I love the Lunar New Year with all its pageantry, parades, fireworks and crackers and especially the food. I spend most of my time running around Chinatown in Manhattan before the holidays began, where most of the main celebrations take place but now travel to museums to enjoy the festivities they sponsor for the holidays.
I start the holidays at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (or as I say my second home in New York City) for their celebration for the ‘Year of the Horse’
Touring the Asian Galleries on the second floor for the ‘Year of the Horse’ celebration
The Met had created a display of all sorts of objects in the Asian Wing of the museum for the holidays. So there many horse themed pieces on display in the cases includes a series of zodiac figurines.
Some of the ancient horse artwork in the Asian Wing
Some of the artwork is so beautiful
The Scroll Room with the paper artworks. The collection is very extensive
The Chinese Shine tucked back in one of the galleries with its unusual stonework
Some of the statuary and stoneworks in the entrance gallery of the Asian Wing
The ancient stonework in the main gallery
The last event of the day in the American Wing was the Peter Lin Ensemble, who had played at the museum last year. The band was wonderful and played all sorts of jazz hits from all over the world.
The Peter Lin Jazz Ensemble
Video of Jazz tunes:
Video of Jazz tunes:
Mr. Lin then talked about the history of his group and introduced them to the audience.
After the break, the group performed more songs
Video of popular Asian jazz tune:
At the end of the afternoon, I stopped in the lobby at the gift shop. The Grand Hall was beautifully decorated with cherry blossoms.
The cherry blossoms in the Grand Hall on the first floor
The cherry blossoms decorated the urns around the Grand Hall
The weather that night was an unbearable 10 degrees and after all that touring in the Asian galleries, I needed some dumplings. So I took the Q subway and back downtown to North Dumpling at 21 Division Street in Chinatown.
The food had been so good the week before, I had to go back and try the fried dumplings. Even in the cold, it was well worth the trip to Chinatown. The food here is delicious and so reasonable. I can see why it is winning instant popularity.
The Spring Rolls are the perfect way to end the meal
After dinner, even though it was freezing cold, I had to try a soft serve cone at Mixue, a Chinese dessert chain that just opened on Canal Street. At $1.99 for a cone you can’t get a better deal than that. The Vanilla ice cream is really good even on that freezing night.
I had to head home as the temperature dropped to 12 degrees. It had not been this cold in many years during the New Year celebrations.
The next day I visited the Newark Museum in Downtown Newark for the start of their activities with a performance of Korean dance. It was already over by the time I got there but they had a sampling of popular Korean foods and the door was excellent.
I went into the main hall as the entertainment was ending and everyone was taking pictures. I loved the outfits everyone was wearing.
The main hall of the museum just after the festivities
A sampling of Korean dishes including Korean Fried Chicken, Noodles, Dumplings and Shushi
I had to go back for seconds the food was so good
I toured around the museum but most of the galleries closed early that afternoon. It was a nice afternoon of just walking around the open galleries on the first floor.
The exhibition of art by local Korean artists in the hallway off the museum’s main hall court
I unfortunately could not go in for the parade this year plus the weather was not the best to stand around and watch other parade goers freeze. The year before it down poured making two years of not the best conditions to attend the parade. On TV I did notice a nice sized crowd.
I managed to get to Chinatown after the parade and have dinner. Chinatown is becoming unrecognizable as many of the grocery stores and restaurants have closed to the change in rents and many of the old tenement buildings are being knocked down for luxury condos. I have never seen so many changes.
Chinatown in the afternoon
While Mott Street, like Mulberry Street, keeps up appearances for the tourists, the rest of the neighborhood is under gentrification. I have watched one business after another close including groceries and take out spots. I can see a lot of changes coming over the next five years.
As the snow storms peaked and did it snow this year with 18 inches coming after the holiday, the weather gave way to two 75 degree days during my Spring Break and hopefully warmer weather in the coming months. Spring is on its way.
