During my visit to the Metropolitan Museum late last week, to catch up on some exhibitions that I’d missed (including the glorious Bronzino show—another attribution exhibition but so much more!), I encountered this reminder of “Met Holiday Mondays,” beside the $20-suggested-admissions-fee cash register:
“The Met is Open on Presidents Day”
Wait a minute! I thought that George was in exile, along with the most of the Met’s American paintings—removed from view while construction continues on the expansion of the American Wing. (The paintings are due to return to full public display next year.) Does this call for another Metropolitan Museum truth-in-advertising alert?
Not exactly. Although the First President will not greet you in the Met’s galleries (unless he makes a cameo appearance for Presidents Day), you can still visit him, along with many other American paintings from the collection.
In the CultureGrrl Video below, I’ll show you how. We’ll start with a view of the Engelhard Court of the American Wing, which reopened last spring. Just before the public opening, the estimable Morrison Heckscher, chairman of the American Wing, graciously gave me a preview of the redone courtyard and the refurbished and reconfigured period rooms, but I held off from reporting on these because I already had my Tom Campbell assignment from the Wall Street Journal; I didn’t know then (long before my interview with the Met’s director was actually arranged) whether I’d be wanting to discuss the American Wing in that piece. (Paid articles trump blog posts.)
I hope to redress my omissions regarding the American Wing in a future post. In a nutshell, I’m an admirer of the period rooms; a dissenter from the unqualified critical praise for the sculpture court, which I regard as cold and somewhat kitschy.
But for now, on this Presidents Day Eve, let’s pay our respects to the Father of Our Country, still receiving visitors (although, as you will see, in rather undignified circumstances):