Cooper Hewitt to Reopen on December 12th
With the newly renovated Cooper Hewitt opening December 12th, you’ll have to visit the museum’s website to make sense of it all, everything from a specially commissioned typeface (Cooper Hewitt, which you can download for free here) to an interactive pen. I’ve noted one exhibition below, but presumably there are lots of eighteenth-century attractions. –CH
From Cooper Hewitt:
Caroline Baumann, director of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (formerly Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum), has announced plans for the opening of the renovated and restored Carnegie Mansion and the 10 exhibitions that will inaugurate the revamped and expanded gallery spaces. The nation’s only museum devoted exclusively to historic and contemporary design, Cooper Hewitt will open its doors to the public on Friday, December 12. The museum will boast 60 percent more gallery space to present its important collection and temporary exhibitions and will offer an entirely new and invigorated visitor experience, with interactive, immersive creative technologies.
Cooper Hewitt’s renovation provides the opportunity to redefine today’s museum experience and inspire each visitor to play designer before, during and after their visit. Visitors will explore the museum’s collections and exhibitions using groundbreaking technologies that inspire learning and experimentation. This new participatory experience is specifically designed to engage all audiences—students, teachers, families, young children, designers and the general public.
All visitors will be given a newly developed interactive Pen to collect and create. They will be able to digitally collect design objects on view, as well as additional objects from the ultra-high-definition interactive tables. Visitors will become designers in their own right by creating their own designs with the Pen. Symbolizing and embodying human creativity, the Pen is a key part of every visitor’s experience. With it, they will be able to record their visit, which can be viewed and shared online and supplemented during future visits. . .
The largest initiative in Cooper Hewitt’s history, the renovation and expansion of the entire campus on New York’s Museum Mile—the Carnegie Mansion, Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden and the museum’s two townhouses on East 90th Street—have been achieved through a successful $91 million capital and endowment campaign.
“With four floors of exhibition galleries that can now stay open 12 months of the year, free garden access, extended garden and café hours, an inviting new street entrance and the digitization of our collections, Cooper Hewitt will reach a broader audience and be more accessible than ever before,” said Baumann. “We have created a 21st-century museum that will bring our collections to life and make design even more relevant and exciting to today’s audiences, while continuing to respect the history of this museum and the integrity of the much-treasured Carnegie Mansion.”
In addition to Cooper Hewitt’s physical transformation, the museum now has a new name, graphic identity, website and custom typeface. Formally the “Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum,” the museum has been renamed “Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum,” emphasizing the museum’s heritage. The museum has taken on a bold new graphic identity designed by Pentagram and the typeface “Cooper Hewitt” designed by Chester Jenkins of Village [available for free download here; see Michael Silverberg’s discussion here] . . . .
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About The Models & Prototypes Gallery:
Staircase model, France, late 18th century; Joined, bent and carved pear, wrought brass wire; 75 x 67.3 x 67 cm (NY: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; photo by James Hart)
This new second-floor gallery will be home to rotating installations showcasing the important role of design models and prototypes. For the opening installation, the gallery will present the exceptional 18th- and 19th-century models of staircases and some significant architectural models donated to Cooper Hewitt by Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw (16 models altogether with four accompanying drawings).
The models represent a range of design styles and techniques, but most of the staircase models were designed in the compagnonnage tradition. Compagnonnage, meaning ‘group of companions’, is a type of design practice that combined formal study with practical training from masters. Apprentices honed their skills in a workshop during the day, taking courses in the art of geometrical drawing and design in the evening, living together in a boarding house. First, concepts were taught, then the handiwork, both of which became increasingly sophisticated. Each successful member made a ‘tour de France’, working and studying under masters in major cities. At each stage of the learning process (acceptance, reception, mastership), apprentices created models, leading them to become masters of their craft and design. Most of the staircase models produced in this tradition were made by masters of woodworking—joiners, cabinetmakers, and/or carpenters.
Thankful for Saved Collections: Wedgwood and the DIA
Announced 3 October 2014, from Save the Wedgwood Collection:
The Wedgwood Collection—one of the most important industrial archives in the world and a unique record of 250 years of British art—has been saved for future generations. The Art Fund raised £15.75m in total, including £2.74m through a public appeal that reached its target within a month of launching. Donations were matched pound-for-pound by a private charitable trust. Thank you to everyone who donated to and supported the appeal!
