Tag Archive | metropolitan museum of art

Eye On Design: 1920s Evening Dress

Mar3

1920s evening dress photo by gail worley
Photo By Gail

Among the most popular types of evening wear during the 1920s were loose, sleek, chemise-style dance dresses with sleeveless armholes and wide-cut necklines, which could be pulled directly over the head.

1920s evening dress photo by gail worley

Profuse embellishment, often consisting of glass and metal components that would capture and refract light when in motion, counterbalances the minimalism of form. This 1920s Evening Dress by an unknown, possibly French or American designer, is made from a yellow cotton plain weave embroidered with gold metal paillettes, gold glass bugle beads, clear glass beads and seed beads, and clear glass crystals. These extravagant fashions were devised to glimmer within modern environments newly illuminated by electricity. They also mirror artistic tendencies at the time, such as the Art Deco attributes of geometric lines and shapes, contrasting metallic tones, and an overall streamlined modernity in form.

1920s evening dress photo by gail worley

Photographed as part of the Exhibit In Pursuit of Fashion: The Sandy Schreier Collection, which closed in early 2020, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

Modern Art Monday Presents: Thomas Fearnley, Study of Water and Plants

Mar1

study of water and plants photo by gal worley
Photo By Gail

This large study amply covers Norwegian artist Thomas Fearnley’s interest in rendering effects of light and reflection in water, as well as the flora growing on its banks. He painted this picture on September 23rd, 1837, in Surrey, during an extended sojourn in England. Fearnley learned to sketch directly before nature from his teacher Johan Christian Dahl, but this work also betrays the artists encounters with paintings by influential landscape painter John Constable.

Photographed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art n NYC.

Eye On Design: Neoclassical Armchair by Georges Jacob

Feb17

neoclassical armchair by georges jacob photo by gail worley
All Photos By Gail

J. Pierpont Morgan amassed large holdings of medieval art and seventeenth-and-eighteenth-century French decorative art from the collection of interior decorator Georges Hoentschel. Grasping the collection’s importance to artists and designers, Morgan immediately donated many decorative works to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Even the financier may not have fully realized what an impact his gift would have. It led to a new wing, which opened in 1910, and the creation of The Met’s Decorative Arts department, which was the first of its kind in an American museum.

neoclassical armchair by georges jacob photo by gail worley
Installation View

Several chairs from the Hoentschel collection have distinguished provenances, including this Neoclassical Armchair (1788) by Georges Jacob, who was one of the most important joiners (a person who constructs the wooden components of a building, such as stairs, doors, and door and window frames) of the late eighteenth century. The seat was made for the gaming room at the Chateau de Saint Cloud, a summer residence of the French royal family.

neoclassical armchair by georges jacob photo by gail worley

Photographed as Part of the Exhibit, Making the Met at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

Modern Art Monday Presents: Peacock Vase By Louis C. Tiffany

Feb1

peacock vase by tiffany photo by gail worley
Photos By Gail

This glass Peacock Vase (1893 – 96), with its evocative form, coloring and iridescent surface, is an icon of the early Tiffany-blown Favrile glass collected by H.O. (Henry) Havemayer. He gave it to The Met in 1896 during the first years of its production; at the time it was considered modern art and an object of rare beauty. These qualities are reflected in the collecting visions presented in the gallery in which this vase is displayed, which features transformative gifts from the Havemeyers through the Annenbergs.

peacock vase by tiffany photo by gail worley

Photographed as Part of the Exhibit Making The Met at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.

Throne Leg in the Shape of a Griffin

Jan28

throne leg griffin photo by gail worley
Photo By Gail

The Griffin on this Throne Leg (Western Iran, Late 7th – Early 8th Centuries) exemplifies the use of powerful winged animals (real and imaginary) as symbols of royalty. The mythical beast’s long history stretches back to about 3000 B.C., when it appeared in the art of Egypt and the Middle East, and it may have been introduced to western Iran through contacts with Sogdian, Central Asia. Here, the creature has been adapted to a tradition of animal-legged thrones in Iranian art. In pre-Islamic Iran, the griffin — a combination of lion and eagle, two animals associated with the sun — was seen as a vehicle of ascension, implying the ruler’s elevation to the status of god. In the early years of the Islamic period, new rulers appropriated the symbol to convey power and legitimacy.

Photographed in the Metropolitan Museum if Art in NYC.

Modern Art Monday: Interior View of the Metropolitan Museum of Art When In Fourteenth Street By Frank Waller

Jan18

interior view of the met photo by gail worley
Photo By Gail Worley

Based on numerous on-site drawings, this painting, Interior View of The Metropolitan Museum of Art When In Fourteenth Street (1881) offers a glimpse into the Douglas Mansion on West 14th Street, The Met’s second home from 1873 to 1879. Pictured are two second-floor galleries as they appeared in the last year before the Museum moved to its current location on Fifth Avenue. Anthony van Dyck’s Saint Rosalie Interceding for the Plague-Stricken of Palermo is visible among the European and American Paintings hung in the then-fashionable salon style.

Photographed as Part of the Exhibition, Making the Met, 1870-2020, a Celebration of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 150 Year Anniversary.

Eye On Design: Washington Skeleton Side Chair By David Adjaye

Dec30

washington skeleton side chair photo by gail worley
All Photos By Gail

The Metropolitan Museum of Art does not often invite visitors to sit directly on the art, but they have made an exception for these Washington Skeleton Side Chairs (2013), designed by Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye, which can be found in the gallery where the 2020 Holiday Tree is on display.

washington skeleton side chair photo by gail worley

These delicately balanced, precisely engineered chairs emerged from the design process for the façade of the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, which opened in Washington DC in 2016.  David Adjaye developed an intricate lattice form that was an investigation of the geometry, materiality, light and shadow.

washington skeleton side chair detail photo by gail worley

Both functional in its shading role, and poetic in its abstract visual qualities, this screen borrowed from African design patterns but also paid homage to the history of enslaved blacksmiths and their ironwork for ornamental gates in southern cities such as New Orleans and Charleston.

washington skeleton side chair photo by gail worley

Utilizing the smaller scale of furniture as an agile testing ground for these architectural ideas, Adjaye produced what he describes as a “narrative about skin, form and structure.“ Here, he shapes the skeletal, ribbed surfaces to mimic the form of a seated person, resulting in a cantilevered, ergonomic silhouette that almost disappears when in use. Made of die-cast aluminum, then powder coated and copper plated, the chairs are manufactured by Knoll International.

washington skeleton side chair photo by gail worley

Photographed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

washington skeleton side chair photo by gail worley