Art in NYC: Gerhard Richter Painting After All at the MetMuseum

March 10, 2020July 7, 2021 arts-NY 1 Comment

Art in NYC: Gerhard Richter Painting After All at the MetMuseum

While MetMuseum has temporarily closed, you can visit it online from anywhere

Presenting a major exhibition of works by German artist Gerhard Richter titled “Painting After All”, the exhibit spans the entire artist’s career

Gerhard Richter, S. with Child, 1995, Oil on canvas, Hamburger Kunsthalle,© Gerhard Richter 2019 / Image courtesy of The MetMuseum

Recognized as one of the greatest artists of our time, Gerhard Richter succeeds in combining the detailed pictorial approach with the haze caused by the fog of time. His celebrated blurred figurative paintings, large scale abstract compositions, and monumental glass sculptures are the treasures of the art museums all around the world. Originally scheduled to be on view at the Met Breuer from March 4 – July 5, 2020, the exhibition includes a range of artworks from the artist’s early experiments with the pictorial depictions based on the old photographs, the glass sculptures, and the most recent cycle House of Cards (5 Panes) (2020). Some of the works will be more familiar to the art lovers, while others like the cycles Cage (2009) and Birkenau (2014) are shown in the United States for the first time.

Well known for his effort to reconcile through art the historical past with personal memories, Richter is uniquely qualified to remind the viewers about the horror of war, the danger of manipulation through the isolated messages or images taken out of context, and the inconsistencies in the recollection of the past events. To accentuate the point of a fleeting chance of memory, his technique of smudging the clear image reminds us of the distortion brought on by the time.

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932, Dresden) Cage 4, 2006 Oil on canvas — Gerhard Richter, Cage 4, 2006, Oil on canvas, Tate: Lent from a private collection 2007,© Gerhard Richter 2019 / Image courtesy of the MetMuseum

The technique can be seen as a way to represent the perspective of time similar to the perspective of distance and space. It creates the fourth dimension (time) for otherwise ordinary snapshots. As the objects positioned far away are depicted proportionally smaller and with less visible details, the memories about the events from the past are covered in haze and come out with blurred outlines. One can still see the object, yet as years go by, the exact image loses its significance and is replaced by the vague outline.

Explore the show online by taking a virtual tour.

Virtual Tour

The exhibition at the Met Breuer is the first major expose of Richter’s art in the US in 20 years.

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Art in NYC: Dutch Masterpieces at The Met

October 24, 2018October 25, 2024 arts-NY

Art in NYC: Dutch Masterpieces at The Met

While the Metropolitan Museum of Art has temporarily closed, you can visit it online from anywhere

A magnificent exhibition of works by the 17th-century Dutch masters titled “In Praise of Painting” can be viewed online

Aristotle with a Bust of Homer by Rembrandt at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York — Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn), Aristotle with a Bust of Homer, 1653. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Met Museum collection of Dutch paintings is highly praised by scholars and extremely popular with the visitors. The “In Praise of Painting ” exhibition, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Met Museum founding, uses the occasion to showcase the treasures by Rembrandt, Vermeer, and others thematically and to highlight various aspects of the 17th-century Dutch society in all its complexity. The selection comes from the Benjamin Altman’s bequest, the Robert Lehman collection, and the Jack and Belle Linsky Collection. Thoughtfully organized by the curators around nine themes from portraiture to landscape and domestic scenes, the exhibition unites prominent works and allows for striking comparisons and keen amplification of the historical details.

The viewers are invited in for a closer look at people, their homes, land and the pastime when the Netherland was experiencing rapid changes brought in by the technological advancements and economic growth after the end of the Thirty Years war. The works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, Steen and the rest of their famous contemporaries bring us closer to people living in the distant fast-changing times not that much dissimilar to our own. Societal mores, etiquette and hierarchy were turning in response to industrial progress and diversification at the time of the Dutch Golden Age. Luckily for us, it gave the world great artworks of unprecedented depth and potency. Savor the art in all its greatness.

In Praise of Painting: Dutch Masterpieces can be explored by taking an online visit. Online Visit

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Art in NYC: Felix Vallotton Exhibition at the Met Museum

November 11, 2019November 11, 2019 arts-NY 1 Comment

Art in NYC: Felix Vallotton Exhibition at the Met Museum

The Met Museum presents Felix Vallotton: Painter of Disquiet, a retrospective of the most notable paintings and art prints depicting the fin-de-siècle Paris

On view from October 29, 2019 – January 26, 2020

Felix Vallotton, Five O’Clock, 1898 — Five O’Clock, 1898, Distemper on cardboard, Private collection / Photo © Fondation Félix Vallotton, Lausanne

A fascinating exhibition of major works by Felix Vallotton tells a provocative story about life in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. Covering all the major phases of Vallotton’s oeurvre, the exhibition starts with his early prints and woodcuts. These early works were made at the beginning of artist’s career when he experimented with steep perspectives and flat images of the Nabis circle principles. The exhibition also showcases powerful oil paintings of the genre scenes, nudes, and landscapes of his mature period.

Well-known to art historians but not widely recognized by the public, Vallotton’s works are a mix of keen observation, wry wit, and subtle yet potent critique of the hypocrisy of bourgeoisie and the sinful pleasures of Belle Epoch France. His early prints and woodcuts made on a gamut of topics from the docile scene with music instruments to observations of everyday life to the street riots are examples of a mastery of detail and minimalist touch. While clearly demonstrating the strength of the technique, his works seemed to fall in-between the styles and artistic movements of his time. This leaves the impression that he either came too late for the expressive art of such painters like Ingre who was a strong influence for Vallotton or too early for the New Objectivity style of the 1920s.