One of the things I love about being a member the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the private Member’s Night ‘Met After Hours’ they hold about four times a year. The museum is open after the closing hours and it is a night of wondering the museum galleries, great music and entertainment and wonderful tours and talks in the galleries. You really experience the museum at its best and it does shine.
The lines move very quickly to get into the museum and with traffic getting into the City that night, I arrived about twenty minutes after opening and there were no crowds to face and I got right in. There’s always a sense of excitement on these nights.
The Grand Hall in the front of the museum decorated with Spring flowers
The beautiful Spring flowers lined all the urns around the Great Hall
The museum welcoming all the members of the museum at ‘The Met After Hours’
I started my walk around the galleries in the Greek Wing touring the main hallway. It still boggles my mind how old these statues are and I am looking at something almost two thousand years old.
The Museum’s collection of Greek and Roman art comprises more than thirty thousand works ranging in date from the Neolithic period (ca. 4500 BCE) to the time of the Roman emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity in 312 CE. It includes the art of many cultures and is among the most comprehensive in North America. The geographic regions represented are Greece and Italy, but not as delimited by modern political frontiers: Greek colonies were established around the Mediterranean basin and on the shores of the Black Sea, and Cyprus became increasingly Hellenized. For Roman art, the geographical limits coincide with the expansion of the Roman Empire. The department also exhibits the art of prehistoric Greece (Helladic, Cycladic, and Minoan) and pre-Roman art of Italic peoples, notably the Etruscans (Metropolitan Museum of Art website).
One of the statues that stood out that evening
I spent some time admiring the statues and the craftsmanship of the works along the hallway. The only problem is that most of the Greek and Roman Galleries were closed for the evening so I headed off to the Renaissance Wing. I love the luxury objects in the collection of silver and gold and again their craftsmanship is still unrivaled today. To make these objects takes intensive work and talent.
The timepieces show how advanced science had become and the importance of it in not just measurements but in beauty.
The lobby of the American Wing with the facade of what was a former bank and a Wall Street private mansion. I love the quiet elegance of this building and to think they moved it here piece by piece. The American Wing Cafe was open for the evening and the area was busy throughout the evening. It is nice to just sit and enjoy the views by the fountain. The artwork is beautiful.
Visitors to the American Wing will experience in more than 75 galleries on three floors varied art, design, and culture from the mid-seventeenth to the mid-twentieth century, with some contemporary expressions, by a diverse array of artists from across North America. Since our founding in 1924, this curatorial department has evolved its collecting to include some 20,000 artworks in many mediums by African American, Asian American, Euro-American, Latin American, and Native American makers, affirming ever more inclusive definitions of American art and identity. These dynamic holdings include painting, sculpture, drawing, furniture, textiles, regalia, ceramics, basketry, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, as well as historic interiors and architectural fragments, produced by highly trained and self-taught artists, both identified and unrecorded (Metropolitan Museum of Art website).
The evening then moved to the Egyptian Wing and the Temple of Dendur, where the entertainment and the cocktail bar was located.
The Temple of Dendur is the hub of activity on Members Nights
This small temple, built about 15 B.C., honored the goddess Isis and, beside her, Pedesi and Pihor, deified sons of a local Nubian ruler. On the outer walls between earth and sky are carved scenes of the king making offerings to deities who hold scepters and the ankh, the symbol of life. The figures are carved in sunk relief. In the brilliant Egyptian sunlight, shadows cast along the figures’ edges would have emphasized their outlines. Isis, Osiris, their son Horus, and the other deities are identified by their crowns and the inscriptions beside their figures (Metropolitan Museum of Art).
These scenes are repeated in two horizontal registers. The king is identified by his regalia and by his names, which appear close to his head in elongated oval shapes called cartouches; many of the cartouches simply read “pharaoh.” This king was actually Caesar Augustus of Rome, who, as ruler of Egypt, had himself depicted in the traditional regalia of the pharaoh. Augustus had many temples erected in Egyptian style, honoring Egyptian deities (Metropolitan Museum of Art).
