Event Date: Sunday, November 15, 2015
Event Time: Noon – 5:00 p.m.
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, Manhattan
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will celebrate the Indian festival Diwali with a special program for visitors of all ages on Sunday, November 15, from noon to 5:00 p.m. Diwali, the annual Indian “Festival of Light,” signifies the victory of good over evil within every human being. The Museum’s celebration will feature an interactive children’s Indian dance workshop, artmaking activities, and a musical dance performance. It is presented by the Museum’s Multicultural Audience Development Initiative and Education Department, with special thanks to Multicultural Advisory Committee member Lal K. Motwani, former President of the National Federation of Indian-American Associations. This event is free with Museum admission.
Diwali Activities:
Children’s Dance Workshop
Noon–2:00 p.m.
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Gallery 206
Learn and share Indian classical dances in this interactive workshop.
Lantern Making
Noon–2:00 p.m.
Great Hall Balcony
Play with light and color!
Story of Diwali
2:30–5:00 p.m.
The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Members of the East-West School of Dance perform the Story of Diwali.
Visitors are invited to view the Museum’s Florence and Herbert Irving Galleries for the Arts of South and Southeast Asia, including special exhibition The Royal Hunt: Courtly Pursuits in Indian Art (Gallery 251, on view through December 8).
Special Exhibition
The Royal Hunt: Courtly Pursuits in Indian Art
Through December 8
Expressions of imperial authority are universally embodied in royal imagery of the hunt, rulers pursuing prey as metaphors for power, and martial prowess. This theme is celebrated throughout the history of Indian painting and became ubiquitous in later Rajput painting. The exhibition features works from the holdings of the Department of Asian Art, with loans from the Department of Islamic Art, the Department of Arms and Armor, and New York collections.
The exhibition is made possible by The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation Fund.
The Florence and Herbert Irving Galleries for the Arts of South and Southeast Asia
These 15 galleries present the arts of India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia, from the earliest civilizations to the 16th century. Areas of particular strength include Buddhist stone and bronze sculptures from the Kushan dynasty (1st to 3rd century A.D.); Kashmiri and Pala period sculptures (6th to 13th century); Hindu bronzes from the Chola period (9th to 13th century); an unparalleled collection of early Southeast Asian metal sculptures; and monumental stone sculptures from the Angkorian Kingdom in Cambodia and Thailand (9th to 14th century). Nepalese and Tibetan religious imagery (8th to 19th century) are displayed on the third floor, along with exhibitions of Indian art, often including Indian paintings.
About The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the world’s largest and finest museums, with collections of more than 1.5 million works of art spanning over 5,000 years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe. Located at the edge of Central Park along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, the Museum welcomed 6.3 million visitors last year.
The Multicultural Audience Development Initiative began more than 10 years ago at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It reflects the Museum’s founding mission to educate and inspire by reaching out to all of its constituencies, including the many diverse communities of the New York Tristate area. Its objectives are to increase awareness of the Museum’s global collections and programs, to diversify its visitorship and membership, and to increase participation in its programs
###
October 20, 2015
Press resources