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From the Detroit Free Press:
Mark Stryker, “With Its Art Collection Saved, DIA Looks to the Future,” Detroit Free Press (9 November 2014)
Museum leaders spent the past year and a half fighting to prevent the sale of any of its irreplaceable treasures to satisfy city creditors—an epic battle for its life that ended with Friday’s [November 7’s] court approval of the bankruptcy restructuring plan that preserved the DIA collection. . . . The grand bargain granted the DIA its freedom from city ownership for the first time in nearly a century. The move, which will take effect in the coming weeks, ensures that its collection will never again be held hostage to municipal debt or the vagaries of city government. . .
Cumberland Art Gallery Opens at Hampton Court Palace
Cumberland Art Gallery at Hampton Court Palace
Photo from a tweet by Patrick Baty, who assisted with the project
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Press release (28 October 2014) from Historic Royal Palaces on the opening of the Cumberland Art Gallery:
This November, a stunning new art gallery will open at Hampton Court Palace, occupying a newly restored suite of rooms designed by William Kent for a Georgian prince. The Cumberland Suite—one of the earliest surviving examples of the Gothic Revival style—is situated at the heart of the palace, where Tudor meets Baroque and will now house changing displays of artworks, principally from the Royal Collection, reflecting the palace’s long history as a destination for the work of renowned artists.
The rooms designed by William Kent for William Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland, the youngest son of King George II, were the last major royal commission undertaken at Hampton Court. They will become a fitting backdrop for a display of treasures from the other legacy of Hampton Court’s royal residents: the Royal Collection. This winter, to mark the opening of the gallery, visitors will discover a selection of the Collection’s finest paintings: masterpieces by Holbein, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Bassano, and Gainsborough, and other artists who worked for, or were collected by, four centuries of royal patrons.
After two years of meticulous research, Kent’s Cumberland Suite has been returned as closely as possible to his original scheme. The great architect created a suite of rooms for a young prince which embraced the latest Palladian fashions but also took inspiration from the palace’s Tudor past. One of the rooms, the Duke’s large light closet, will be opened to the public for the first time in 25 years, to display the 12 smaller ‘Grand Canal’ views of Venice painted by Canaletto at the zenith of his career.
Hampton Court Palace has a long history of displaying great works of art. Over the centuries, successive monarchs filled the state apartments with splendid works of art for the private enjoyment of the royal family, or as imposing statements of regal authority. Although the palace’s life as a royal residence came to an end in the eighteenth century, thousands of artworks, now part of the Royal Collection, are still in their original locations and form part of the story of the palace today.
The Cumberland Art Gallery is a new dedicated space for artworks from the Royal Collection and will enable visitors to view and explore them in a gallery setting. The selection of paintings in our opening display broadly reflects the period of royal residency at Hampton Court, from the Tudor period to the middle years of the 1700s, when great royal collectors and connoisseurs, like King Charles I and Frederick Prince of Wales, assembled one of the largest and finest art collections of its kind in the world.
New Book | Paintings in the Collection of the Society of Antiquaries
Forthcoming from Brepols:
Jill Franklin, Bernard Nurse, and Pamela Tudor-Craig, Catalogue of Paintings in the Collection of the Society of Antiquaries of London (Turnhout: Harvey Miller, 2014), 520 pages, ISBN: 978-1909400191, $285 / 200€.
The paintings owned by the Society of Antiquaries of London are important for the quality of some of the individual paintings and for the collection as a whole. Before England’s National Portrait Gallery was founded, the Society pioneered the study of royal portraiture, seeking to establish the true likenesses of the Tudor and Plantagent monarchs and some of their continental counterparts. In the words of Sir Roy Strong, the Society’s early portraits are “of the utmost national importance … next to the Royal Collection, the most important series of early sixteenth-century royal portraits to survive as a group.” They are joined in this scholarly catalogue raisonée by works that have been exhibited in Europe’s major museums: among them are Hans Eworth’s portrait of Mary I, Simone dei Crocifissi’s Dream of the Virgin, an outstanding example of fourteenth-century Bolognese Gothic art now on long-term loan to the National Gallery, and portraits of Daniel and Rebecca Minet by Thomas Gainsborough. This fully illustrated catalogue, wedded to meticulous scholarship and the results of the latest scientific dating techniques, ensures that the art historical world now has access to art that will be studied and discussed for many years to come.
