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China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD
Monday, August 2, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present a landmark exhibition of ancient Chinese art – one of the largest ever to be organized with loans from across Mainland China – beginning October 12, 2004. Bringing together more than 300 works of extreme rarity and art historical importance, many of which have never before been exhibited outside China, China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD will tell the story of Chinese art and culture from the Han to the Tang dynasty, a period of major transformation for Chinese civilization due to massive immigrations from northern Asia into China and extensive trade contacts with all parts of Asia. The exhibition will feature objects in an astounding variety of media – including objects in jade, bronze, gold, silver, metal, stone, and wood, as well as textiles, works on paper, and wall paintings – ranging in size from an enormous sculpture of a fantastic animal to a small gold coin.
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Successful "Holiday Monday" Program Enters Second Year at Metropolitan Museum
Monday, August 2, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
(New York, August 3, 2004) -- The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that, in response to enthusiastic public support of the "Holiday Mondays" program inaugurated in 2003, it will continue to offer these special viewing days – which take place on the Mondays of major holiday weekends – for a second year. The Metropolitan Museum's main building will be open to the public on the following Monday holidays: September 6 (Labor Day), October 11 (Columbus Day), December 27, 2004 (the Monday between Christmas and New Year's Day), January 17 (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), February 21 (Presidents' Day), and May 30, 2005 (Memorial Day). The Museum had previously been closed to the public on Mondays for some 30 years.
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The Games in Ancient Athens: A Special Presentation to Celebrate the 2004 Olympics
Monday, July 26, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
In honor of the modern Olympics that will take place in Athens this summer, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will display a special selection of ancient Greek vases, bronzes, and additional works showcasing aspects of the games that were held in Athens in antiquity. Opening on June 29, The Games in Ancient Athens: A Special Presentation to Celebrate the 2004 Olympics will feature some 50 works of art created between the sixth and the fourth century B.C. depicting chariot races, foot races, wrestling, and discus throwing, among other athletic activities. This presentation, which is drawn entirely from the Museum's extensive collection of Greek art, will be located within the Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery, as well as in adjacent areas of the New Greek Galleries, where examples of athletic art already on view will be highlighted.
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Hidden Jewels: Korean Art from the Mary Griggs Burke Collection
Monday, July 26, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
An exhibition of 36 Korean paintings, ceramics, and sculpture from the collection of Mary Griggs Burke will go on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning July 3. Many of these pieces – which date primarily to the Choson dynasty (1392-1910) – will make their public debut in this exhibition. Mrs. Burke, renowned for her collection of Japanese art, has since the late 1970s also assembled a small but splendid selection of Korean art. This exhibition, Hidden Jewels: Korean Art from the Mary Griggs Burke Collection, provides a rare opportunity to glimpse a lesser-known side of her collection and to learn more about the diversity and beauty of Korean art.
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SCHEDULE OF EXHIBITIONS MAY–AUGUST 2004
Monday, July 26, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
New Exhibitions
Upcoming Exhibitions
Continuing Exhibitions
New and Recently Opened Installations
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Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640): The Drawings
Monday, July 26, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
The first major retrospective ever to be devoted to the drawings of Peter Paul Rubens in the United States will open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on January 15, 2005. Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640): The Drawings will bring together 115 of the versatile Baroque master's finest and most representative drawings, including 12 recently discovered works that have never before been exhibited. Court painter, diplomat, and international celebrity, Rubens was one of the most influential artists of northern Europe in the 17th century. Best known for his paintings, this universal genius is among the most imaginative of draftsmen. His topics vary from engaging biblical scenes to alluring nudes, from animated and stately portraits to poignant animal studies, and from landscapes sketched from nature to complex allegories.
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The Bishop Jades
Monday, July 26, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
An exhibition of some 100 precious Chinese and Mughal jade carvings from the Heber R. Bishop collection will open at The Metropolitan Museum of Art this spring. Featuring the objects from practical vessels and pendants to ornaments intended for the emperor's desk, The Bishop Jades will illustrate the full range of the lapidary's repertoire. An industrialist and entrepreneur, Mr. Bishop was an active patron of the arts and a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum. In the late 19th century, he assembled a collection of more than one thousand pieces of jade and other hardstones from China and elsewhere, and in 1902, he bequeathed the collection to the Museum.
