(New York, January 13, 2004) – In the latest of its recently inaugurated and highly popular new series of "Holiday Mondays," The Metropolitan Museum of Art will mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day by opening its galleries and exhibitions to the public on Monday, January 19.
"As families make their plans for the long Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, we hope they will include the Met in their itineraries," said Philippe de Montebello, Director of the Metropolitan Museum. "Because of the encyclopedic nature of the Museum's collection – which spans all periods of human artistic endeavor and includes work from all parts of the world – there is something here for everyone, at the highest levels of creativity and quality."
Among the special exhibitions that will be on view on January 19 in the Museum's main building are: the newly opened Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration along with A Private Passion: 19th-Century Paintings and Drawings from the Grenville L. Winthrop Collection, Harvard University; Bravehearts: Men in Skirts; and Treasures of a Lost Art: Italian Manuscript Painting of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Of particular interest will be several works by African-American artists represented in the Museum's permanent collection. On view on January 19 will be the following works from the Department of Modern Art: the screenprint Three Children (ca. 1940) by William Henry Johnson; the sculptures Tinto en Tando y Suta (1985) by Alison Saar, Number 24 (1992) by Leonardo Drew, and III (1994) by Lorna Simpson; and the oil painting Allegory (1960) by Bob Thompson.
Family greeters in red aprons will be present in the Museum's Great Hall to direct families to areas of particular interest.
The Metropolitan's new public cafeteria and several of the Museum gift shops in the Main Building will be open on all Holiday Mondays.
A different selection of galleries and exhibitions will be open each Holiday Monday.
The Museum, which had been closed to the public on all Mondays for some 30 years, is opening the doors of its main building this winter and spring on two additional major Monday holidays: February 16 (Presidents' Day) and May 31 (Memorial Day). The other Holiday Mondays celebrated this season were Columbus Day and the Monday after Christmas. So far, more that 30,000 visitors have attended Holiday Mondays at the Met.
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