Curator's Cut 4

More of this enjoyable series of short videos from the Metropolitan Museum filmed during lockdown highlighting recent exhibitions and specific works of art.

These are emailed to members and patrons once a week, so I hope it is OK to share the links. Most take the form of a talk from the curator’s home with a powerpoint presentation. A number of the curators have picked works which are particularly poignant at this time.

Episode 19 : Staircase from Cassiobury Park

Conservator Mechthild Baumeister a highlight of the new British galleries, the elaborately carved wooden staircase from Cassiobury House in Hertfordshire that dates to around 1680. The staircase has been reinstalled after a major conservation project in a closer approximation of its original layout.

Episode 20 : Dancing in the Dark

Costume Institute conservator Glenn Petersen discussed a project from a few years ago to replace the tutu on Degas’ “Fourteen Year Old Dancer”. He compares their approach to that of other museums and explains how they used Degas’ paintings to provide ideas for how it should appear. He also gives a lovely insight into how museum staff have been checking on art works in the dark during lockdown.

Episode 21 : Chinese Hardstone Carving

Zhixin Jason Sun, Brooke Russell Astor Curator of Chinese Art from the Department of Asian Art, explores hardstone carving, highlighting ingenious uses of the special properties of the stones which transform apparent flaws into unexpected spectacles.

Episode 22 : An Extraordinary Ewer by Adam van Vianen

Daniëlle Kisluk-Grosheide, Henry R. Kravis Curator from the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts shares insights on a ewer by Adam van Vianen , an illustration of the so-called "auricular" style which was popular in the Low Countries and Germany in the early seventeenth century. This is a small ewer but is covered in wonderful quirky details and faces.

Episode 23 : Jack Whitten at The Met

Kelly Baum, Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Curator of Contemporary Art, discusses two works of art in The Met's Collection by Jack Whitten, “Homage to Malcolm” from 1965 and “Lucy” from 2011. This introduced me to a sculptor whose work I didn’t know who is inspired by African work and found objects.

Episode 24: Peace in the City

A tour of the Cuxa Cloister, the largest of the four reconstructed cloisters at The Met Cloisters with  Nancy Wu, Senior Managing Educator at museum. She describes this 12th century cloister with wonderful capitals of curious creatures and the gardens planted within to reflected Mille Fleur tapestries.