The Year's Best Arts Adventure? The Met's Islamic Galleries

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Pia Catton

Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and Later South Asia' opened at the Met in November.

NEW YORK - Late December is the time of year for lists, and there's more than enough material for a countdown of New York's 10 best artistic efforts in 2011. But I'm skipping it.This year, one development in the arts stood out so far beyond the rest that it deserves solo recognition: the Metropolitan Museum of Art's November opening, following an eight-year renovation, of the galleries now named "Art of the Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and Later South Asia." What makes the presentation so successful is that it is completely absorbing at both the micro and macro levels, from the details of individual objects to the sweeping arc of history they compose.  [link]