Curators' Cut 6

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 31 : An Early Self-Portrait by Käthe Kollwitz

Nadine M. Orenstein, Drue Heinz Curator in Charge of the Department of Drawings and Prints takes a close look at one of her favourite drawings in The Met's collection, an early self-portrait by Käthe Kollwitz. I love the sense of movement given by the parallel lines of the work. She compares the drawing to a self-portrait of print of Rembrandt and a self-portrait drawing by Van Dyck.

Episode 32 : The Lasting Appeal of the Met's Marble Column from Sardis

Alexis Belis, Assistant Curator of Greek and Roman Art, explores the colossal Ionic column from the Temple of Artemis at Sardis, one of the largest temples in the ancient world.

Episode 33 : Inner Coffin of Ankhshepenwepet

Associate Curator Janice Kamrin describes the symbolism on the Inner Coffin of Ankhshepenwepet, an Egyptian priestess who died around 700BC.

Episode 34 : Redon's Lost Paradise

Associate Curator Alison Hokanson explores the French artist Odilon Redon's depiction of the ill-fated mythological beauty Pandora, surrounded by lush flowers, in a painting made around 1914.

Episode 35 : The Assault on the Castle of Love

Griffith Mann, Michel David-Weill Curator in Charge, as he explores the intersection between materials and content in a single, secular object drawn from the collections of The Met Cloisters, a French ivory roundel with Scenes of the Attack on the Castle of Love, ca. 1320–40.

Episode 36 : The Second Branch Bank of the United States

Research Associate Moira Gallagher explores the rich history of the Second Branch Bank of the United States, originally located on Wall Street in lower Manhattan, and how it came to be installed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as the entrance to the American Wing.

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