The area was packed with patrons enjoying music and talking by the bars. The crowds were so large at the beginning of the evening that I waited until after 9:00pm for the second performance of the group playing. So I headed into the section of the Egyptian Wing to look at the galleries that were open. I love walking around the Egyptian Wing of the Met. It is one of the most extensive collections outside of Egypt and the most fascinating Mummy exhibition.
Admiring one of the Mummy exhibits in the Egyptian Wing
The Department of Egyptian Art was established in 1906 to oversee the Museum’s already sizable collection of art from ancient Egypt. In the same year, the Museum’s Board of Trustees voted to establish an Egyptian Expedition to conduct archaeological excavations in Egypt. Between 1906 and 1935, The Met’s Egyptian Expedition worked at a number of important sites, including Lisht in the north and Thebes in the south, and the objects gifted to The Met by the Egyptian antiquities service form the core of our collection. Over the years, the Department of Egyptian Art has also been able to acquire, through purchase and bequest, several important private collections (Metropolitan Museum of Art website).
The ancient tablets outside of the Mummy Exhibition
The Egyptian artwork outside the Mummy Room
The tablets outside the Mummy Room
When the whole gallery is open, it is a treasure trove of objects and information from each Dynasty. I have been mind-boggled by these galleries since I first visited the museum in the third grade for a class field trip. I remember sketching artifacts for a class project and am still fascinated about how old some of these objects are and condition they are still in after thousands of years. It is my favorite part of the museum.
By 9:00pm, the entertainment was starting again, so I joined other members for a cocktail and enjoyed the music in the Temple of Dendur Gallery.
The Temple of Dendur fully lit for the evening before the start of the entertainment
The signature cocktail of the evening, the Starlight Spritz
Enjoying a Starlight Spritz while listening to the music
The bartenders can mix a drink
After a long week at work, it was nice to relax and enjoy the music. The music that night was performed by artist Jasim Perales and Friends, an Afro-Latin Jazz performance. The music was relaxing and soulful and the crowd had a wonderful time.
The start of the music again at 9:00pm
The trio performing
A clip from the entertainment that night
The Master of Ceremonies that night, Jasim Perales
All good things come to an end and it was time leave. The night was dark and the winter air was crisp creating the perfect Winter evening to set out into for the walk back to Port Authority. The Upper East is so beautiful at night.
The front of the Met that night
The artwork is always so impressive outside the Met
It was in the low 40’s that evening and the perfect night for a walk around the Upper East Side and Midtown. It still surprises me after all these years of walking around Manhattan how beautiful the City really is at night.
It was another spectacular evening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thank you to the Membership and Special Events Departments for hosting another wonderful evening.
One of the nicest things about being a member of museums in New York City is when they have the ‘Private Members Nights’, where the museums are open after hours for the membership only. The funny thing about these nights are that the museums seem busier on these nights than they would when the museums are open during the day to the general public.
What also is difficult is when two major museums have their Members Night on the same night. I had to do a lot of coordinating to go to both museums. What made it work is that both museums closed at different times with The Met closing at 10:00pm. I timed it perfectly.
Members Night at the MoMA ‘Behind the Flowers’ for the Hilma af Klint exhibition
The theme that evening was based on the Hilma af Klint exhibition
Going this evening took a lot of planning as I had to teach in the morning and cut the lawn on the afternoon. I was already exhausted by the time I left for the City at 4:00pm. Even on this gloomy afternoon, the weather held and it was a nice evening.
The area around the museum was in full bloom that early evening
The event opened early at the MoMA with their event from 6:00pm-9:00pm and the Met went from 7:00pm-10:00pm so I was able to enjoy both with a lot of walking in between. It was worth it as I was able to see several exhibitions on my bucket list before they closed. With work and finals, it had been tough to visit both of them.
People were enjoying conversation and cocktails when I arrived at the MoMA that evening.