Film | National Gallery
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Frederick Wiseman’s new documentary from Zipporah Films has its US premier in New York this month at Film Forum (November 5–18), with the director himself appearing at several of the early screenings (November 5, 7, and 8). The DVD release is scheduled for early 2015.
Frederick Wiseman, National Gallery (Zipporah Films, 2014), 181 minutes.
London’s National Gallery, one of the world’s foremost art institutions, is itself portrayed as a brilliant work of art in this, Frederick Wiseman’s 39th documentary and counting. Wiseman listens raptly as a panoply of docents decode the great canvases of Da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Turner; he visits with the museum’s restorers as they use magnifying glasses, tiny eye-droppers, scalpels, and Q-tips to repair an infinitesimal chip; he attends administrative meetings in which senior executives do (polite) battle with younger ones who want the museum to become less stodgy and more welcoming to a larger cross-section of the public. But most of all, we experience the joy of spending time with the aforementioned masters as well as Vermeer and Caravaggio, Titian and Velázquez, Pissarro, and Rubens and listen to the connoisseurs who discourse upon the aesthetic, historical, religious, and psychological underpinnings of these masterpieces.
More information is available from the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Two More Waddesdon Manor Treasures Now Online
Le Ballet Royal de La Nuit and Jean de La Fontaine’s Fables choisies, two treasures of Waddesdon Manor’s library collected by Ferdinand de Rothschild (1848–1898) are now accessible via the online collection catalogue.
Jean de La Fontaine, Fables choisies, (Paris, 1755–59); Waddesdon, The Rothschild Collection (The National Trust) Bequest of James de Rothschild, 1957; acc. 3681.1-4. Photo by Mike Fear © The National Trust, Waddesdon Manor.
Le Ballet Royal de La Nuit at Waddesdon was probably produced as a gift for Louis Hesselin (1602–1662) as a reward for the successful staging of the ballet, first performed at the French court on 23 February 1653. It contains material from three distinct sources: the booklet of the ballet printed by Robert Ballard in 1653, a poem called Le Docteur Muët, and 129 original designs depicting costumes and scenes from the ballet now attributed to Henry Gissey (c. 1621–1673). Reproductions of the bindings; inscriptions by a previous owner, Baron Jérome Pichon (1812–1896); as well as the designs are available online, accompanied by commentaries based on the publication: Michael Burden and Jennifer Thorp (eds), Ballet de la Nuit: Rothschild B1/16/6 (Hillsdale; Pendragon Press; 2009).
Also now online are entries for four volumes of Jean de La Fontaine’s (1621–1695) Fables choisies, published in Paris between 1755 and 1759 by Desaint and Saillant. This edition is considered to be the most magnificent illustrated book made before the advent of modern printing. The binding of the Waddesdon example, by Louis Douceur (d. 1769), is decorated with specially-cut tools also illustrating the fables. The dolphin which occurs on the spine panels of the Waddesdon volumes may indicate that these were bound especially for the Dauphin Louis (1729–1765), son of Louis XV. Details of the location and sizes of the illustrations in all four volumes, along with a transcription of the title and names of the designer and engraver of each print, are included in the online entries.
Both books can also be explored further in the newly published catalogue by the late Giles Barber, The James A. de Rothschild Bequest: Printed Books and Bookbindings (The Rothschild Foundation, 2013). The Waddesdon collection is one of the finest of its kind in the world, and the published catalogue along with the online entries allows for many of these treasures to be revealed to the public for the first time. For more information about the printed catalogue, please visit the website.
