Metropolitan Museum of Art Announce Joint Exhibition Project
Philippe de Montebello, Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Susan Weber Soros, Founder/Director of The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, have agreed to a joint project that will allow Bard Graduate Center students to work with objects from the Metropolitan's collections and to organize exhibitions based on and around these objects. The exhibitions will be presented in the gallery of the Bard Graduate Center at 18 West 86th Street in Manhattan on a biennial basis.
Working in conjunction with a curator appointed by the Metropolitan Museum and with members of the Bard Graduate Center staff, students will investigate a broad range of museological and practical issues and receive hands-on experience working with a museum collection. Each exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue published by the Bard Graduate Center and distributed by Yale University Press. Under the direction of project staff, students will participate fully in the production of the exhibition catalogues.
"The Metropolitan has, since its inception in 1870, recognized that a vital part of its mission is in the realm of education," noted Mr. de Montebello. "This venture with the Bard Graduate Center will serve a dual purpose for the Museum: it will expand the Metropolitan's efforts to train future scholars and it will allow the Museum to display
off-site groups of objects not always on view in contexts that will enlighten and inform both the public and those in the decorative arts field. I also would like to thank Susan Soros for the innovative concept that has led to this very exciting venture that can only benefit both institutions."
Susan Weber Soros said, "We are delighted by this brilliant opportunity that will enable our students to work with the extraordinary staff and material for which the Metropolitan is so famous. Training future scholars in the decorative arts is, of course, the major part of our mission. This is a project that will have great resonance in the years to come as the students involved enter the museum and curatorial fields. I thank Philippe de Montebello for his interest in this initiative and look forward to beginning our joint project."
The first exhibition on French 18th-century silver will take place in 2003.
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The Metropolitan Museum is located at Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street. It is open Fridays and Saturdays 9:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m. and Sundays, Tuesdays-Thursdays 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Closed Mondays. Suggested admission is $10 (adults), $5 (senior citizens and students). For further information, please telephone (212) 535-7710. The Web site address is www.metmuseum.org.
The Bard Graduate Center is at 18 West 86th Street. The Exhibition Gallery is open Tuesday-Sunday, 11:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Thursday evenings the Gallery is open until 8:00 p.m. Closed Mondays. Admission is $2. For further information, please telephone (212) 501-3072 or fax (212) 501-3079. The Web site address is www.bgc.bard.edu.
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