I decided to start my evening at the Sculpture Garden on the first floor. The weather was cloudy but still it was a warm evening. People were conversing near the fountains and listening to music. The lines for the cash bar never let up and they were about thirty deep the whole time.
The Sculpture Garden at the MoMA
While I walked around the gardens and fountains I noticed a lot of the art that they were featuring was really unique, some of which I had not seen before.
The gardens with the poppies in bloom
This beautiful mosaic of a octopus did not have a name
This metal artwork was towards the back of the sculpture garden
The artwork makes quite a statement in the sculpture garden
I watched this interactive art that I had seen at the last Members Night
I love this interactive art in this video
I love watching this video sculpture moving around. I had seen it on my last visit and thought it was very interesting. I then moved upstairs to see the Hilma af Klint exhibition that would be closing that weekend. The galleries were jammed with members who wanted to see the artist’s work. She had some interesting pieces that looked more like a naturalist works.
You could barely move in the galleries it was so crowded. I was not able to get as close to the works as I wanted but I wanted to share from the exhibition the pieces I liked most.
Flowers and an Apple
These interesting drawings on mushrooms
I thought this set of drawings on dandelion’s and strawberries was interesting
As I finished the exhibition, I watched from above other members milling around the second floor
I then moved to the next exhibition ‘Pirouette: Turning Points in Design’, the use of design and concept in everyday life. I thought this exhibition was interesting because it described how we look at functionality and the reasons why things are designed for a specific purpose and then can take on new meaning.
Of the many fascinating and famous items in the exhibition that I saw two well known works stood out to me. The first was the “I ❤️ New York” logo and its development in the 1970’s to be one of the most famous tourism campaigns in history
The Milton Glazer campaign for the “I ❤️ New York” campaign which saved New York tourism and is still used today. What was sad was the creator died during COVID in 2020.
The sign on the development of the design
The other stood out for its simplicity and fame was the development of M & M’s. This simple candy was a result of Forrest Mars seeing the rations of candy abroad of chocolate coated in a shell so it would not melt on the battlefield. With some experimentation, he created the modern M& M.
M & M display by Forrest Mars
I thought the whole museum would be open that night but it was just the two floors plus the gift shop and gardens. Since I saw everything at the MoMA already and it was around 7:45pm, off I ran out the back door to the Metropolitan Museum of Art Private Members Night.
Walking up Fifth Avenue at dusk
Walking up Fifth Avenue at dusk
The walk up Fifth Avenue to The Metropolitan Museum
The Met at night is quite dazzling
The entrance to The Met in the evening
Looking down Fifth Avenue at night
The entrance in the Rotunda was filled with fresh flowers and members chatting away. I even saw some of the members I had seen at the MoMA earlier.
The floral arrangements were spectacular
The beauty of the Rotunda in the evening
Maybe because these Members Nights were on a Tuesday evening, they both did not seem as crowded as they had been in the past. The museum was crowded but not as crowded as the past two Member’s Nights. I think that I arrived at 8:00pm most people were starting to leave. What was nice was that the MoMA night went until 9:00pm and The Met Night went until 10:00pm so it gave me the time to run through both museums.
I started my tour of The Met in the Greek Galleries looking at the Cycladic Art. I always loved the looks of these works.
I love the Egyptian Galleries. I have been coming here since 1973 and have loved them ever since.
I love the ancient hieroglyphics
For the last two Members Nights, the Members Bar was in the Temple of Dendur. It is always so well lit and the music was wonderful. It is a nice way to end the evening.
The Temple of Dendur lit for the evening
The Temple of Dendur was the perfect place to relax and have a cocktail
The crowds were rather large at the bar that evening
The Passion fruit cocktail was the specialty drink of the evening
The Passion fruit cocktail was well worth the money
It was nice to just sit back with the other members and relax and listen to the music. After a long week at work, the sounds of jazz with a nice drink and good conversation is a way to enjoy the evening.