Emphasizing his upbringing in a strict Protestant family in quiet Switzerland, the exhibition conveys Vallotton’s point of view as an outsider to the fast-moving city life. He immediately sees the dissonance between the newly established canons and their twisted morality, but is restrained in his critique. While executed with very fine detail that at times allude to the influence of the Old Masters in the use of reflections and light, the ambiguity of the scenes leave many questions unanswered. The openness to interpretation is what makes Vallotton’s art so potent. After all, this probably was the artist’s goal and he achieved it with the utmost elegance.

In addition to Vallotton’s famous woodcut cycles, there are expansive paintings of landscapes, nudes, and discrete encounters with a multitude of subtleties, mysterious perspectives, and odd angles.

Coming to New York after a triumphant show at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, this is the first retrospective of Vallotton’s work in New York in 30 years. It is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in collaboration with Fondation Félix Vallotton, Lausanne.

Discover this amazing artist while sampling the thrilling artworks on view at The Met. Felix Vallotton: Painter of Disquiet is on view form October 29, 2019 – January 26, 2020.

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Art in NYC: The Renaissance of Etching at the Met Museum

October 30, 2019October 30, 2019 arts-NY

Art in NYC: The Renaissance of Etching at the Met Museum

The Met Museum presents The Renaissance of Etching exhibition with works by Durer, Parmigianino, and Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

The exhibition is on view from October 23, 2019 – January 20, 2020

Etching by Cornelis Anthonisz (Netherlandish, 1507–1553). The Tower of Babel — Cornelis Anthonisz (Netherlandish, 1507–1553). The Tower of Babel, 1547. Etching. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Image courtesy of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Organized by The Metropolitan Museum in New York City and The Albertina Museum in Vienna, Austria, The Renaissance of Etching exhibit delves into the discovery of the medium by an armor etcher in the late 15th century in Germany to its wide appropriation by the Renaissance artists all over Europe by the mid-16th century. An innovative approach to image printing flipped the old process of etching on its head. Before it was an expensive decoration on the metal armor worn by a few wealthy patrons, now the metal plate became a tool to produce print on paper. Once the process was fully developed, the medium got widely embraced by the artists as it made possible to produce large quantities of artwork relatively cheaply. Every artist working at that time period got involved in making the prints varying the colors and adding nuanced characteristics of the art schools and worldview.

The exhibition curators organized the works in chronological order starting from the German printmaker and armor decorator Daniel Hopfer who is credited with inventing the medium. He influenced Durer to start experimenting with the technique. Several of Durer’s phenomenal prints from The Albertina and other museums are included in the exhibition. Rapidly spreading across the continent, the art of etching was mastered in Italy by Parmigianino, the Renaissance artists in France, and later flourishing in the Netherlands where the printing shops employed the professional etchers to mass-produce the original drawings done by such masters as Lucas van Leyden, Peter Bruegel the Elder among many others.

There are about 125 artworks in the exhibition including the armor, etchings, drawings, metal plates, and engravings. It captures a fascinating time of rapid change in everything from the climate and weather patterns to technology, religious believes and a new societal order that swept the European continent from the mid-15th to mid-16th century. As the curators note, it may require a return visit to The Met to fully appreciate a vast gamut of visual information offered by the assembled collection.

Following its presentation at The Met until January 20, 2020, the exhibition will travel to the Albertina Museum on February 12 – May 10, 2020.

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Art in NYC: The Colmar Treasure at the Met Cloisters

July 26, 2019July 26, 2019 arts-NY

Art in NYC: The Colmar Treasure at the Met Cloisters

A Medieval Jewish Legacy, the Colmar Treasure exhibition highlights the tragedy of persecution by featuring the art and jewels hidden away around 1349 by a Jewish family from Colmar in Alsace (France)

Jewish ceremonial wedding ring from the Colmar Treasure at the Met Cloisters — Jewish ceremonial wedding ring, from the Colmar Treasure, ca. 1300– before 1348. Musée de Cluny – Musée national du Moyen Âge, RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY

The Met Cloisters presents the precious objects of Colmar Treasure from Musee de Cluny in Paris alongside the Judaica from its collection and the private funds. The Cloisters are situated in a picturesque medieval castle surrounded by the lush greenery of Fort Tryon Park, which overlooks the sprawling Hudson River. The exhibition is curated by Barbara Drake Boehm, the Paul and Jill Ruddock Senior Curator, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters.

Colmar, a town in the modern-day Alsace region of France, was part of the Holy Roman Empire in the 14-century and traded hands between Germany and France up until World War I. A fast-growing and wealthy wine region, the town was a home for a thriving Jewish community that built a synagogue, a mikveh, and a school there.

The Colmar Treasure was accidentally discovered on Rue de Jiefs in 1863 during the construction of a confectionary shop. First kept in the private hands, in 1923 it was acquired by Musee de Cluny in Paris. While personal and small in its size, the stash of rings, coins, delicate silver belt, and appliqué, and the rest of the decorative objects discovered in Colmar presents a cautionary tale of hope, intolerance, tragedy, and societal betrayal in medieval Europe. The collection serves as a cautionary reminder of the past tragic mistakes driven by intolerance and mistrust.

Visit the exhibition, stroll the Cloisters, and admire the art that celebrates piety, devotion, sacrifice, and mercy. The Colmar Treasure occupies only one small hall of the museum but it tells a profound story. On view from July 22, 2019 – January 12, 2020.

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Tag: The Met Museum