Five Thousand Years of Art in New York
There is not another city on the Earth quite like New York City. And, in all the Earth, there’s nothing quite like the museums of New York, particularly the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Founded one hundred and forty years ago in 1870, the museum’s purpose was to keep a library of art, which encouraged and developed the study of fine arts, as well as applying the arts to “manufacture and practical life,” and advance the general knowledge. Just ten years ago, the museum’s trustees affirmed that statement but also added that the goal is to study and exhibit their collections as well as encourage appreciation for works of art that represent human achievement at its highest level.
Currently, from now until June 6th of 2010, you’ll find the museum is keeping its word with an exhibit featuring five thousand years of Japanese Art. The Met acquired in 1975 over four hundred pieces of Japanese art from Harry G.C. Packard, which gave the museum one of the best collections of this kind in the West, with art work from the Neolithic period up through the 19th Century. The Five Thousand Years of Art exhibit is meant to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Packard Collection, and present archaeological artifacts, iconographic Buddhist scrolls, screen paintings of the Momoyama and Edo periods (16th to 19th Centuries), ceramics, as well as Heian and Kamakura period sculptures (9th to 14th Centuries).
One of the main features of the exhibit is the masterworks of two artists from the 16th Century, acquired just last year. The artists are Kano Sansetsu, who lived from 1589 to 1651, and Kano Eino, his son, who lived from 1631 to 1697. The father’s work is a set of sliding door panels known as the Old Plum, while the son’s work is two six-fold screens, titled One Hundred Boys.
If you’re a new visitor or seasoned traveler to New York, the Met is a prime destination spot, which you’ll find in Central Park on Fifth Avenue, running from 80th to 84th streets). Whether you already live in Manhattan or have traveled from abroad to find one of the hotels New York USA offers, you’ll want to join the five million others who visit the museum each year.
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