I had a renewed energy after being in the Egyptian Galleries for an hour and I headed into the American Wing to tour some of the exhibits around the main court.
Only the outside of the American Wing was open
I decided to see the new Costume exhibition “Superfine”, an exhibition of Black Men’s clothing through the ages from pre-slavery to current times. The exhibition was a discussion on attitudes, tastes, tailoring and how the Black style influences fashion.
Clothing and accessories I admired in the exhibition
Clothing styles I thought were interesting in the exhibition
The evening drew to a close and I was exhausted running from work to come into the City to walk from one museum to another and then walk back to the bus station. Still I got to see a lot in both museums.
The Rotunda at the end of the evening
The fountain dancing as I left
It was such a beautiful that I decided to take the long walk back to Port Authority via Second Avenue. I wanted to see if my favorite Chinese restaurant was still open. I was getting hungry but at almost 10:00pm not much was open. The Chinese restaurant had just closed for the evening. Since COVID, the ‘City that never sleeps’ is going to bed early.
As I was walking down Second Avenue, I came across a very reasonable pizzeria named Centro Pizzeria & Restaurant at 1469 Second Avenue. All I had to do is look at the pizza cases and I could not decide on what I wanted to order.
Centro Pizzeria and Restaurant at 1469 Second Avenue
My review on Diningona ShoeStringinNYC@Wordpress.con:
The selection of pizzas in the pizza case
The Cheese and Pepperoni pizzas had just come out of the oven and were the freshest of the pies. I noticed the Pepperoni pizza was loaded with pepperoni and I decided I had to try it. The pizza here is excellent.
My dinner that night
The Pepperoni slice was loaded with slices of pepperoni and cheese
The red sauce which is the base of the pizza gave the Cheese slice lots of flavor
Yum!
It really was a nice walk through Midtown with all the lights on and a nice crowd of people walking their dogs in the various neighborhoods. Walking down the streets of the Upper East Side is really a nice walk and the classic New York experience. These Members Nights are a wonderful way to spend the evening.
Admission: Adults $30.00/Seniors & Disabled People $22.00/Students $17.00/Members and Caregivers with disabled person Free/NYC residents and NY, NJ and CT students: Pay as you Wish
Admission: Admission: Adults $30.00/Seniors & Disabled People $22.00/Students $17.00/Members and Caregivers with disabled person Free/Children Under 16 are free/Members Free/Guests of Members are $5.00.
It is especially nice when the museum is closed and you can visit the museum with all the other members in a private event just for us.
It was time for another ‘Met After Hours’ member event
I wait for these evenings as a member. It is so much fun to walk the halls of the Met after the museum closes and just relax, look at exhibitions that I might have missed on my last several trips to the museum, have a much needed cocktail (one specialty drink is more than enough) and enjoy listening to the speaker.
Entering the main hall of the museum
The beautiful Cherry Blossoms are in season in all the urns
Walking through the Greek Galleries on my way to the exhibitions that were open that evening
I decided to start on the second floor of the museum since most of the members seem to settle on the first floor. My first stop was the Jesse Krimes exhibition ’Corrections’.
Krimes’s image-based installations, made over the course of his six-year incarceration, reflect the ingenuity of an artist working without access to traditional materials. Employing prison-issued soap, hair gel, playing cards, and newspaper he created works of art that seek to disrupt and recontextualize the circulation of photographs in the media (Met website).
Displayed at The Met in dialogue with Bertillon, whose pioneering method paired anthropomorphic measurements with photographs to produce the present-day mug shot, Krimes’s work raises questions about the perceived neutrality of our systems of identification and the hierarchies of social imbalance they create and reinscribe. An artist for whom collaboration and activism are vital, Krimes founded the Center for Art and Advocacy to highlight the talent and creative potential among individuals who have experienced incarceration and to support and improve outcomes for formerly incarcerated artists (Met website).
