A Summer Visit to New York...With Children

Summer 2009

At The Met - The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Museum Hours
Monday: Closed (Except Holiday Mondays)
Tuesday–Thursday: 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 9:30 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
Sunday: 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m

Address
1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street
New York, New York 10028-0198
Information: 212-535-7710

For directions: http://www.metmuseum.org/visit/

Admission

Adults $20

Seniors (65 and older) $15

Students $10*

Members (Join Now) Free

Children under 12 (accompanied by an adult) Free

EXHIBIT:

Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul

June 23, 2009–September 20, 2009

Ancient Afghanistan—at the crossroads of major trade routes and the focus of invasions by great powers and nomadic migrations—was home to some of the most complex, rich, and original civilizations on the continent of Asia. This exhibition will celebrate the unique role of Afghanistan as a center for both the reception of diverse cultural elements and the creation of original styles of art that combine multiple stylistic materials—such as the Hellenized examples from the second-century B.C. city of Aï Khanum, the array of trade goods found in the first-century city of Begram, and the astonishing nomadic gold found in the hoard at Tillya Tepe, which also dates to the first century. It will also commemorate the heroic rescue of the heritage of one of the world’s great civilizations, whose precious treasures were thought to have been destroyed. Among the highlights of the exhibition will be gold vessels from the Tepe Fullol hoard; superb works and architectural elements from Aï Khanum; Indian-style sculptural masterpieces in ivory, plaster medallions, and Roman glass from Begram; and extraordinary turquoise-encrusted gold jewelry and ornaments from the tombs at Tillya Tepe.

EXHIBIT:

Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the Middle Ages

June 2, 2009–August 23, 2009

Galleries for Drawings, Prints, and Photographs, 2nd floor

With strokes of genius, artists in the Middle Ages explored the medium of drawing, creating a rich array of works ranging from spontaneous sketches to powerful evocations of spirituality to intriguing images of science and the natural world. This exhibition, the first to examine in depth the achievements of the medieval draftsman, includes many works that have never before been lent outside their home countries. Through some fifty examples created in settings as diverse as ninth-century monastic scriptoria to the fourteenth-century French court, the presentation considers the aesthetics, uses, and techniques of medieval drawings, mastered by artists working centuries before the dawn of the Renaissance. Early maps, artists’ sketchbooks, and masterfully decorated manuscripts count among the important loans from American and European museums, and the great national, university, and monastic libraries of Europe.

FILM:

"Pen and Parchment: Drawing in the Middle Ages"

Films … August 4, 2009 - 2:00 p.m.

The Museum presents documentary and feature films and videos related to special exhibitions and the permanent collection throughout the year. These films, shown in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium or the Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education, are free with Museum admission unless otherwise noted.

Topics include artists' biographies and bodies of work, particular creative techniques, art historical movements, events in world history, mythological and iconographic subjects, and other art-related themes. Film programs designed for families and young people are also offered.

Summer Family Films

Enjoy short films that are sure to entertain the whole family!

All Films: 1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Free with Museum admission

July 14, 2009

• Luxo, Jr. (1986) Computer-animated film that gives two desk lamps the emotional intensity of a parent-child relationship. (2 min.)
• Anansi the Spider (1969) Animated film based on the African trickster hero and his talented and devoted sons. (10 min.)
• Oh Brother, My Brother (1979) Follows two young brothers through a day of ordinary activities and normal conflict of early childhood. A perennial crowd pleaser. (14 min.)

July 16, 2009

• Tin Toy (1988) When a wind-up toy sees just how boisterous, big, and destructive a baby can be, he does everything he can to flee. But when the baby falls down and gets hurt, the tin toy has to decide on survival, or doing what a toy's got to do. (5 min.)
• The Chinese Word for Horse (1986) Chinese characters are animated and become elements in a fable. (13 min.)
• A Chairy Tale (1957) A young man tries to sit on a common kitchen chair that repeatedly refuses to be sat upon. (10 min.)

July 17, 2009

• The Sand Castle (1977) A sandman sculpts other sand creatures, and together they construct a sand castle. (14 min.)
• Sandsong (1980) Sculptor G. Augustine Lynas creates a large, intricate sand sculpture on a beach at low tide. (18 min.)

