Day 41: 7/31/21— Modern and Contemporary updated

Contemporary wing Mezzanine: Center: Robert Colescott, Knowledge of the Past Is the Key to the Future, 1986 (also the title for this installation). Right: Peter Doig, Two Trees, 2017.

On our second day, I decided to revisited the Modern and Contemporary wing, which tends to be updated periodically. The first floor, covering early 20th Century, had the basic layout I had seen in 2015, but with a number of new paintings from the Leonard W. Lauder Cubist Collection, donated as part of the Met 150 anniversary celebration. The other two floors were completely new layouts, which also included many new donations as part of Met 150. The second floor had a new layout of Abstract Impressionist, including some new paintings I'd have to call neo-Abstract Impressionist. The Mezanine had an installation of contemporary paintings, many painted within the last few years, entitled "Knowledge of the Past Is the Key to the Future," focusing on diversity and other current concerns. 

Over the two days, we also saw numerous special exhibits, in particular, the wonderful and very popular exhibit, "Alice Neel: People Come First" (which on the first day had a line stretching the entire breadth of the museum). We also saw the enlightening "New Woman Behind the Camera"; I saw Dutch Masterpieces at the Met, Crossroads, and Modern Ceramics from the Ellison Collection; while Bev saw Art of Native America and a hidden gem, "P.S. Art 2021: Celebrating the Creative Spirit of New York City Kids."

 

Day 40: 7/30/21— British Decorative Arts updated

Staircase from Cassiobury House, Hertfordshire, attributed to Edward Pearce, ca 1677-80

As I noted in my last entry, the reimagined British Decorative Arts galleries were expected to open in another month, which indeed occurred on March 2, 2020. Then 11 days later the entire museum (and essentially the whole country) closed for the COVID pandemic. This was our first day in New York since then, and we spent two days at the Met catching up. The new British Galleries were indeed more interesting and informative than the old. Everything is arranged by century from 1500 to 1900, with historical context, from Henry VII’s break with the Catholic Church around 1500 through the growth of the British Empire to the beginning of modern times. The museum floor plan works nicely, as the chronology starts just off the Medieval section and ends just outside the American Wing. An added bonus is a new audio guide, one of the Met’s few audio guides still available on smartphones for free.