The description of the show ‘Jesse Krimes Corrections’
The art work ‘Purgatory’ where the artist put faces of the artist’s imagination while in solitary confinement.
The signage for the piece
The sculpture ‘Naxos’ with thousands of pebbles from prison yards
The signage for ‘Naxos’
I then toured through the Asian Galleries to see what exhibitions were open that evening. Some of the displays for Chinese New Year were still prominent in the galleries and I admired them in the cases.
This very evil looking statue just stares at you while you pass it
I admired the Chinese Zodiac sculptures in the Asian Wing and found my sculpture in the year of the Snake. Chinese New Year was over but the displays for the year of the Snake were still on display.
The sculptures of the Chinese Zodiac
The sign for the Zodiac animals
At the entrance to one of the galleries, one sculpture stood out to me that has been accented by peacock feathers.
The peacock sculpture ‘Mahamayuri on Peacock’
The sign for the sculpture
The piece stood out for its grace and its beauty. There was something unique about it.
I then visited the other side of the floor that was open in the Arabic Wing. I had visited the gallery in length during one of the other member nights when they officially reopened. I love all the displays of rugs and decorative objects throughout the various rooms.
Walking through one of the rug gallery rooms
What I admire the most from some of these artisans is the approach to precious items like gold, silver and jewels in the works. You could really see the amazing detail to these works.
Several decorative items in the display case
One of the special exhibitions in the Arabic Wing was the Merchant Ivory exhibition ‘Ink to Ivory’ from the Director’s private collection.
This focused exhibition presents a selection of superlative drawings from the courts and centers of India and Pakistan (with a few related Persian works) dating from the late sixteenth to the twentieth century. These works are mainly selected from The Met collection in partnership with film director James Ivory, whose recent gift to the Museum of nineteenth-century photograph albums will also be featured in the exhibition (Met website).
The drawings will include fresh and informal preparatory exercises for paintings as well as beautifully finished works in their own right. The photographs will present the subject matter and styles that came about in the contexts of royal patronage and ceremony; views of architecture, cities, landscapes, and people, among others. As an artist and filmmaker, James Ivory will help us appreciate this material through his unique gaze (Met website).
The description of the show at the Met
The exhibition was a selection of drawings and photos from the British possession of India. I could see from the pictures the Caste system that had been created. The drawings though were quite interesting and showed a different perspective of Indian life at that time. I liked the mix of royals both from England and India.
When I got to the first floor, I noticed the time as getting late in the evening. This special evening was ending at 9:00pm rather than the usual 10:00pm and after the last three weeks that I had with Midterms and papers to grade and leading a recent field trip with my students. I really needed to relax and have a drink.
The Temple of Dendur gallery was lit for the evening and music was playing when I arrived. I guess all the other members felt the way I did as the place was packed. I was wondering why the halls were so quiet.
The Temple of Dendur Gallery was set up for the Members Bar
The lighting really accented the ancient temple
The crowds really packed the cocktail tables
Everyone had to get drink tickets to get a beverage and trust me this did not look like the soft drink crowd. They were featuring a ‘Berry Fizz’ as their signature drink that evening.
The signature drink ‘The Berry Fizz’
Relaxing at the end of the evening on the rim of the pool at the Temple of Dendur Gallery
Relaxing and talking to other members at the Temple of Dendur that evening
The bewitching hour of 9:00pm came and the bar area was still going strong but other parts of the museum began to clear out and close for the evening.
As we left, members of the staff handed out Chocolate Flowers that represented the Cherry Blossoms that were prominently featured all over that entrance and would be blooming all over the City in the next few weeks.
The Chocolate Flower we got when we left. I think this was a nice touch as was the pumpkin at the Halloween members night
All the Cherry Blossoms around the Great Hall entrance as I left
It was not a pleasant night as we left for the evening. It was pouring down rain and I could see this when I was in the Temple of Dendur Gallery.
