Other Fall Lecturers to Discuss Exhibitions, Art and Architecture of NYC, Great Artists and Collectors, Museums of China, Making a Steinway Piano, and More
Seventy lectures comprise the Fall 2006 schedule of The Metropolitan Museum of Art's stellar series, now in its 53rd season. Metropolitan Museum curators and educators, as well as guest speakers, will present talks on a broad range of exhibition- and arts-related topics.
Philippe de Montebello, The Metropolitan Museum's Director, will trace the history of collecting antiquities from their creation to the present day in his lecture Collecting the Present and Illuminating the Future, as the centerpiece of the Museum's fall programming. In particular, Mr. de Montebello will trace the movement of antiquities during the 19th-century colonialist era, the growth of independent states and patrimony laws in the 20th century, and the present controversies that have pitted source countries, archaeologists, curators, and collectors against each other. The lecture, which will be presented on two occasions, will conclude with an analysis of today's situation and the implications for the future of the Metropolitan Museum's recent agreement with the Italian Government. (Thursday, November 16 or December 7, at 6 p.m., $25)
Curatorial Talks
In anticipation of the world premiere in December of The First Emperorat the Metropolitan Opera, featuring Plácido Domingo in the title role, Maxwell K. Hearn, the Metropolitan Museum's Douglas Dillon Curator of Asian Art, and Tan Dun, the opera's composer and conductor, will present China's First Emperor: The Man, The Myth, and The Opera. The program will combine an illustrated lecture on China's first emperor, Qín Shĭ Huáng, best known today for the life-size terracotta army that guards his fabled mausoleum, with a discussion of the opera's genesis and creative process. (Monday, November 27, at 6 p.m., $22)
In the two-part series From Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde, presented in conjunction with the exhibition Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde, Gary Tinterow, the Metropolitan Museum's Engelhard Curator in Charge of Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art, will explore the fascinating and contradictory character of the legendary dealer who gave Cézanne his first solo exhibition and more than a dozen now world-famous artists their first gallery shows in Paris. The exhibition will be on view September 14, 2006-January 7, 2007. (2 Thursdays, October 5 and 12, at 6 p.m., series $40, single tickets $22)
In Americans in Paris, 1860-1900, a three-part series presented in conjunction with the special exhibition of the same name, H. Barbara Weinberg, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Alice Pratt Brown Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture, will demonstrate the importance of Paris as a center for late-19th-century American art. At that time, Paris was the key venue for study, a magnet for artists including Whistler, Sargent, Eakins, and Cassatt, and a stimulus for the creation of newly sophisticated American art schools, exhibitions, and criticism. The exhibition will be on view October 24, 2006-January 28, 2007. (3 Thursdays, November 2, 9, and 16, at 11 a.m., series $60, single tickets $22)
The most lionized personality in the history of Western art is the subject of From Urbino to the Pantheon: Raphael, Prince of Painters, a two-part series by Linda Wolk-Simon, Associate Curator of Drawings and Prints at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and curator of the recent exhibition Raphael at the Metropolitan: The Colonna Altarpiece. Raphael's meteoric 20-year career began in his native Urbino and led to Florence and then Rome, where he became a universal artist-impresario and, upon his death at the age of 37, was buried in one of the city's most famous monuments, the Pantheon. This series is supported by The Giorgio S. Sacerdote Fund. (2 Tuesdays, October 10 and 17, at 2:30 p.m., series $40, single tickets $22)
Spotlight on New York City
New York City will be the focus of three groups of lectures:
· Beaux Arts New York, a three-part series presented by cultural historian David Garrard Lowe, will focus on the sumptuous dwellings, hotels, railway stations, and public buildings – including The Metropolitan Museum of Art – inspired by Paris's great school of architecture, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. This series is supported by the Mrs. Donald Oenslager Fund. (3 Wednesdays, October 4, 11, and 18, at 6 p.m., series $75, single tickets $30)
· New York's Great Architects: Rosario Candela, presented by architectural historian Christopher Gray, will examine the half-dozen buildings, including the remarkable string at 720, 740, 770, and 778 Park Avenue, created by the master of residential design for New York's wealthiest inhabitants. (Tuesday, November 14, at 11 a.m., $25)
· Art Deco New York, a three-part series by David Garrard Lowe, will focus on the glamour and sophistication of New York in the 1920s and 1930s, exploring the era and its dazzling artifacts – ranging from sleek ocean liners like the Normandie to the stunning architecture of the Chrysler Building – and profiling a quintessential New Yorker of the period, the poet and hell-raiser Dorothy Parker. (3 Wednesdays, January 24 and 31, and February 7, 2007,
at 6 p.m., series $75, single tickets $30)
Great Artists, Collectors, and Museums
· Matisse's World of Color, a four–part series by art historian Marian Burleigh-Motley, will illustrate many aspects of the artist's long career between the years 1890 and 1954. This series is made possible in part by The Marks Family Foundation. (4 Tuesdays, October 10, 17, 24, and 31, at 11 a.m., series $80, single tickets $22)
· Alfred Steiglitz and Georgia O'Keefe, presented by art historian Marlene Barasch Strauss, will illustrate the intimate dialogues engaged in the couple's respective works. (Wednesday, October 18, at 2:30 p.m., $25)
· Edouard Manet: 'Boating, presented by Kent Lydecker, the Metropolitan Museum's Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Associate Director for Education, will closely scrutinize Manet's method of painting, comparing his work with that of his peers, and investigating this painting's place in the artist's career. (Thursday, November 9, at 6 p.m., $22)
· American Medici: The Kress Brothers, presented by lecturer Jocelyn Kress, will address the encyclopedic art collection amassed by Samuel H. Kress and his brother Rush during the first half of the 20th century, with particular emphasis on the collection of French 18th-century meubles et porcelain, the largest in the world, given by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1957. Her remarks will be interspersed with personal reminiscences from her youth about various additions to the Kress Collection. (Thursday, January 18, 2007, at 6 p.m., $22)
· Great Chinese Museums, a five-part series presented by art history professor Janetta Rebold Benton, will offer a view of outstanding museums in Xi'an, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taipei – illuminating the history of their collections and the lives of the collectors, their unique architecture and surroundings, and the organization of collections and gallery installations. (5 Wednesdays, November 22 and 29, and December 6, 13, and 20, at 11 a.m., series $100, single tickets $22)
Literature, Art, Music, and Haute Couture
· Revolution and Romance: Art and Literature in the Age of Napoleon and Austen, a five-part series presented by history and theory professor Jerrilynn D. Dodds, will explore the interaction of themes from art, music, and literature, unveiling some of the rich passions and tumultuous politics of the Age of Revolution in Europe. Examined together will be works by David, De Laclos, and Rousseau; Napoleonic paintings of Gros, Ingres, David, and Gericault and Stendhal's The Red and the Black; Goya's Revolution and Mozart and Da Ponte's Le nozze di Figaro; Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudiceand Constable's England; and Gericault, Honoré de Balzac, and Chopin. This series is supported by the Mrs. Joseph H. King Fund. (5 Tuesdays, October 10, 17, 24, and 31, and November 7, at 6 p.m., series $100, single tickets $22)
· Proust's Salon, a two-part series presented by 96.3 FM WQXR's evening host Nimet Habachy, will examine Paris at the turn of the 20th century through the eyes of the best chronicler of the age, Marcel Proust, who observed the period's illusion, sadness, and humor as exemplified by the major players in the theater of salon life. These lectures will relate, respectively, to the Metropolitan Museum's exhibitions Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde, on view September 14, 2006-January 7, 2007, and Americans in Paris, 1860-1900, on view October 24, 2006-January 28, 2007.