The Huntington Acquires Fuseli’s The Three Witches
Henry Fuseli, The Three Witches or The Weird Sisters, ca. 1782, oil on canvas, 25 x 30 inches (San Marino: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens)
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Press release (7 October 2014) from The Huntington:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens announced today the acquisition of one of the best-known compositions by the Anglo-Swiss painter Henry Fuseli (1741–1825). In private hands since its creation around 1782, The Huntington’s version of Fuseli’s The Three Witches or The Weird Sisters appears to be a finished, full-size study, presumably made before the two other known full-size, final versions Fuseli made of the subjects. These are in the collections of the Kunsthaus Zurich, and the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon, England. After months of conservation treatment at The Huntington, the new acquisition will go on public view for the first time on October 11 in the Huntington Art Gallery.
“Given the fame of The Huntington’s collection of 18th-century British paintings, it may come as a surprise that we did not already have a painting by Henry Fuseli—one of the most celebrated, notorious, and inventive artists of the period,” said Kevin Salatino, Hannah and Russel Kully Director of the Art Collections at The Huntington. “Finally we do, and a great one, a picture full of mystery and suspense. Its powerful composition packs an incredible punch, second in impact only to the artist’s famous painting The Nightmare at the Detroit Institute of Arts, which is from the same period. The acquisition of The Three Witches now fills a major gap in our collection.”
Acquiring a Fuseli has been a longstanding goal at The Huntington, as the finest examples of his work rarely appear for sale. Catherine Hess, chief curator of European art at The Huntington, said that Fuseli’s work has been sought not only because of his importance to the history of art, but also because of his relationships with Sir Joshua Reynolds and, especially, William Blake, both of whom are well represented in Huntington collections. Also, Fuseli’s fascination with the work of William Shakespeare dovetails with The Huntington’s stature as one of the premiere collections of early Shakespeare folios and quartos in the world. The Three Witches reveals a great deal about how the artist worked, said Hess. “Its surface is thickly textured with paint, and the strokes are varied and energetic, betraying a freedom and immediacy that shows Fuseli at his most experimental and expressive.” The painting depicts the pivotal moment in Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth (act 1, scene 3) when the protagonist encounters the demonic trio who foretell his fate.
“Fuseli revels in the play’s ominous mood, isolating and tripling the motif of hooded head, extended hand, and sealed lips,” said Hess. The witches’ mannish features are taken directly from the playwright’s description: “… you should be women, And yet your beards forbid me to interpret / That you are so.” They may also have been modeled on the male actors who would have played them on stage in Fuseli’s day.
The Huntington’s painting includes a gilded frame (likely added by early owners) with a quote from Aeschylus’ ancient tragedy, The Eumenides: “These are women but I call them Gorgons.” The quote also appears written on the reverse of the painting and was almost certainly provided by Fuseli, who prided himself on his erudition.
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R E L A T E D I N S T A L L A T I O N S
Wrestling with Demons: Fantasy and Horror in European Prints and Drawings from The Huntington’s Art Collections
The Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino, CA, 30 August — 15 December 2014
This focused exhibition explores the darker side of the imagination through a variety of works on paper depicting death, witchcraft, and the demonic in European art. In this group of 15 works spanning the 16th to the 19th centuries, artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Jan Lievens, Francisco de Goya, and William Holman Hunt tap into human fascination with the macabre in works of art that demonstrate our attempt to wrestle with the unknown.
Eccentric Visions: Drawings by Henry Fuseli, William Blake, and Their Contemporaries
The Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino, CA, 22 November 2014 — 16 March 2015
In an age of great drawing, Anglo-Swiss painter Henry Fuseli (1741–1825) and his circle in Britain helped to push the medium into new areas of expressiveness, invention, and boldness of conception. This small exhibition consists of about 30 works from The Huntington’s exceptional holdings of drawings and watercolors by Fuseli, William Blake, and the artists most closely associated with them, including George Romney, John Flaxman, Joseph Wright of Derby, James Barry, John Brown, and Richard Cosway. It complements the installation of The Huntington’s newly acquired painting by Fuseli, The Three Witches.
Lars Kokkonen Appointed Assistant Curator at the YCBA
As announced by Amy Meyers, Director of the Yale Center for British Art:
The Yale Center for British Art is pleased to announce that Lars Kokkonen has been appointed Assistant Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art, for a one-year term, effective August 1, 2014. He was previously, for three years, a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Research at the Center. In his new position, Lars will report to and work closely with Cassandra Albinson, Curator of Paintings and Sculpture and Acting Head of the Department, in planning the reinstallation of the collection in 2016. He also will be involved in all other aspects of the department, including acquisitions, exhibitions, and loans.
