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INSTALLATIONS IN THE HOWARD GILMAN GALLERY SPRING AND SUMMER 1999
Sunday, March 7, 1999, 5:00 a.m.
MASTERPIECES FROM THE GILMAN PAPER COMPANY COLLECTION February 26 - May 23, 1999
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TWO WORKS BY VINCENT VAN GOGH BEQUEATHED
Sunday, January 31, 1999, 5:00 a.m.
Two important works on paper by Vincent van Gogh entered the permanant collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art on October 8, 1998, under the terms of an unusual bequest of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. Left to the Metropolitan by Ms. Rockefeller upon her death in 1948, her bequest allowed that the Museum of Modern Art, of which she was a founder, was able to borrow the works for a period of up to 50 years. When the 50 years elapsed, the drawings were transferred to the Metropolitan.
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ANNA WINTOUR ELECTED HONORARY TRUSTEE
Monday, January 11, 1999, 5:00 a.m.
(New York, January 12, 1999) — Anna Wintour has been elected an Honorary Trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was announced today by James R. Houghton, Chairman of the Board of the Museum. The election took place at today's meeting of the Board of Trustees.
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THE NATURE OF ISLAMIC ORNAMENT, PART IV: FIGURAL REPRESENTATION
Sunday, January 10, 1999, 5:00 a.m.
One of the most misunderstood aspects of Islamic art is its supposed ban on figural representation. In fact — and surprising to many people — figural imagery is relatively common during many periods in various Islamic cultures. A special exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in the fall of 1999 will examine these traditions and the variety of figural forms found in Islamic art, as well as the religious issues involved and the resultant tendency toward greater abstraction in ornamentation.
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RODIN'S MONUMENT TO VICTOR HUGO
Sunday, January 10, 1999, 5:00 a.m.
This loan exhibition will comprise approximately 20 sculptures by Auguste Rodin, ranging from a small terracotta sketch to a life-size portrait in marble, as well as bronze figures, all relating to Rodin's monument to Victor Hugo that was originally commissioned for the Panthéon in Paris. Although a plaster model for the work was a popular success in the Paris Salon of 1897, the completion of this version of the monument and its installation in the Panthéon never took place. A modified version of it in marble was erected in the gardens of the Palais Royal in Paris, where it stood until 1933.
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ABAKANOWICZ ON THE ROOF
Sunday, January 10, 1999, 5:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will open an outdoor installation of sculptures by Magdalena Abakanowicz, one of the most startlingly innovative artists of our time, on May 1, 1999. Abakanowicz on the Roof will feature a selection of figural works, including signature pieces as well as objects created during the past year that have never before been exhibited. They will be installed in the 10,000-square-foot open-air space of the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, located atop the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing. The Cantor Roof Garden offers a spectacular view of Central Park and the New York City.
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DEVOTIONS AND DIVERSIONS: PRINTS AND BOOKS FROM THE LATE MIDDLE AGES IN NORTHERN EUROPE
Sunday, January 10, 1999, 5:00 a.m.
Some of the earliest extant northern European prints and books — all from The Metropolitan Museum of Art's exceptional collection of this material — will be presented in Devotions and Diversions: Prints and Books from the Late Middle Ages in Northern Europe , from May 11 through August 29, 1999, in the Museum's Karen B. Cohen Gallery and Charles Z. Offin Gallery. Forty-one German, Netherlandish, and French woodcuts and metalcuts (many of them unique impressions), several Netherlandish woodcut blockbook pages, and about twenty illustrated books, including a number of printed French Books of Hours, will be on view.
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PICASSO: PAINTER AND SCULPTOR IN CLAY
Sunday, January 10, 1999, 5:00 a.m.
More than 170 rarely exhibited unique ceramic works by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), created by the artist in the South of France primarily from 1947 to 1962, will be on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Picasso: Painter and Sculptor in Clay, from March 3 through June 6, 1999. Although Picasso is acknowledged as one of the most revolutionary artists of this century, with an unquestioned reputation as a painter, sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker, this exhibition is the first large-scale examination of his ceramic oeuvre, which he commenced at the age of 66. Intimately related in theme and subject matter to Picasso's art in other media, the subjects of these works range from still lifes to bullfights and include a lively cast of characters: a mistress and a wife, lovers and clowns, dancers and musicians, centaurs and fauns, as well as birds and fish. These join many sculpted and painted ceramics that celebrate the female form — nude and clothed, standing and seated.
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MIRROR OF THE MEDIEVAL WORLD
Sunday, January 10, 1999, 5:00 a.m.
Nearly 300 outstanding examples of medieval art — all drawn from the superb holdings of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and all acquired during the last two decades — will be moved from their customary settings this spring for Mirror of the Medieval World, an important new exhibition of the art of the Middle Ages. Organized thematically, the exhibition will feature several unexpected groupings of works of art created between the fourth and the 16th century, inviting visitors to reassess familiar works and to draw stylistic comparisons among objects created for purposes as diverse as personal adornment, the activities of daily life, and liturgical rites.
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THE NATURE OF ISLAMIC ORNAMENT PART III: GEOMETRIC PATTERNS
Sunday, January 10, 1999, 5:00 a.m.
The third in a four-part series on Islamic ornament dating from the 9th to the 18th century, The Nature of Islamic Ornament, Part III: Geometric Patterns will open on March 17, 1999. Some 25 objects that feature predominantly geometric decoration, drawn from the Metropolitan Museum's own collection — including illuminated manuscripts, rugs, carved and inlaid woodwork, and pottery — reflect the variety of production of Islamic art and the wide range of application of geometric patterns.