(2 Wednesdays, November 8 and 15, at 2:30 p.m., series $40, single tickets $22)
· Among the Stars in Paris and Beyond, a three-part series by Rosamond Bernier, will recount the noted writer and editor's experiences as a young American in Paris who founded the world-famous art review L'OEIL and went on to spend a perceptive lifetime among gifted people who were driving forces in their fields. These lectures will focus, respectively, on musicians, from Stokowski to Boulez; artists, including Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Giacometti, Max Ernst, and Miró; and fashion designers, including Schiaparelli, Chanel, Dior, Balenciaga, and Lagerfeld. (3 Wednesdays, November 8, 15, and 29, at 8 p.m., series $75, single tickets $25)
Singular Talents
· A Tribute to Ballet Great Maria Tallchief will feature the great American prima ballerina in conversation with Anna Kisselgoff, chief dance critic emeritus of The New York Times, Francis Mason, editor of Ballet Review and dance critic for WQXR, and Larry Kaplan, a writer for Ballet Review and Ms. Tallchief's biographer. Dance clips will be interspersed with the conversation, which will salute the dancer's Osage Indian ancestry and discuss the many contributions she has made to the world of ballet. (Tuesday, November 7, at 8 p.m., $25)
· In Richard Meier, Architect, the renowned architect will discuss his work, from residential projects of the early 1960s through such large-scale projects around the world as the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome and the Getty Center in Los Angeles, which were created in an international style all his own. (Tuesday, December 12, at 8 p.m., $22)
Intriguing Artists and Art Forms
· Murals and Mosaics in Great Spaces, a five-part series by art history professor Janetta Rebold Benton, will examine masterpieces, from ancient Roman wall paintings to illusionistic ceilings of Baroque Rome, in the spaces they were intended to embellish. (5 Wednesdays, November 1, 8, 15 and 29, and December 13, at 6 p.m., series $100, single tickets $22)
· Pioneers of Design, a two-part series by Sir Timothy Clifford, retired Director General of the National Galleries of Scotland, will explore how the finest metalwork, furniture, and textiles were frequently designed by the great architects, sculptors and painters, whose contributions have often been overlooked or underestimated. Verrocchio, Uccello, and Botticelli will be discussed as forerunners to William Kent, Roubilliac, and Gravelot. (2 Tuesdays, November 21 and 28, at 8 p.m., series $40, single tickets $22)
· The World in 1800, a four-part series by author Olivier Bernier, will describe the atmosphere of an era in which the visual arts flourished and decoration thrived throughout Europe and the United States and in China and Japan. (4 Tuesdays, November 21 and 28, and December 12 and 19, at 6 p.m., series $80, single tickets $22)
· The Real Bernini: Beyond Angels and Demons, by art historian and author Charles Scribner III, will illuminate the life of sculptor-architect Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), who served eight popes over seven decades with a virtuosity previously unseen in sculpture. (Wednesday, January 10, 2007, at 6 p.m., $22)
· Botticelli: The Poetics of Painting, a three-part series by art history professor John Paoletti, will examine the complicated interaction of devotion, patronage demands, and dramatic historical events that governed Botticelli's development as a painter. (3 Tuesdays, February 6, 13, and 20, 2007, at 6 p.m., series $60, single tickets $22)
Music Lectures
One of the concert grand pianos in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium made headlines even before it was delivered to the Metropolitan Museum. In his lecture The Making of a Steinway, reporter James Barron will elaborate on the nine-part series he wrote for New York Times on the piano's journey from raw lumber to finished instrument at the Steinway & Sons factory in Queens, and how this mechanically complicated marvel – which now resides in the Museum's acoustically acclaimed auditorium – took shape. Surprise guests will give it a workout as part of the program. The piano is one of three Steinways now available for use by the virtuosos who perform in the Metropolitan Museum's concert series. (Tuesday, October 17, at 8 p.m., $22)
Broadcaster and American musical theater aficionada June LeBell will continue her informative and entertaining tribute to American musical theater with Famous Songs from Infamous Flops, a two-part series that looks at great songs from forgotten shows –including "Autumn in New York" and "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart" (Thumbs Up), "April in Paris" (Walk a Little Faster), and "When I Fall in Love" (One Minute to Zero). Her presentation will be augmented with video clips and by guest artists in performance. (2 Tuesdays, November 7 and 14, at 2:30 p.m., series $45, single tickets $25)
In his three-part series Great Composers for the Piano, pianist, teacher, writer, and broadcaster David Dubal will discuss the lives of Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, List, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, and Rachmaninoff. He will also perform characteristic works and play important recordings, including those of Scriabin and Rachmaninoff. (3 Wednesdays, November 29, and December 6 and 13, at 2:30 p.m., series $60, single tickets $22)
For current listings of all lectures and concerts, visit Concerts & Lectures on the Metropolitan Museum's website (www.metmuseum.org). For a season brochure, or to place an order, call (212) 570-3949, Sunday, noon-5 p.m., and Monday-Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; or send a fax to (212) 650-2253 at any time.
Cézanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde
The exhibition is made possible by The Florence Gould Foundation.
It was organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Art Institute of br>Chicago, the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, and the Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris. br>
The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the br>Humanities.
Americans in Paris, 1860-1900
The exhibition is made possible by Bank of America.
Additional support is provided by the Marguerite and Frank A. Cosgrove Jr. Fund.
The exhibition was organized by the National Gallery, London, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in association with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: For interviews or for additional information for coverage, please contact Naomi Takafuchi (212-650-2130 or naomi.takafuchi@metmuseum.org) or Ann Matson (212-650-2131, ann.matson@metmuseum.org)
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August 8, 2006
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