-
Two special exhibitions celebrate the reopening:
The Forgotten Friezes from the Castle of Vélez Blanco
Sculpture and Decorative Arts of the Spanish Renaissance
-
Mr. Chairman, I am grateful to the Presidential Commission for the invitation to testify this morning. I appreciate this opportunity to update you, and through you, the public, on the efforts that The Metropolitan Museum has undertaken to re-examine its collections in order to ascertain whether any of its works were unlawfully confiscated by the Nazis and never restituted.
-
(April 7, 2000) — The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today the retirement of Wen C. Fong, its first and longtime Consultative Chairman of the Department of Asian Art, and the Museum's Douglas Dillon Curator of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy. Dr. Fong's retirement will take effect at the close of the Museum's fiscal year on June 30.
-
(April 5, 2000) — Sandra Priest Rose has been elected an Honorary Trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was announced this week by Museum Chairman James R. Houghton. Mrs. Rose's election took place at the March 14 meeting of the Board of Trustees.
-
(New York, March 14, 2000) — Last Friday, in a news story reported by the Associated Press and subsequently printed in the New York Times (March 12), the executive director of the World Jewish Congress, Elan Steinberg, suggested — apparently relying on a brief provenance listing in an 18-year-old-catalogue published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art — that a painting in the Museum's collection "may have been stolen from Jews" during the Nazi-World War II era: Portrait of a Man, a 1597 work by Peter Paul Rubens.
-
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will participate in World AIDS Day for the 11th consecutive year by observing "A Day Without Art" on Wednesday, December 1, 1999. This year's theme is AIDS — End the Silence. Listen, Learn, Live! and is designed to open communication about HIV/AIDS, especially among those under age 25. It also aims to increase awareness of prevention strategies, encourage caring attitudes toward people with AIDS, and help dispel the stigma of HIV/AIDS.
-
THE CESNOLA COLLECTION
-
In a significant effort to enrich teachers' skills and to develop classroom resources, The Metropolitan Museum of Art has published 20th-Century Art: A Resource for Educators. The large boxed set of comprehensive written, visual, and high-tech materials provides essential tools for educators, featuring a 173-page publication — fully illustrated in color — with essays, strategies for classroom lessons, and background information that includes artists' writings and extensive bibliographic material. Also included in the packet are a set of forty slides, a full-sized, three-part poster set, a video, and a CD-ROM version of the book.
-
(June 30,1999) — The Metropolitan Museum of Art today announced a number of senior administrative promotions, all to become effective with the start of its new fiscal year on July 1.
-
(June 30, 1999)—Philippe de Montebello, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced today four promotions and two new appointments to the Museum's curatorial staff, all effective July 1 with the start of the next fiscal year.
-
Of the many damages suffered by the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi in the disastrous earthquake of September 26, 1997, certainly the most devastating was the collapse of two sections of the vaulting in the Upper Church, decorated with frescoes by the two greatest Italian artists of their day, Cimabue (1240-1302) and Giotto (1267-1337). In an instant, more than 2000 square feet of fresco from the dawn of Italian painting were transformed into colored dust and more than 50,000 fragments.
-
A new membership group designed specifically for individuals ages 21-39 has been formed by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Apollo Circle, Young Friends of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a successor to the Museum's Junior Committee, will offer its members a variety of education and social activities and exclusive insights into the Museum's collections. Named after the Greek god of youth, the arts, culture, and music, the group is chaired by Nicholas A. Polsky, Eve Yohalem, and Jill Swid.
-
(May 27, 1999) — Mary Jaharis has been elected an Honorary Trustee of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was recently announced by James R. Houghton, Chairman of the Board of the Museum. The election took place at the May 11 meeting of the Board of Trustees.
-
(New York City, May 24, 1999)—In a major initiative to promote tourism through technology — and enhance the museum experience for local visitors, both English- and foreign-language-speaking — an all-new state-of-the-art audio guide becomes available this spring for visitors to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Key to the Met Audio Guide provides random-access commentary on both special exhibitions and the permanent collection — all on one CD player. For the first time, a "Director's Selections" tour of the permanent collection by Metropolitan Museum Director Philippe de Montebello will be offered in six languages, five of them narrated by Mr. de Montebello himself.
-
A panel of four of the world's most distinguished museum directors will discuss and debate the challenges and opportunities facing museums as computers, the Internet, and other new technologies enter the arts arena. The program will take place on Monday, May 10, at 6:00 p.m. in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium.
-
For more information on the individual galleries, go to:
Greek Art of the Sixth through Fourth Centuries B.C.: Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery;
Greek Art of the Sixth Century B.C.: Judy and Michael H. Steinhardt Gallery;
Greek Art of the Sixth Century B.C.: The Bothmer Gallery I;
Greek Art of the Fifth Century B.C.: The Bothmer Gallery II;
Greek Art of the Fifth Century B.C.: The Wiener Gallery;
Greek Art of the Fifth and Early Fourth Centuries B.C.: Stavros and Danaë Costopoulos Gallery;
Greek Art of the Fourth Century B.C.: Spyros and Eurydice Costopoulos Gallery
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's extensive collection of ancient Greek art — preeminent in the Western Hemisphere and among the finest in the world — returns to view on April 20, 1999, in a dramatic new presentation in seven large galleries refurbished to their original neoclassical grandeur.
-
(March 23, 1999) — Frank E. Richardson has been elected a 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 the March 9 meeting of the Board of Trustees.
-
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.
-
(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.
-
(January 14, 1998) — Noting that President William H. Luers plans to retire in the spring of 1999, Arthur Ochs Sulzburger, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, today announced that at yesterday's meeting of the Trustees, the Board adopted a Report on Governance which reaffirms that the positions of both Director and President will remain essential to the effective leadership of the Museum.