More About the Exhibition

See more images from the exhibition.

"The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions" honored the outstanding quality and diversity of the Museum’s collections as they were enhanced during Philippe de Montebello’s tenure as director. The Forum of Curators, Conservators, and Research Scientists suggested an exhibition as a parting gift to the director as he was leaving the Museum. Its members provided lists of works they considered transformative to the Museum's collections that had been acquired during the more than thirty-one years of Philippe de Montebello's tenure. This was far from easy, as the Museum acquired more than 84,000 works under his auspices. The Museum’s Director’s Council provided invaluable advice. The heads of the Metropolitan Museum’s seventeen curatorial departments reviewed the suggested works of art and undertook the extremely difficult task of reducing their departmental lists to the number of works that could be accommodated in our largest gallery space. The director added a few paintings by Lorenzo Monaco and Salvator Rossi that were of special significance to him, as he had urged the Museum to acquire them in 1965 when he was an assistant curator in the Department of European Paintings.

The resulting exhibition of approximately three hundred masterpieces was an explosive kaleidoscope of works in various materials representing artistic traditions that range across the globe and across time. The decision to arrange the diverse selection of works primarily by their year of acquisition by the Museum allowed exciting juxtapositions in the galleries that would not be possible in a standard museum installation arranged by geography, medium, or time. Monumental Renaissance paintings appeared with elaborate medieval miniature objects; massive stone carvings with delicate modern gowns; sophisticated French textiles and furniture with powerful American decorative objects; and vibrantly realistic modern images with abstract forms.

For the first time in its history, the Museum published this exciting selection of works in this online exhibition catalogue, which remains accessible even after the exhibition has closed. This innovative presentation, which, while also arranged by the year of acquisition, allows visitors to view works from the exhibition in any order, creates a kaleidoscope of images similar to that which was experienced in the galleries. Each work can be explored in depth in various ways. The accompanying curatorial comments provide insight into the importance of each acquisition to the Museum's collections. These catalogue entries are modeled on the Museum’s Recent Acquisition bulletins, whose publication was one of Philippe de Montebello's early initiatives as director. Links to the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, another innovation of the director's tenure, provide the larger art historical context for each work.

The entire staff of the Museum joined together to produce both this exhibition and this online catalogue as a gift to Philippe de Montebello. We welcome you to explore the results of our first truly Museum-wide exhibition, a celebration of three decades of masterful acquisitions.

Helen C. Evans
Coordinating Curator, "The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions" Mary and Michael Jaharis Curator for Byzantine Art, The Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters

Exhibition Credits

Helen C. Evans, the Metropolitan Museum’s Mary and Michael Jaharis Curator of Byzantine Art, coordinated the exhibition. The installation of the exhibition was overseen by Jeff Daly, senior design adviser to the director for capital and special projects. Graphic design was by Sophia Geronimus, senior graphic designer, and lighting by Clint Coller and Richard Lichte, senior lighting designers, all of the Museum’s Design Department under Linda Sylling. Labels and catalogue entries were edited by Pamela Barr, senior editor, Editorial.

The exhibition's website and online catalogue was produced by the Website and Information Systems and Technology Departments. Project Lead: Lasley Steever; Designer: Osamu Takahashi; Editor: Eileen Willis; Developers: Adam Plonski and Boris Smirnov; Technology Analyst: Piotr Adamczyk; Imaging Coordinators: Jackie Neale Chadwick and Carly Cohen-Bradshaw; Production Coordinator: Morgan Holzer.