Metropolitan Museum of Art Celebrates Fifty Years Collecting Islamic Art

September 23, 2013

Metropolitan Museum of Art Celebrates Fifty Years Collecting Islamic Art

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By TAHLIB

"Luhrasp Hears from the Returning Paladins of the Vanishing Kai Khusrau"

NEW YORK---Opening on September 24, the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, "Fifty Years of Collecting Islamic Art" marks the 50th anniversary year of the founding of museum’s Department of Islamic Art. The exhibition will feature some four dozen works in all media, ranging in date from the 9th-10th century to the present day, grouped by decade of acquisition, but a highlight will be two beautifully illustrated folios from a luxury Iranian manuscript of the 16th century—the Shahnama (Book of Kings) created for Shah Tahmasp. The exhibition runs through January 26, 2014.

Comments

Ernest Disney-Britton said…

When collecting, one of the things we stress at A&O is remembering (and celebrating) the "Why" you started question. This exhibition seems to do a solid job of revealing how the museum's collection grew in large part by the region becoming more and more "topical." In the beginning, when both travel and photography were difficult and expensive, curators only goal was to educate the viewing public to marvels they could not otherwise encounter, but there was little emphasis on organization by time, place, or style. This changed over time including the World Wars in Africa, and of course the more visceral interest since Sept. 11th. Remembering "Why" we started collecting is a valuable part of this 50 year celebration.

Mon Sep 23, 12:56:00 PM EDT