Lars received his Ph.D. in art history from the Graduate Center, City University of New York, in 2010, writing his dissertation on the British artist, John Martin. Immediately prior to joining the Center in 2011 as a postdoc, Lars was the Allen Whitehill Clowes Curatorial Fellow at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. In 2007–2008 he was a Graduate Curatorial Intern, and in 2008–2009, the Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation Curatorial Fellow in the Department of American and British Paintings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. His publications include several essays and articles on John Martin, and, most recently an essay on Richard Wilson for the book accompanying the Center’s exhibition, Richard Wilson (1714–1782) and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting. He has been awarded grants and fellowships from, among others, the City University of New York, the Historians of British Art, the Institute of Historical Research (IHR), the Leon Levy Center for Biography, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Yale Center for British Art. He received his BA magna cum laude in art history from Boston University.
Peabody Essex Museum Acquires 18th-Century Indian Export Textiles
Press release (10 September 2014) from PEM:
The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) is pleased to announce the acquisition of a singular collection of rare early 18th-century Indian textiles made for export to the Netherlands. The collection of more than 100 pieces, including hand-painted chintz palampores (bed covers), an embroidered palampore, as well as extraordinary examples of Dutch costumes, was assembled in the Netherlands between the 1920s and 1960s by a private collector, A. Eecen-van Setten. Carefully stewarded by Eecen’s granddaughter, Lieke Veldman-Planten, the Veldman-Eecen Collection has been preserved in exceedingly fine condition for the better part of the last century. The acquisition, funded by anonymous donors, significantly enhances PEM’s world-renowned Asian Export Art collection, and offers insight into 18th-century textile production, design, and trade.
Between 1650 and 1750, cotton textiles were imported in large quantities from eastern India to the Netherlands by the VOC (Dutch East India Company). Decorated with sinuous floral and foliage patterns, Indian cotton was commonly referred to as ‘chintz’ after the north Indian word chitra meaning ‘spotted’ or ‘sprinkled’. Indian chintzes were prized globally for their vivid and durable colors-something that European textile manufacturers were unable to match until the mid-18th century. These vibrant textiles were particularly popular in the Netherlands, where they were used for nearly everything-clothing, upholstery, bed hangings and even wall coverings. The Veldman-Eecen Collection features nearly a dozen Indian cotton chintz bed covers (palampores), as well as unusual examples of men’s dressing gowns (banyans), and women’s and children’s chintz clothing.
Collected at a time when chintz textiles were not well studied, the Veldman-Eecen Collection would be virtually impossible to assemble today given the scarcity of such textiles in the contemporary market. The collection, which also includes a selection of related European-printed textiles from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries, is enhanced by a detailed journal, or Sits Boek (chintz book), in which A.Eecen-van Setten chronicled her acquisitions. Selections from the collection will be on view in Asia in Amsterdam, a forthcoming 2016 exhibition co-organized by PEM and the Rijksmuseum.
PEM’s Asian Export Collection
The Peabody Essex Museum’s Asian Export Art Collection is the world’s most comprehensive collection of decorative art made in Asia for export to the West. Consisting of over 25,000 objects made in China, Japan and India for the Western market between the 15th and 21st centuries, items include works in porcelain, lacquer, paintings, silver, textiles, and ivory among others. The collection reflects the complex and fascinating interaction between the artistic and cultural traditions of East and West.
The Peabody Essex Museum
The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) is one of the oldest and fastest growing museums in North America. At its heart is a mission to transform people’s lives by broadening their perspectives, attitudes and knowledge of themselves and the wider world. PEM celebrates outstanding artistic and cultural creativity through exhibitions, programming and special events that emphasize cross-cultural connections and the vital importance of creative expression. Founded in 1799, the museum’s collection is among the finest of its kind boasting superlative works from around the globe and across time—including American art and architecture, Asian export art, photography, maritime art and history, as well as Native American, Oceanic and African art. PEM’s campus affords a varied and unique visitor experience with hands-on creativity zones, interactive opportunities, performance spaces and historic properties, including Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese House, a 200-year-old house that is the only example of Chinese domestic architecture on display in the United States.