I walked to East 72nd Street and had dinner at Shanghai Chinese Food at 1388 Second Avenue for dinner. This little hole in the wall restaurant has some of the best Chinese food in Manhattan.
I needed the ultimate comfort food that night and ordered the General Tso’s Chicken with Pork Fried rice. That took the gloom off this rainy evening.
The crispy rich sweetness of the dish is so satisfying
I love this delicious dish
Each piece was a delight
The nice part was that the staff let me relax and finish my dinner. Since I was still dressed in a suit from classes earlier in the day I just assumed they thought I worked at the hospital nearby. It is always so funny to see peoples reactions to me being all dressed up.
It was a nice relaxing evening and a great way to end the day.
The “Met After Hours” sign inside the museum that evening.
How beautiful and welcoming the Met always looks on Private Members Nights.
After the weekend of my graduation from NYU and the activities of the graduation, I had almost forgotten that the Metropolitan Museum of Art was having one of their ‘Private Members Nights’ the next Monday. Between the last days of classes at both colleges and my graduation, it was nice to have a break and get my mind off everything.
‘Private Members Nights’ are a special night that happens usually on Monday when the museum closes early and a large portion of the museum is open exclusively to just members and a guest. They are a great to spend an evening touring the museum at a slower pace. Only certain parts of the building are open as well as the exhibitions so it gives everyone a chance to see particular exhibitions.
What is nice is that they have a Members Bar and the restaurants open so the members can relax and have dinner or a drink or both. There an also music so it makes it a very festive and social evening. This was a very crowded section of the museum
The Members Bar and Music on the Private Members Night.
Since I had just been in the museum the other week to see the ‘Harlem Renaissance’ exhibition and a couple of the other exhibitions, I decided to see two others I was interested in ‘Weaving Abstraction’ and ‘Sleeping Beauties’, an exhibition on Vintage clothing and the memories and personality left behind by their former owners.
The entrance to the ‘Weaving Abstraction’ exhibition.
In the exhibition for ‘Weaving Abstraction’ the art is a comparison of ancient Pre-Columbian Art and modern artists equivalents. The comparison and the quality of the artwork was intriguing. Sometimes I could not tell what was ancient and what was new.
The description of ‘Weaving Abstraction’
The work took a modern approach to how each artist interpreted the art. What I found interesting with the art and this is without looking at the signs is what was ancient and what was modern.
Some of the current pieces in the collection.
Some of the modern pieces in the collection mixed in with Pre-Columbian art.
Some of the more modern pieces in the exhibition.
The Loincloth was one of my favorite pieces in the exhibition.
The Loincloth was one of the most interesting and colorful pieces in the exhibition.
I was able to relax and have a drink at the bar before I headed up to the ‘Sleeping Beauties’ exhibition. The line was long and moved quickly showing that the exhibition was really popular.
The ‘Sleeping Beauties’ exhibition is a different angle at looking at clothing. Rather than its history, it looks at the personality of its prior owner. The means the smells that the owners left with things like perfume and smoking. Near most of the clothing there were scent beads to better represent the smells.
This detailed evening cape I thought was beautiful.
The description of the Cape made by Gucci.
This beaded jacket I thought was one of the nicest pieces in the collection.
Some unusual displays took center stage at the exhibition.
The collection of vintage clothing on display from different eras.
This dress studded with beads and embellishments was influenced by insects and bugs.
The description of this evening dress by the House of Lanvin.
By the time I had finished viewing the exhibition, it was almost time to leave. The lines had been so long to see “Sleeping Beauties” (this had been extremely popular that evening) that it was almost ten o’clock when I left.
The evenings are when the museum shows its true magic when it is all lit up. Here is the outside of the museum at the end of the evening.
The Met at the end of the evening.
The courtyard outside the museum at night.
The fountain lit for the evening had almost a musical appearance.
The Members entrance as I was leaving for the evening. This is the true beauty of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
It was a relaxing evening of music and great art. Just what I needed after a long semester and my graduation from college.
mywalkinmanhattan 