Curator's Cut 7

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 37 : Augustus Saint-Gaudens's 'Standing Lincoln'

Thayer Tolles, Marica F. Vilcek Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture, take She follow its journey from monument to statuette, and explores how the artist deftly produced a likeness of the 16th President that melds fidelity of physical appearance with imposing projection of character.

Episode 38: TheColour of the Hour

Stephanie Herdrich, Associate Curator of American Painting and Sculpture, take a closer look at Sargent's portrait of Mrs. Hugh Hammersley and her vivid velvet dress. I loved the fact that the museum has a swatch of the material of the dress as well as the painting.

Episode 39 :Julia Perratore on The Art of a Medieval Queen

Julia Perratore, Assistant Curator of Medieval Art, takes a close look at a pair of objects made in 11th-century Spain to glimpse the world of a little-known medieval Queen, Felicia de Roucy.

 Episode 40:American Posters of the 1890s

Associate Curator Allison Rudnick, who oversees the ephemera collection in the department of Drawings and Prints, takes a look at the most striking and celebrated poster designs from the USA in the 1890s.

 Episode 41 : Tiffany & Co. Copper and Silver Vase

Medill Harvey, Ruth Bigelow Wriston Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts, explores an exciting recent acquisition, a vase made by Tiffany & Co. A rare surviving example of Tiffany metalwork with a reddened copper surface, the vase exemplifies the technical and artistic innovation that characterized Tiffany's most inventive and virtuosic work.

Episode 42 : 8th-century Maya Relief by Chakalte'

Assistant Curator and archaeologist James Doyle takes a look at the only signed work from the ancient Americas in The Met's collection, a low-relief scene with an enthroned ruler holds vital clues to the political intrigue of the Classic Maya period (ca. A.D. 250–900) in Mexico and Guatemala.

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year Exhibition 2019

Image
Delightful exhibition at Clarendon Fine Art showing pictures from the Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year TV series. I had loved the series which had set nine artists, both professional and amateur, to paint one of three celebrities. It then had a semi-final and final with them all looking at one sitter and in the final they also took on a commission. I loved the way you watched a picture build and how some were then made or spoiled by one stroke of paint.   Finding these pictures I knew so well in the flesh was therefore fascinating. None of them disappointed. My favourite artist from the final, Tom Mead, works looked just as good in real life if not better as you could see the detail. The show included his impressive self-portrait which he submitted to enter the competition, a wonderful fragmented picture of his reflection in a mirror giving a sense of movement. I loved that it included a large version of him and a miniature. His commission for the final of Jazzie B was
Read more

Thomas Becket: Murder and Making of a Saint

Image
Stunning exhibition at the British Museum on the life and afterlife of Thomas Becket. I studied Becket both at A Level and at university so I was really looking forward to this show and it did not disappoint. From walking in to see an old friend, the early Limoges casket showing the murder from the Victoria and Albert Museum, I was gripped. The show told the story well using fantastic objects and led you through his life, the murder, the political aftermath, his sainthood and miracles, and how Canterbury became a major pilgrimage site. It is hard to pick out the best objects as so many were wonderful. I loved that they had early copies of some of the five eyewitness accounts of the murder which made you fell you were almost touching the event. I liked the manuscript on his time in exile which was almost like a comic strip. How wonderful to get a 13th century font from Sweden which shows how far and how quickly the news that Henry II had integrated the murder spread. I think my
Read more

Courtauld summer school day 1

Image
Today has been my first day of this year’s week at the Courtauld Institute’s summer schools. This year I am doing “Painting in Renaissance Venice” which is being led by Michael Douglas-Scott. It was nice to see some familiar faces and there are at least five of us who did Michael’s course last year. Today has been two lectures. Firstly setting out the background of Venice in this period looking at how the city had set up a myth of itself, the role of the Doge. the nature of the Republic and the role of citizens. The second lecture looked at why the nature of Renaissance was different in Venice. There was still a sense of the coming of antiquity and humanism but in Venice it fused with the Gothic and Byzantine rather than replacing it. The day ended with a choice of gallery talks. I went to one on the second floor of the Courtauld on the coming of Modernism. In essence it looked at the Impressionists and discussed what they were reacting against and what themes they portrayed. All in a
Read more