Eve Kahn recently wrote about the acquisition for The New York Times (28 August 2014).
The Met Launches App for iPhone, iPad, and Touch
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Press release (2 September 2014) from The Met:
The Met App provides an easy way for the museum’s community—locally and globally—to stay current with what’s happening at the museum.
Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced that the Museum will launch today its flagship smartphone app—titled simply The Met—developed exclusively for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This free digital resource is the easiest way to see what’s happening at the Met every day, wherever you are. . .
Mr. Campbell said: “With so much to see and do at the Met on a daily basis, we wanted to create a simple yet personalized way for our community to find the art, exhibitions, and events that matter most to them. The new app is a pocket-sized, customizable tool that puts the Met at users’ fingertips. It will be great for both New Yorkers and everyone in our global community who wants to stay connected with the Met—from anywhere in the world.”
Sree Sreenivasan, the Museum’s Chief Digital Officer, added: “In developing the app, we hope to provide our audiences with what’s most useful to them, and in the most engaging way. We want this app to offer an enjoyable starting point for many new relationships with the Museum, right now and in the future.”The Met app is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.“Bloomberg Philanthropies made an extraordinary and important investment in the Met’s digital initiatives, and this innovative new app is just one of the results,” Mr. Campbell continued. “The foundation is an amazing, forward-thinking partner whose generous support will expand the Met experience exponentially across the globe.”
“The Metropolitan Museum is one of the world’s most important cultural institutions, and the museum’s new app will help open peoples’ eyes to its extraordinary collection and programs like never before. The Met app makes a day at the museum even more rewarding; and by making it possible to experience the museum even when you’re not there, the app is a wonderful way to bring art into more lives, more often,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies and three-term mayor of New York City.
The Met app helps users discover the galleries, works of art, media, events, facilities, information, and resources that best meet their interests—both in its main building along Fifth Avenue and at The Cloisters museum and gardens, the Metropolitan Museum’s branch for medieval art and architecture in Upper Manhattan.
The app provides information on current exhibitions and when they will close; must-see highlights of the collection; a way to purchase an admission; activities for families and children; syndication of the Met’s highly popular Twitter feed, which carries up-to-the-minute messages and announcements; and much more. Users can swipe both vertically and horizontally within the app, and its contents can be shared seamlessly through users’ social media accounts.
One of the highlights of the app is a set of themed lists of artworks that provide fresh, often playful, perspectives on the Met’s permanent collection. These include: “Grand Spaces and Hidden Nooks,” “Animals: See One, Be One,” “Hidden in Plain Sight,” “Medieval Love” (for The Cloisters), and “Met-Staches,” which shows works of art with mustachioed subjects. For the more avid users there is also a hidden feature to discover: the Museum’s popular “Artwork of the Day.”
“This is an entirely original type of museum app,” said Loic Tallon, the Met’s Senior Mobile Manager. “At the start of this project we took a step back and asked people what they wanted to see in a Met app. They told us three things: make it useful, make it simple, make it delightful. We know there’s a lot to do at the Met, and what we heard was that people wanted our app to answer easily their most essential questions about the Museum: ‘Where should I start? What’s happening today? What can my kids do there? Can you show me something fresh?’ These are the types of questions about the Museum for which our audience wants to turn to their phone, and our app, for answers. At the same time we had to make the app as beautiful as it was useful—a product worthy of the museum itself. We worked with Instrument, one of the world’s leading digital agencies, to design and build an app that would meet those goals, and I believe we have. The Met app balances beauty with utility.”
The Met app includes a special area designated for use by the Museum’s Members, a group more than 150,000 strong. It provides news and updates as well as information about special events organized for Members. Museum Memberships can also be purchased through the app.
The Met app was produced by the Metropolitan Museum’s Digital Media Department in collaboration with Instrument, an independent digital creative agency in Portland, Oregon, and with the assistance of staff from across the Museum, in departments including Information Systems & Technology, Education, and Design. The Museum is now developing a version of The Met app for Android users, and this will launch in 2015. . . .
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