July 21, 2009

• Perspectrum (1974) Animation in which a simple geometric form is duplicated, arranged, and rearranged into a flow of patterns and perspectives that evoke a kaleidoscope, set to Japanese koto music. (7 min.)
• The Stonecutter (1965) Paper cut-out animation dramatizes a traditional Japanese folk tale. (6 min.)
• Hokusai: An Animated Sketchbook (1978) Animation that brings to life the woodblock prints of Japanese graphic artist Hokusai (1760–1849). (6 min.)
• Passing Seasons (1990) Uses the theme of the four seasons to discuss principles of Japanese art and aesthetics. Shot in the galleries of Japanese art at the Metropolitan Museum. (11 min.)

July 22, 2009

• Boccioni's Bike (1981) Animated interpretation in the graphic style of the Italian Futurists, depicting a bicycle rider who pedals from animated realism to an abstract setting of a field of force vectors. (8 min.)
• Powers of Ten (1978) Starting at a picnic by the lakeside in Chicago, the camera transports the viewer—by increments of the powers of ten—to the edges of the universe, and back again. (10 min.)
• Wind (1972) Animated film without narration or dialogue in which a small boy cavorts merrily with the wind. (10 min.)

July 23, 2009

• Zea (1981) Zeroes in on a mysterious, blimp-shaped object. Can you guess what it is? (6 min.)
• Calder's Circus (1961) Reveals Alexander Calder's warmth, humor, and tenderness, particularly when he kneels before his friends and brings his miniature circus to life with his strong sculptor's hands. (19 min.)

July 28, 2009

• Tangram (1975) Seven geometric pieces of the ancient Chinese tangram puzzle assume various shapes and move across the screen. (3 min.)
• Metropolitan Cats (1984) The voices of Met staff members guide the viewer through a close-up look at cats—playful and sinister, wild and domesticated, sacred and profane—as seen in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum. (25 min.)

August 4, 2009

• Housemoving (1968) Uses time-lapse photography to compress the year's labor required to move an old house to a new site. (8 min.)
• Nails (1978) Contrasts a blacksmith working at his forge with twentieth- and nineteenth-century factories. (13 min.)
• Ballet Robotique (1982) Uses robots on automobile assembly lines to suggest the meeting of art and technology. (7 min.)

August 5, 2009

• Matrioska (1975)
• Animated dance of Russian wooden dolls. (5 min.)
• Tanya the Puppeteer (1982) Twelve-year-old Tanya Nicolev, who lives in Moscow, is accepted into master puppeteer Sergei Obratsov's workshop. Tanya creates a penguin named Pasha and writes a role for the puppet in a play. (25 min.)

August 6, 2009

• The Champion (1978) A "Chaplinesque" pantomime of a would-be romance, set near the reservoir in New York City's Central Park. (14 min.)
• The Great Frost (1982) Artist Seymour Chwast illustrates an excerpt of Virginia Woolf's Orlando, the love story of a young nobleman and a mysterious Russian princess whose boat is ice-bound on the frozen Thames River. (15 min.)
• Your Face (1987) Bill Plympton's animated film of the bizarre and humorous transformations of a singer's face as he croons to his love. (4 min.)

August 11, 2009

• What Is...A Fence? (1999) Turns the swirling, rough canyons of wood grain and the bizarre textures of lichens into exotic and mysterious landscapes. (4 min.)
• John Hooper's Way with Wood (1977) Follows Canadian master craftsman John Hooper in all stages of constructing an oak bench and carving the sculptures that sit upon it. (18 min.)
• Carousel (1990) Features a 1903 carousel being restored for its permanent home in Forest Park, Queens. (5 min)

August 13, 2009

• How the Frog's Eye Sees (1984) Animated study in movement and perception from the frog's point of view. (7 min.)
• Elephant (1971) A herd of elephants go about their daily routines. (11 min.)
• Horseflickers (1976) A series of horse-shaped collages blend imagination, humor, whimsy, and art. (10 min.)

All information from the Met website