Tag: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Nicole Eisenman’s ‘Abolitionists’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Nicole Eisenman’s monumental painting ‘The Abolitionists in the Park’ at Hauser & Wirth Gallery in late spring/early summer was a highlight of Chelsea gallery tours; you can see it again in the Met Museum’s permanent collection, a recent acquisition thanks to the Green Family Art Foundation Gift.  At over 10 feet tall, it towers over visitors, inviting us into a scene of protesters gathered outside City Hall in downtown Manhattan during the summer of 2020.  Featuring an array of characters, from figures in shades of blue eating pizza to an entirely red-toned figure lounging in front, Eisenman meets and disrupts expectations of large-scale history painting while taking the genre up to the present moment. (On view in the Mezzanine gallery).

Nicole Eisenman, The Abolitionists in the Park, oil on canvas, 127 x 105 inches, 2020-22.

Carrie Moyer’s ‘Pirate Jenny’ at The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is switching up its contemporary galleries regularly these days in an exciting change from past years.  For the last month, this lush, abstract painting by Brooklyn-based painter, writer and activist Carrie Moyer has enticed mezzanine visitors, celebrating Pride Month and offering up pure visual pleasure.  Titled ‘Pirate Jenny,’ the piece refers to a song in Bertoldt Brecht and Kurt Will’s ‘Three Penny Opera’ about a hotel maid who triumphs over her scornful fellow townspeople, sailing away to happiness.

Carrie Moyer, Pirate Jenny, acrylic, glitter, and graphite on canvas, 2012.

Wangechi Mutu’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Facade Commission

The Metropolitan Museum of Art may be closed to deter the spread of COVID-19 but one of its most exciting new commissions is still on view outside.  In never-filled niches designed to hold statuary, Wangechi Mutu has installed four bronze sculptures of powerful women wrapped in coiled garments that the artist describes as ‘living, tactile and fleshy’ but which also act protectively.  Polished disks (here, at the back of this figure’s head) echo traditional ornament worn by women of status in many African cultures.  Though inspired by caryatid sculptures in which women support a burden (from prestige stools to the Vanderbilt mantlepiece) these queenly and otherworldly figures are leaders, not servers.  (On view outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art through June 8th, 2020).

Wangechi Mutu, ‘The Seated’ (one of four sculptures in the series), bronze, 2019.

Karl Lagerfeld in ‘Camp: Notes on Fashion’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

‘Camp:  Notes on Fashion’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art ends with a bang in a two-tiered gallery showcasing outrageous garments, from a wrapper resembling the contents of a TV dinner to a tiered ball gown of ruffled pink fabric that juts out from the shoulders and continues expanding as it descends to the ground.  Here, alongside earrings shaped like old-fashioned faucet handles, Karl Lagerfeld’s shower head necklace makes a clean break from tradition.  (On view on the Upper East Side through Sept 8th).

Karl Lagerfeld for Chloe, Necklace, autumn/winter, 1983-84, silver metal, pink, blue and clear crystals and pearl beads.

Alicja Kwade at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Berlin-based Polish artist Alicja Kwade explains that the invitation to install a piece on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art was like being asked to crown the summarized history of humanity in the galleries below.  In response, she created a steel framed structure that symbolizes human systems and which incorporates stones sourced from India, Finland, Italy, China and beyond.  From the roof, viewing the New York’s rising skyline is unavoidable; Kwade draws in the surroundings as part of her artwork, inviting visitors to consider neighboring buildings as symbols of capitalism, a structure that can be examined as readily as the ones she erects. (On view through Oct 27th).

Installation view of Alicja Kwade’s ‘Parapivot’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, summer 2019.