the metropolitan museum of art – Page 2

Chasing Games

April 15, 2020April 15, 2020 The Humble Fabulist2 Comments

Let the kids go chasing partridges in the Met while grown ups enjoy a wild-goose chase in Mad Ave.

Two bronze statues of girls chasing partridges
Roman, Early Imperial, late 1st century b.c. or early 1st century a.d.

Children playing with animals became a popular genre type in Greek and Roman art. These sculptures are remarkable for their large size, excellent state of preservation and careful workmanship. This is the only known symmetrically pendant pair of bronze sculptures, perfectly preserved down to the plinth.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art & window-shopping on Madison Avenue

August 19th, 2018 (with many thanks to M. – mvschulze, for spotting my unintentional time travel to 2028… wouldn’t that be fun though!)

Carving Gods and Nobles

April 14, 2020April 13, 2020 The Humble Fabulist6 Comments

In noble materials
Marble head of Athena
Greek, Hellenistic, ca. 200 b.c.

The goddess originally wore a helmet of marble or bronze, added separately. The ears are pierced for metal earrings. The head comes from an over-life-sized statue that possibly represented the goddess striding forward. The statue may have stood outdoors, as a monumental votive image of the warrior goddess in her role as protectress of a city rather than within a temple as a cult statue.

Bronze portrait of a man
Roman, Late Republican or Early Imperial, ca. 1st century b.c.

In the early first century b.c. Greek artists were fashioning portraits of Roman patrons that presented a straightforward image of their subjects in a veristic style. This phenomenon existed across the ever-expanding Roman world, but the finest and largest group of such portraits in marble survives on the Cycladic island of Delos, which was an important commercial centre in the Late Republican period and home to numerous Roman merchants.

The portrait exhibited here is a good example of the veristic style, which appealed to Roman citizens who valued individuality. Bronze was the preferred medium for Roman honorific statues because of its ability to achieve the closest possible fidelity to nature.

Mosaic floor panel
Roman, Imperial, 2nd century a.d.
Stone, tile and glass
Excavated from a villa at Daphne near Antioch (modern Antakya, Turkey), the metropolis of Roman Syria

The rectangular panel represents the entire decorated area of a floor and was found together with another mosaic (now in the Baltimore Museum of Art) in an olive grove at Daphne-Harbiye in 1937. In Roman times, Daphne was a popular holiday resort, used by the wealthy citizens and residents of Antioch as a place of rest and refuge from the heat and noise of the city.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

August 19th, 2018

Hair Styles for the Zoom Era: Tie the Knot

April 13, 2020April 12, 2020 The Humble FabulistLeave a comment

No hair stylist? No problem!

Pierre Jean David d’Angers (1788-1856)
Ann Buchan Robinson, 1831
Marble

This masterpiece of carving was probably commissioned from David d’Angers, the leading portrait sculptor of the Romantic era, by the sitter’s husband, a New York entrepreneur with business connections in France. Formal purity is paramount: nothing distracts from the transition between smooth skin and the swept up coils of an extraordinary hairstyle that was the height of fashion about 1830. The tilt of the head and slightly pouted lips impart refined lifelikeness to the portrait. Robinson’s idealized serenity is typical of David d’Angers’s female portrait busts; those depicting men tend to reveal far more about the sitters’ inner personality.

Lent to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by the Museum of the City of New York

August 19th, 2018

A Heavenly Garden

March 10, 2020March 9, 2020 The Humble FabulistLeave a comment

Of Earthly Delights

Dolce & Gabbana
”Penelope” wedding ensemble, S/S 2013

Valentino
Evening dress, S/S 2014

Undercover, Jun Takahashi
Ensembles, S/S 2015, printed with iconography from Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych ”The Garden of Earthly Delights”

House of Dior
Raf Simons, Evening dress, A/W 2015-16
A more abstracted interpretation of Hieronymus Bosch’s painting ”The Garden of Earthly Delights”

Valentino
Evening Dress, A/W 2015-16

Jean Paul Gaultier
‘Lumiere’, Evening ensemble, S/S 2007

Steinunn Thorarinsdottir
Armors, 2016-2018

Rick Owens
Ensemble, A/W 2015-16.
With a pee(p) hole at the crotch, Owens’ playful, subversive ”habit” evokes the popular literary stereotype of the lecherous, debauched and scandalous medieval monk, satirized by Geoffrey Chaucer in ”The Canterbury Tales” (1387-1400).

The Cloisters, Fort Tryon Park

July 14th, 2018

Heavenly Bodies || The Cloisters

March 9, 2020March 8, 2020 The Humble FabulistLeave a comment

Well, I don’t know about the bodies but some of the gowns were heavenly, indeed! The exhibition was two-part, the main segment being at The Met on Fifth Avenue, and an annex displayed at the medieval monastic environment of The Cloisters, where the gowns seemed to have found their natural habitat, as if they had always belonged there. If I had to describe the display, setting & ambience in one word, that would have been ”sublime”.

Viktor & Rolf, ensemble, 2018 original design: A/W 1999-2000

Valentino, evening ensemble, A/W 2015-16

Philip Treacy, ”Madonna Rides Again II” hats, 1998 – 2001

House of Chanel, wedding dress, A/W 1990-91 by Karl Lagerfeld

The Unicorn in Captivity
Wool, silk and silver and gilded-silver wrapped thread
South Netherlandish, ca. 1495-1505

Altarpiece with the Virgin and Child and Saints
Master fo the Burg Weiler Altarpiece
German, Swabia, ca. 1470

Reliquary busts of female saints
South Netherlandish, Brabant, possibly Brussels, ca. 1520-20

Valentino, red silk velvet dress, S/S 2015

Thom Browne, wedding ensemble, S/S 2018

Olivier Theyskens, evening dress, S/S 1999

House of Dior ”Hyménée” wedding dress by Marc Bohan, 2018; original design: S/S 1961

House of Balenciaga, wedding dress, spring 1967

Fashion history has designated this garment by Cristobal Balenciaga the ”one-seam wedding dress.” If the dress were indeed made from a single length of fabric, it would claim a biblical source: Jesus’ seamless robe at the Crucifixion. The dress, however, is made of two pieces of fabric stitched together and it has three shaping seams – two at the shoulder and one down the centre of the back.

