https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/20/arts/design/what-i-learned-from-a-disgraced-art-show-on-harlem.html Show
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. Virgin Eyes  Credit...Tim Robinson
Some first-time art encounters are life-changers, and you know it instantly. They zap you, cast a spell, send you back out with your eyes and mind rewired. Other encounters are just as deep, but don’t seem to be, because you’re not ready for them. You don’t know what you’re looking at, though some day you will, and you’ll wish you could be back there again, equipped with all you’ve learned. “Harlem on My Mind” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was that kind of show for me. It opened early in 1969, when the world felt like a slow-motion explosion. Richard Nixon was entering the White House. The Vietnam War ground on. Martin Luther King Jr. had been killed nine months earlier, and aftershocks were still coming. Racial tension was as sharp and pervasive as the tang of tear gas in the air. I was in college in Massachusetts and at some point that winter spent a few days in New York. No idea why, although it was almost certainly not to see art. I was into literature at that point, and music, and politics. Yet the one recollection I have of that visit is an art memory, of being at a show at the Met that was getting the blockbuster treatment: prime space, extra-large banner out front. Image “Harlem on My Mind” at the Met in 1969. The exhibition included no paintings or sculptures by black artists.Credit...The Metropolitan Museum of Art The exhibition — its full title was “Harlem on My Mind: Cultural Capital of Black America, 1900-1968” — was strange. It opened with floor-to-ceiling photomurals of the kind used in an introductory gallery to set the mood for the art ahead. But there was no art ahead, or not what I then considered art, meaning paintings and sculptures. (In those days, photography’s status was iffy.) Instead, there were just more photographs, large and small, of everyday life in Harlem, a neighborhood I’d never seen. I’d also never seen an art show so much like a science-museum display. I didn’t know what to do with any of this. So I left thinking: What was that about? I was unaware that a lot of people, among them Harlem artists, were asking the same question. I didn’t know that the show had been savaged in the press. Or that it was widely viewed within black cultural circles as an insult, a blunt assertion by the white establishment that African-American art wasn’t good enough to show. I didn’t know that, in a desperate attempt at damage control, the Met’s director, Thomas Hoving, had publicly apologized for the show, or some aspect of it, as “an error in judgment.” Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Director and CEO Max Hollein celebrates an important moment as the Museum moves forward with renovation plans for the new Oscar L. and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing with architect Frida Escobedo, the first woman to design a wing in the Museum’s 154-year history. Read more Pride MonthCelebrate the remarkable contributions of the LGBTQIA+ community through special programs and digital content. Learn more Immaterial: Season 2Explore what’s hiding in the material choices of artists and makers in the latest season of The Met’s podcast. Listen Now Membership at The MetMet Members enjoy a rich variety of specialized benefits—from free guest passes to Member Preview Days for new exhibitions—all while supporting our mission. What is the 2024 Met Gala theme?"Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion," explained. NEW YORK - If you're trying to explain the 2024 Met Gala theme, you can look to the classic fable, "Sleeping Beauty."nullWhat was the 2024 Met Gala theme? "Sleeping Beauties - CBS Newswww.cbsnews.com › newyork › news › met-gala-2024-theme-explainednull Who's attending the Met Gala 2024?While the guest list for the Met Gala is always under wraps, Zendaya, Bad Bunny, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Lopez and Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour arrived in statement-making looks as they served as co-chairs for this year's Costume Institute Benefit.nullMet Gala 2024 Guest List: Who Attended the Met Gala?www.today.com › popculture › news › met-gala-2024-guest-list-attending-...null What happened at the Met Gala 2024?The 2024 Met Gala celebrated the Costume Institute's new exhibition, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” and the official dress code was “The Garden of Time.” The exhibit will feature approximately 250 rare items drawn from the Costume Institute's permanent collection.nullEverything to Know About the 2024 Met Gala: Theme, Hosts and Morewww.vogue.com › article › everything-to-know-met-galanull Who owns the Metropolitan Museum of Art?Located in Central Park, the Met's two-million-square-foot main building is owned by the city of New York, while the collections are held for the benefit of the public by the corporation's trustees.nullWho actually owns the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City?www.quora.com › Who-actually-owns-the-Metropolitan-Museum-of-Art-i...null |
