Day 20 – 2/17/14: Japanese

Fudo Myo-o, 12th Century

Two days later, we saw an exhibit at the New York Historic Society in the morning and came back to the Met in the afternoon. I started by running around to a few areas of the museum where I needed photos for the blog.

Detail from Suzuki Kutsu, The Demon Shutendoji on Mt. Oe

After lunch we returned to the Asian section and saw the Japanese galleries. The first several rooms displayed Buddhas and other religious art dating back to the 13th Century. The remaining galleries were an exhibit of paintings from the Edo Period (1615-1868), a variety of beautiful screens and scrolls. Subjects ranged from classic Japanese scenery and nature studies, to religious pilgrimages, to the goings on in the "pleasure district." Apparently the paintings here and elsewhere in the Asian section are rotating exhibits. In other words, my notion to see all the permanent displays in the Met would is impossible because it is always changing -- but at least I can see all the rooms.

Day 19 – 2/15/14: Roman (part), Cypriot, Korean

Emperor Constantine I

This is the first blog post done in real time. We made it down to New York for another three-day weekend, and spent the first part of the day with Theo at the Whitney Museum, which we hadn't seen in many years. We rested up over a wonderful late lunch at the nearby vegan restaurant, Gobo. Then Bev and I walked to the Met, for the first time benefiting from their Saturday evening hours.

I had taken a book out of the library on Greek vases, so I started by reviewing some of these vases. We resumed our tour of the Roman galleries and saw the sculpture gallery behind the main courtyard, highlighted by monumental statues of various emperors.

Cypriot figures

For some reason the other Roman galleries were closed, so we saw the final section in the Greek-Roman area: Cypriot art. This culture showed a curious mixture of Mideast (Assyrian and Persian) and Greek-Roman influences. The cultural influences followed somewhat loosely which empire actually controlled the island. The galleries are part of the Greek-Roman department, but are located adjacent to the Mideast section, and we may have gone through them along with those galleries as well.

We then returned to the Asiatic wing and saw the Korean room, followed by an impressive special exhibit of art from the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla.