New York City–June 2, 2022

Metropolitan Museum of Art

I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the largest one in New York City) today. It’s absolutely magnificent. Here are some of the pictures I took

Sculpture of many standing/seated figures, with heads of statues at left and right

Women standing over body of crucified Jesus

Display case with glassware; statue of woman at right

Staircase with relief figures carved on side; bronze statue of angel above

Sculpture of robed angel at left, touching hand of young man at right

I went through an exhibit called In America: An Anthology of Fashion. It didn’t really do much for me, so I have only a couple of photos.

Manikins in modern dresses, hanging from ceiling

Manikins in dresses as if floatig in air; one is holding an epee.

Back to more art.

Small desk-size cabinet with orante carving of small children/cherubs

Small containers painted with people carrying baskets of goods

Cabinet in style of 1700-1800s with painted vases on top

Seated woman in grecian dress; head bowed

Upper half: glassware vases with flowers; lower half: glassware animals

Yes, there were Fabergé eggs.

This is a a very famous sculpture by Umberto Boccioni. The title is Unique Forms of Continuity in Space.

You knew I’d have to get at least one cat into my trip report.

About this time was when I figured out what the real secret of the Met is: not only are they displaying works of art, the displays are works of art in and of themselves. I started looking at how the displays were laid out rather than trying to get pictures of each individual item, so you’ll see quite a few pictures from that perspective.

Lacquered metal vases; round, hourglass, cylindrical, and short-necked

Tall blue earthenware vessel, short brown one, and ceramic bowl

Ceramic bowl with blue, green, red, and yellow color strips, both horizontal and vertical

Closeup of the ceramic bowl from the previous picture

Vase with primarily dark red, green, and orange abstract pattern

Mobile made from slightly curved coat hangers

This mobile made from coat hangers is by Man Ray.

Small version of pointillist painting of people in a park; focus is a woman with an umbrella

No, this isn’t the original (that one is in the Art Institute in Chicago); this is a study that Seurat did before doing the larger painting.

Portraits of women and paintings of flowers

These pictures are from an exhibit of works by Charles Ray. (Not to be confused with Ray Charles, the late musician/singer.)

Stainless steel scullpture of two men, one bent over, the other with hand on the first man’s back

Title of this one is Huck and Jim.

Shirtless man in sandals and jeans with rolled-up legs

Red-headed boy in short pants, long white socks, and black shoes

More art!

At left, two-tired box with green decoration; at right, five square Japanese style tea cups

Small ceramic plates decorated with painting of birds

Abstract porcelain work reminiscent of an adobe house

Earthenware incense burners in shape of animals and variety of bottles

At left, box shaped like two interlocking diamonds; at right, a ring-shaped porcelain box with bue painting

Room with several statues and busts in Roman style

Copper bottle with blue paint highlights

Display case of Persian glass bottles, clear and blue

Display case of ceramic plates and tablets in blue with geometric designs

Display case of ceramic tablets with Arabic script on them

Ceramic predatory bird and bowl molded on base of three lions

Large stone with arched opening and people in relief at sides of arch

Large terra cotta statue of Buddhist personage

Foreground: large standing Buddha. Background: two seated royals (all stone sculptures)

multi-colored modern (21st century) lacquer bowls

These bowls are from the 21st century.

At left, mother-of-pearl dish. At right, mother-of-pearl bowl with copper interior

Stone incense burner at left, iron and lacquer stirrups in center, and lacquer box at right

Small earthenware statues of Asian zodiac animals

Porcelain seated Buddhist with grim visage

It would seem that enlightenment didn’t do much to bring peace or happiness to this guy.

Variety of earthenware houses and pagodas

Earthenware small cup, pitcher, and water dipper

Two small porcelain figures of people and a large blue vase

Blue-painted porcelain statues of a small boy and girl

Various portraits of women of 17th century Europe

These two paintings are in a room right before you enter the rooms displaying musical instruments. The curators at the Met are really quite good at this stuff.