad por parte de una ciudad que se confirmó entonces como el centro neurálgico de las actividades intelectuales, políticas, y culturales en España.

• Neo Rauch at the Met

  Thursday, February 15, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  Neo Rauch at the Met presents six new paintings made specifically for this exhibition by the artist Neo Rauch (b. 1960, Leipzig, Germany), one of the most widely acclaimed painters of his generation. The exhibition — on view from May 22 through September 23, 2007 —is the third in the Museum's series dedicated to artists at mid-career, following exhibitions featuring Tony Oursler in 2005 and Kara Walker in 2006.

• Hidden in Plain Sight: Contemporary Photographs from the Collection

  Thursday, February 15, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  Hidden in Plain Sight: Contemporary Photographs from the Collection, on view from May 15 through September 3, 2007, features the work of artists who use the camera to call our attention to the poetic richness latent in ordinary things. Often deliberately understated, these photographs are filled with everyday epiphanies, inviting us to look more closely at the world around us. The exhibition will feature approximately 35 works by American and international artists, including Walker Evans, Stephen Shore, William Eggleston, Jean-Marc Bustamante, Patrick Faigenbaum, Gabriel Orozco, Damián Ortega, Daniel Faust, Mitch Epstein, Lewis Koch, Bertien van Manen, Carrie Mae Weems, Rachel Harrison, and Shomei Tomatsu.

• "Poiret: King of Fashion" at Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute to Celebrate Paul Poiret, Visionary Artist-Couturier of Early 20th Century

  Tuesday, February 13, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  Paul Poiret – who at the height of his career in pre-World War I France was the undisputed "King of Fashion" and whose sweeping vision led to a new silhouette that liberated women from the corset and introduced the shocking colors and exotic references of the Ballets Russes to the haute couture – will be celebrated with a landmark exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from May 9 through August 5, 2007. He has not been the focus of a major museum exhibition in more than 30 years.

• From Ancient Monumental Landscapes to Contemporary Color Photographs, New Exhibition at Metropolitan Museum Invites Viewers on a Thousand-year Journey through Chinese Art

  Thursday, February 8, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  The theme of journeys, both real and imagined, will be presented in Journeys: Mapping the Earth and Mind in Chinese Art, opening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on February 10. Featuring more than 60 works of art in various pictorial formats – hanging scroll, handscroll, album, fan, book, and photograph – the exhibition will explore the rich symbolic meanings and cultural significance of journeys as embodied in works of art dating from the 11th century to the present. The exhibition will be organized thematically: emotional partings and returns, roaming the wilderness, escapist visions and garden retreats, dream journeys, travelers, scenic sites and landmarks, and topographic paintings and maps. Highlights of the exhibition will include a brilliantly colored 42-foot-long map entitled Ten Thousand Miles Along the Yellow River (late 17th-early 18th century), a rare deerskin map of Forts Zeelandia and Provintia and the City of Tainan (18th century), as well as a striking series of eight photographs, The North: Bicycle Rider, by contemporary artist Hai Bo (born 1962). Approximately one-third of the works are to be shown for the first time at the Museum, including 16 loans and three new acquisitions.

• Metropolitan Museum Announces 2007 Schedule for Met Holiday Mondays

  Tuesday, February 6, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  The main building of The Metropolitan Museum of Art – located at Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street in Manhattan – will be open to the public from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on the following Met Holiday Mondays in 2007:

• Closed Circuit: Video and New Media at the Metropolitan

  Thursday, January 25, 2007, 5:00 a.m.

  The first multi-artist exhibition of video art and new media at The Metropolitan Museum of Art will be presented from February 23 to April 29, 2007. Drawn entirely from the collection of the Museum's Department of Photographs, Closed Circuit: Video and New Media at the Metropolitan features video and new media works made between 1994 and 2004 by eight American and international artists: Darren Almond, Lutz Bacher, Jim Campbell, Omer Fast, Ann Hamilton, David Hammons, Maria Marshall, and Wolfgang Staehle. These highly respected figures in contemporary art will be represented in Closed Circuit by some of their best-known and most celebrated works, only one of which has been on exhibit before at the Met.