But Chinese artists have more often been inspired by journeys of the mind: roaming through the mountains or escaping to wilderness retreats or utopian paradises that can provide refuge, if only vicariously, from challenging realities. Contemporary artists have extended these themes, embarking on new journeys through transformations of traditional art forms.
Glitter and Doom: German Portraits from the 1920s: Through February 19, 2007
The short-lived Weimar Republic saw political, economic, and social turmoil, yet also innovation in literature, music, film, theater, and architecture. In painting, a trend of matter-of-fact realism took hold in Germany like nowhere else in Europe. Disillusioned by the cataclysm of World War I, the most vital German artists moved towards a Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity), in particular its branch known as Verism.
These artists looked soberly, cynically, and even ferociously at their fellow citizens and found their true métier in portraiture, depicting with clinical detachment the glittering yet doomed society around them. The exhibition features 40 paintings and 60 drawings by Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Karl Hubbuch, Christian Schad, and Rudolf Schlichter, among others. The exhibition is supported by The Isaacson-Draper Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation. Accompanied by a catalogue.
Set in Stone: The Face in Medieval Sculpture: Through February 19, 2007
The Museum's rich collection of medieval heads, complemented by loans from American and European collections, shows the compelling power and diversity of the human face as represented from the end of the Roman Empire to the dawn of the Renaissance. Many of these sculptures were violently broken from their bodies in centuries past, and the exhibition reveals the detective work involved in "reconnecting" them. Organized thematically, the exhibition explores such artistic issues as iconoclasm, portraiture, the use of nuclear technology to determine provenance, and head reliquaries as power objects.
The exhibition is made possible by The Florence Gould Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Michel David-Weill Fund. Accompanied by a catalogue.
Closed Circuit: Video and New Media at the Metropolitan: February 23-April 29, 2007
In 2001, the Department of Photographs acquired the Metropolitan's first example of video art-a mesmerizing, elemental work by Ann Hamilton that, in its small scale and unassuming presentation, seemed almost like a still photograph come to life. This exhibition presents a selection from the growing collection put together by the department over the last five years, from David Hammons's raucous and surprising Phat Free and Darren Almond's hallucinatory Schwebebahn to Omer Fast's Spielberg's List, a 65-minute, two-screen pseudodocumentary about Hollywood and the Holocaust that is alternately ironic and harrowing.
Also included are Lutz Bacher's surveillance of the late art dealer Pat Hearn, Wolfgang Staehle's 24-hour landscape "painting" set in the Hudson River Valley, Maria Marshall's haunting portrait of her young son entitled When I Grow Up I Want to Be a Cooker, and a digital update of Eadweard Muybridge's celebrated motion studies from the 1880s by new media pioneer Jim Campbell. Only Ann Hamilton's abc has previously been shown at the Metropolitan. The exhibition is made possible by Diana Barrett and Robert Vila and by Marlene Nathan Meyerson.
A Taste for Opulence: Sèvres Porcelain from the Collection: Through February 25, 2007
The Sèvres porcelain factory, established in the Château of Vincennes just outside Paris in 1740, quickly became the preeminent producer of porcelain in Europe. Supported in its early years by the patronage of Louis XV, the factory was named the manufacture du roi in 1753 and was purchased by the king in 1759. Catering in large part to the tastes of the court, the factory strove for constant innovation and originality throughout the 18th century, frequently employing the leading artists and designers of the day to provide models and inspiration for the factory's artisans. This installation, which focuses on the diversity of the factory's production, is drawn entirely from the Museum's superb holdings of Sèvres porcelain and from its unparalleled collection of 18th-century French furniture decorated with Sèvres plaques. The exhibition is made possible by The David Berg Foundation. -- www.metmuseum.org
Posted January 18th, 2007 by ruzik_tuzik
