After years of military and civilian uniforms, sartorial restrictions and shortages, Dior offered not merely a new look but a new outlook.

Published 50 years after Christian Dior's "New Look" of 1947, and accompanying an exhibition at The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, this book presents a chronology of Dior's creations. They are drawn chiefly from The Costume Institute's collections, which include an extensive record of the designer's achievement as recognized by his New York clients of the 1940s and 1950s. Among the illustrations are extravagant evening wear, chic accessories, and details of Dior tailoring, as well as documentary photographs from the Dior Archives, Paris. The text places Dior's achievement in the cultural perspective of postwar renewal: the desire for optimism, the return to innocence, and the reclaiming of the pleasures of fine clothing and other sumptuary arts. Analyzing the "New Look," the authors set out to demonstrate the abiding impact of Dior's formulation of an icon for fashion's postwar renaissance.

Shoes provide important clues to dramatic changes in fashionable dress through the centuries, documenting shifts in aesthetic taste, as well as advances in design and manufacturing techniques.

Conservators Glenn Petersen and Mecka Baumeister and Jan G. Reeder, former consulting curator for the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Costume Institute, examine the mystery behind and debunk the myths around Pierre Yantorny and his work.

Independent curator and art historian Lowery Stokes Sims talks about her role in bringing diversity to The Met collection of contemporary art.

This groundbreaking volume examines the extraordinary artistic and cultural traditions of the African region known as the western Sahel, a vast area on the southern edge of the Sahara desert that includes present-day Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, and Niger. This is the first book to present a comprehensive overview of the diverse cultural achievements and traditions of the region, spanning more than 1,300 years from the pre-Islamic period through the nineteenth century. It features some of the earliest extant art from sub-Saharan Africa as well as such iconic works as sculptures by the Dogon and Bamana peoples of Mali. Essays by leading international scholars discuss the art, architecture, archaeology, literature, philosophy, religion, and history of the Sahel, exploring the unique cultural landscape in which these ancient communities flourished. Richly illustrated and brilliantly argued, Sahel brings to life the enduring forms of expression created by the peoples who lived in this diverse crossroads of the world.

This exhibition catalogue documents early photography, particularly the daguerreotype work of the Boston firm, Southworth & Hawes. A thorough introduction provides a brief history of photography, introduces the collection, and highlights the many innovations of these pioneering American artists. Accompanying a 1939 exhibition of daguerreotypes and photographs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art that commemorated the centenary of photography, this text highlights the historic and artistic importance of these early forays into a new medium.

In the second of two posts related to the exhibition Tibet and India: Buddhist Traditions and Transformations, Kurt Behrendt discusses a preparatory trip he made to Buddhist sites in Tibet.

In the first of two posts related to the exhibition Tibet and India: Buddhist Traditions and Transformations, Kurt Behrendt discusses a preparatory trip he made to Buddhist sites in North India.