Grisaille Panels
French, probably Normandy, ca. 1270-80

Jean Paul Gaultier
”Regina Maris” evening ensemble, S/S 2007

House of Dior
Ensemble, S/S 2006 by John Galliano

Book of Hours
Simon Bening (1483/84 – 1561)
Tempera, gold and ink on parchment
South Netherlandish, Bruges, ca. 1530 – 1535

This tiny Book of Hours is one of Simon Bening’s prayerful jewels, intended for use at regular intervals throught the twenty-four-hour day (ideally every three hours). It was a reminder of the omnipresence of God, meant to be attached to its owner, or stored with precious possessions.

Jean-Charles de Castelbajac
Chasuble for Saint John Paul II (reigned 1978-2005), 1997

This chasuble was created for Saint John Paul II to wear on World Youth Day in 1997.

The Cloisters, Fort Tryon Park

July 14th, 2018

A Fashion’s Guide to Heraldry

March 5, 2020March 4, 2020 The Humble Fabulist3 Comments

How many hours did it take to create this modern coat of arms, would you say?

Gown:
Jean Paul Gaultier
”Ex-Voto” evening ensemble, S/S 2007
Grey silk mousseline, white silk-metal lace, crocheted gold and silver silk and iridescent crystals, appliqued holograms and aluminum ex-votos

Rosary:
Ivory, silver and partially gilded mounts
Carved in Germany, ca. 1500-1525

This rosary’s Latin inscriptions read ”Think on death” and ”This is what you will be.”

Reliquary arm of Saint Valentine:
Silver, gilded silver and blue cabochon
Made in Switzerland (Basel), ca. 1380-1400

Headdress:
Alexander McQueen – Shaun Leane, A/W 1998-99
Silver and faceted red crystals

Breastplate:
House of Givenchy
Alexander McQueen & Shaun Leane, S/S 2000
Silver-plated metal, resin and old gold

From the Heavenly Bodies exhibiton, held @The Met in 2018

July 14th, 2018

Ascetic Opulence

March 4, 2020March 3, 2020 The Humble FabulistLeave a comment

From over the top opulence to extreme modesty and back. Fashion is inextricably connected to human nature. To understand the former, you may want to start deciphering the latter first.

Spinario (Boy Pulling a Thorn from his Foot)
Bronzse, partially gilt hair and silvered eyes
Antico (Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi)
probably modeled by 1496, cast. ca. 1501

Seated Paris
Bronze statuette, partially gilt and silvered
Antico (Pier Jacopo Alari-Bonacolsi)
Mantua, ca. 1500

Christian Lacroix
”Gold-Gotha” ensemble, A/W 1988/89

Gianni Versace
Evening top, A/W 1991-92

Gianni Versace
Jacket, A/W 1991-92

Jean Paul Gaultier
”Surprise de l’Icine” ensemble, A/W 1997-98

Dolce & Gabbana
”Idamante” ensemble, S/S 2016

Dolce & Gabbanna
”Angelica” ensemble, S/S 2016

From the Heavenly Bodies exhibiton, held @The Met in 2018

July 14th, 2018

Deep || Midnight || Blue

March 3, 2020March 2, 2020 The Humble Fabulist2 Comments

If I had to pick one from this plethora of extraordinary gowns, it would have to be this one; an eclectic combination of taffeta and lace, paired with leather biker trousers in Lee McQueen’s inimitable style.

House of Givenchy
Evening Ensemble, S/S 1999 by
Alexander McQueen (1969-2010)

Black silk taffeta, white duchesse satin, white cotton lace, white silk organza, black leather

From the Heavenly Bodies exhibiton, held @The Met in 2018

July 14th, 2018

Halocinations

March 2, 2020March 8, 2020 The Humble Fabulist4 Comments

The Angels wear tiaras.

Fragment of a floor mosaic with a personification of Ktisis [Greek for foundation (of a city or colony)]
Marble and Glass
Byzantine, made 500-550

House of Lanvin (Jeanne Lanvin)
”Incertitude” evening dress, 1936

And a closer look at Goossens’ tiara and accessories over the statuary vestment for the Virgin of El Rocio, by Yves Saint Laurent.

From the Heavenly Bodies exhibiton, held @The Met in 2018

July 14th, 2018

Heavenly Bodies @ The Met

March 1, 2020March 1, 2020 The Humble Fabulist7 Comments

Heaven Avenue beckoned and we followed, taking a couple of breaks along the way.

First stop, The Met on Fifth Avenue where, for a short while, some truly divine gowns had descended to take their rightful places next to precious jewels, crosses, relics, mosaics and other objects of medieval art from the Museum’s permanent collection.

When fashion crosses that fine line between ”nothing is sacred” yet ”everything is”, in supreme style.

Dolce & Gabbana, A/W 2013-14

Thierry Mugler
”Madonna” evening ensemble, A/W 1984-85

This ensemble served as the finale to Thierry Mugler’s tenth anniversary collection, staged awt Le Zenith, an indoor arena in Paris. The model Pat Cleveland wore it as she was lowered from the ceiling of the auditorium on a cloud of dry ice, as if descending from heaven.

Alexander McQueen
Ensemble, S/S 1999
Birch plywood and ivory leather’ ivory wool twill and ivory silk lace