365 Days at the Met

September 25, 2020 A few days ago I checked out my museum map to see where gallery 557 was, and guess what? There is no gallery 557! I've completed my circuit of European decorative arts and sculpture - with one major exception: The rooms that were closed when I first began visiting these galleries have now reopened and constitute the new British galleries. So these will be my destination for the next several visits. I walked through the galleries quickly to get a sense of their layout and contents and noted at once that they are arranged in chronological order and that, thankfully, this time gallery numbers track that chronology. Other immediate takeaways: The signage makes clear the intention to relate artistic developments to Britain's economic, political, and religious evolution. I see many references, for example, to Britain's mercantile ambitions (and inevitably to colonialism and imperialism), as well as to the Reformation. And, too, the displays are far more visual...

 September 21, 2020 Gallery 556 is both impressive and rather daunting in the size and variety of its holdings. The items on display include furniture, ceramics, jewelry, glassware, plaster and bronze statuettes,  relief plaques, a stoneware fireplace, a terracotta bust of Rossini, a marble bust of Napoleon III, and even a pair of Torah finials from Georgia. I'm comforted to see two familiar Degas bronze statuettes of dancers, and surprised to see some roughly modeled statuettes that Rodin made of Nijinsky. The objects represent the tremendous range of 19th century artistic styles, from Neoclassicism to Orientalism to naturalism to Art Nouveau. Even a cursory reading of the labels fills in gaps in my knowledge. I'd never before realized, for example, that the glassworks of Murano were revived partly as a result of the Risorgimento, with its emphasis on national identity. Today's first object, a bottle with stopper made in Murano between 1860 and 1880, is perhaps 1...

 September 18, 2020 Aside from three rather odd and ugly Neoclassical statues, gallery 555 focuses on works by Faberge'. Its contents are on long-term loan from the Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation; Gray, who was born in 1885 and died in 1971, was one of the first American collectors of Faberge,' I don't think I ever knew until now that Peter Carl Faberge', who built the firm's renown, took over from his father only in 1872; somehow, I thought the brand was much older. Perhaps a giveaway is the number of cigarette cases, several in shades of rose and mauve that suggest they were designed for women. A placard explains that Peter Carl transformed the company, vastly increasing its size to some 500 craftsmen and employing "streamlined production, fair pricing, and global marketing." Notwithstanding, I find it difficult to fathom how the creation of these elaborate objects could have been "streamlined" - or what "fair pricing" mean...

  September 14, 2020 A placard in gallery 554 describes the Gothic and  Renaissance Revival movements that developed between 1800 and 1850 as, in part, a reaction to the uncertainties and uneasiness created by the Industrial Revolution and the growth of imperial ambitions.  According to the explanation, objects reflecting and glorifying the past and its artistic traditions served as a source of comfort and national pride in a rapidly changing world.  It's interesting to think that the tension between, on the one hand, living in an environment full of promise but also of unknowns and, on the other, wanting to  return to a supposedly superior (and highly romanticized) past - a tension that dominates today's politics - was present in the artistic realm two centuries ago. Perhaps this tension has existed throughout human history. Some of the objects in the gallery clearly summon up past artistic traditions.  For instance, a tall prie-dieu of oak and pi...

 September 11, 2020      Gallery 553 is devoted to the Neoclassical period and contains furniture, silver, porcelains, and statuettes that generally date from 1750 to 1825 or so.  Most are French or German, but there are also a surprising (to me) number of objects made in Russia, including a pair of small vases carved from elephant and walrus ivory in Archangelsk! (I can see how they got the walrus tusks, but the elephant tusks?) In general the objects are, as one would expect, more restrained than those in the Baroque galleries,  although there's an enormous gilded bronze mantel clock with allegorical figures depicting the triumph of love over death that's as showy and ornate as just about anything I've seen in the past couple of weeks. There's also a small table made in Tula, Russia for the royal family that's astounding for the profusion of silver inlay work; the piece shines like a diamond. The table's fanciness made me giggle, although I heard a couple...

 September 7, 2020   Gallery 552 centers on statuettes, plaques, and medallions, most of them made in France in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Many are of terracotta and were intended as models for larger figures; others are cast in bronze. The subjects are varied and include portraits, religious themes, and many classical figures. A few are erotic, if not downright prurient: a nymph astride a satyr's outstretched leg, the figures' bellies pressed against each other; a "Girl with Doves" who in her right hand holds two birds to her bare breasts while with her left hand she hoists her cloak up to her waist, exposing her long legs and nude vulva. (Believe me, the doves are not what you look at in this work!)  I don't recognize most of the sculptors, but I do note some appealing marble busts of children by Houdon, as well as his bust  of Voltaire, sculpted in 1778, the last year of the writer's life,when he was 81 or 82. Voltaire is bald and his face  d...

 September 4, 2020 Gallery 551 is devoted to the decorative arts of the late Baroque and Rococo periods, about 1670-1730. The objects on display - furniture, silver, clocks, ceramics, tapestries, and more - come mostly from Italy, France, Germany, The Netherlands, and England.  But I am surprised to see, too, some lovely and refined objects made by Hungarian and Transylvanian goldsmiths, and to learn that this region produced much of the precious metal used throughout Europe (though, come to think of it, in the arms and armor galleries, I did note some armor made by Hungarian armorers). Given how poor Moldova is now, it's especially surprising to see an elaborate silver basin and ewer made for the Grand Duke of Wallachia (which, as I later learn, is a part of present-day Romania bordering on Moldova); the objects were probably intended as part of the dowry for the Grand Duke's daughter when she married a Moldavian prince.   On the other hand, grand dukes and princ...