Page 11 - AAA Northway – AAA Now! – Spring 2019

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‘Art from every corner of the world’
The main museum, known as The Met Fifth Avenue, advertises that it has “5,000 years of art from every corner of the world” and within its more than 630,000 square feet, who’s going to argue. Here you can see a decorated military helmet from around 1500 to 1100 B.C.; a mid-10th century, ivory carving depicting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ; and a 1966 painting by American artist Andrew Wyeth, “Grape Wine.”
The Met Fifth Avenue has 17 different collections, with a staff that curates each one as well as researches, helps with exhibits and maintenance. One of the more exciting collections is The Costume Institute, an assemblage of more than 33,000 costumes and accessories. The display presents clothing of men, women and children from five continents since the 15th century. In 2014, the
museum's annual Met Gala, a fundraiser for the museum that also doubles as the opening of the Institute’s annual exhibit.
Across Central Park’s Great Lawn (and Central Park West if you are walking) is the American Museum of Natural History, the second most visited museum in
New York City at 5
million guests per
year. Founded in
1869, it contains 45
exhibit halls and is
home to the Theodore
Roosevelt Memorial,
the nation’s 26th
president, and a
tribute to his legacy
of conservation. It is the only museum in the U.S. authorized to grant a doctorate and a Master of Arts in Teaching degree.
The museum also is home
to the Rose Center for Earth and Space and the Hayden Planetarium, led by Neil deGrasse Tyson,
the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium. Besides guests to its New York location, the museum estimates millions more, on six continents, have seen its Space Shows.
Picasso, Van Gogh and Dali; Oh my!
One of the most recognized buildings in New York City is the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, located on the Museum Mile at 88th Street. The building was designed by legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1959 but opened six months after his death. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2008. The Guggenheim contains works by Salvador Dali, Vincent Van Gogh and Pablo Picasso, among hundreds of others. It also includes
works of sculpture, photography and video.
As part of the Guggenheim’s mission to “collect,
conserve, and promote understanding of the art
of our time,” the museum has a long history with performance art, whether it be theater, dance, music or other mediums. It provides plenty of space for installation pieces as well.
For most travelers, you don’t learn much about the place you are visiting except for what is happening while you are there. But at the Museum of the
City of New York, you can learn more than you ever want to know about the history of the city that never sleeps. The museum has more than 750,000 objects in its collection, from photographs and old maps of the city, to costumes and furniture. It has old letters from and to city residents and a large selection of artifacts related to the city’s rich history of theater.
Other museums along the Museum Mile include El Museo del Barrio, focusing on the art
and culture of Puerto Ricans and all Latin Americans in the U.S.; The Jewish Museum, reflecting on the Jewish experience for more than 4,000 years; the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, featuring works of design; and the Neue Galerie New York, spotlighting early 20th-century German and Austrian art and design.
Tickets to many of the museums mentioned also are available as part of select combination passes, such as CityPASS, The New York Pass, the New York Explorer Pass and the Sightseeing Pass. More information, and links to their websites, can be found on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s tickets website (https://rsecure.metmuseum.org/ admissions) since The Met accepts all four passes. John T. Garcia is contributing editor of AAA Now!
wing of the museum that houses the collection named the Anna Wintour Costume Center after editor-in-chief of Vogue and chair since 1995 of
was the the
SPRING 2019
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