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George Washington: Man, Myth, Monument
Monday, July 26, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
Beginning October 19, more than four dozen works in all media depicting George Washington, the Revolutionary War hero who became the first president of the United States, will be presented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in George Washington: Man, Myth, Monument—Images from the Metropolitan. The exhibition is drawn entirely from the extensive holdings of the Museum's American Wing and includes paintings, sculpture, drawings, and prints, as well as works in glass, ceramics, silver, textiles, and wood that were created in the late 18th and the 19th century.
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THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART ANNOUNCES 2004-2005 SEASON OF CONCERTS, THE 51ST SEASON
Friday, July 2, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art launches its second half-century of presenting concerts in the 2004-2005 season with a diverse selection of world-renowned artists and young talent, upholding the Concerts & Lectures 50-year tradition.
"The success of the Museum's 50th anniversary concert season has renewed our dedication to excellence, continuity, and innovation in programming," said the Metropolitan's Director, Philippe de Montebello. "That these qualities are carried forward is evidenced by the dynamic combination of hand-picked artists and programs in our 51st season. The year's pianists, following the 50th anniversary's impressive piano roster, range from a festival of young competition winners to The Art of André Watts, while notable early-music events are complemented by a series devoted to contemporary composer Steve Reich."
Highlights of the 62 concerts comprising the 2004-2005 season, the 36th programmed by Hilde Limondjian, Concerts & Lectures General Manager since 1969, include two spring festivals – Celebrating Jordi Savall, three concerts in April presenting the viola da gamba artist and early music leader with his three acclaimed ensembles, and A Festival of International Competition Winners, also in April, of six young pianists, first-prize winners of major competitions, many in their U.S. debuts. The U.S. premiere of Steve Reich's 2003 work Dance Patterns highlights The Music of Steve Reich, a three-concert series performed by Steve Reich and Musicians. Continuing an initiative from the 50th anniversary season celebrating the multifaceted artistry of one musician, The Art of André Watts showcases the pianist in a recital, a chamber program, and an illustrated talk. Three major ensembles – Orpheus, New York Collegium, and Chanticleer – offer early-music programs in gallery spaces, and two singers make their Metropolitan Museum debuts at The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing: soprano Olga Borodina and tenor Rolando Villazón, whose performance will also be his U.S. recital debut.
The Beaux Arts Trio, which celebrates its own 50th anniversary in 2004-2005, will begin a three-year Beethoven project that will present all of the composer's piano trios, sonatas for violin and piano, and sonatas for cello and piano. Complementing this is a series of six concerts, Surrounding Beethoven, of music that anticipated, mirrored, or followed this core repertoire, performed by a diverse roster of artists: Frederic Chiu and Windscape, Jonathan Biss and Miriam Fried, the Juilliard String Quartet with Heinz Holliger, the Prague Symphony Orchestra with Navah Perlman, the Borromeo String Quartet, and the Salzburger Kammerphilharmonie with Kate Dillingham. The chamber music of Dvorák is the anchor for the Guarneri String Quartet's five concerts, which feature eminent guest artists including Peter Serkin, Ida Kavafian, Anton Kuerti, and former member David Soyer. Paula Robison continues her exploration of The Great Vivaldi with two programs. And the artist roster of the season's Musicians from Marlboro series includes Kim Kashkashian and Samuel Rhodes.
In addition to the Festival of International Competition Winners, two series showcase some of today's finest young talent. The Accolades young artist series features four violinists: Stefan Jackiw, Giora Schmidt, Corey Cerovsek, and Jennifer Koh. Also, in its second season, the newest of the Museum's resident ensembles and the first to bear its name, Metropolitan Museum Artists in Concert, presents three programs of classic repertoire mirroring the new, which will be broadcast live on 96.3 FM WQXR.
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METROPOLITAN MUSEUM CREATES NEW AND EXPANDED CURATORIAL DEPARTMENT: NINETEENTH-CENTURY, MODERN, AND CONTEMPORARY ART
Monday, June 14, 2004, 4:00 a.m.
(NEW YORK, JUNE 15, 2004)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art today announced a major restructuring and redefinition of curatorial responsibilities at the Museum with the creation of a new and expanded department: Nineteenth-Century, Modern, and Contemporary Art, embracing European paintings from 1800 to the present, as well as international 20th-century sculpture, drawings, prints, decorative arts, and design. The integrated and broadened new department will enjoy the mandate—and, within several years, additional new gallery space as well—to bring to the public the full and dynamic story of modern art, in all media, from its beginnings to the present day.