The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC: Part 8, “Evolving Aesthetic”

Initially scorned by the establishment, the Impressionist painters of the late 19th century are now universally admired as the first true expressions of the modern spirit. The Annenberg collection at the Met boasts over 50 Impressionist and early modern masterpieces. Renoir, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Braque, and this early self-portrait by Picasso. The collection was built with the fortune made by publishing magnate Walter Annenberg, creator of TV Guide. By the time the Annenbergs began collecting in earnest in the 1960s and 70s, these artists were very famous, very expensive artists. The Annenbergs contributed more than a half dozen of Van Gogh's works to the museum in the 1990s, complementing other paintings by Van Gogh already in the Met's permanent collection. Any visitor here can come across the rather rude beginnings of Van Gogh's art, that earnest, self-taught, struggling artist who became ultimately a consummate technician. The crowning glory came in 1993, when Walter Annenberg and his wife Lee acquired Wheatfield with Cypresses for the Met. It's one of the great paintings of the 19th century. It's one of the sublime works of Van Gogh. The strong colors, the artist's touch, the impasto, you can see the visible traces of the artist's work left on the canvas. Grains of seed that were literally blowing in the wind that day. So fresh was the paint and so fervid was his painting manner that these seeds were embedded in the paint surface. This was a picture also from the point of view of Van Gogh's own career that emerged out one of the darkest moments of his life in 1889. He summarizes his own discovery of the importance of the cypress, its symbolism representing death, the cypress appearing in all of the cemeteries in France, and also that soaring shape leading to the skies and to heaven. The great masters of any time or place strive not to copy, but to create their own unique visions, which is why there will always be something called modern art. At the Met, modern art begins with the 20th century. A stroll through the galleries reveals an astonishing diversity of creative expression given to the human form. Modigliani, Miró, Picasso. Early 20th century modernists pursuing cubism and fauvism were intrigued by the unfamiliar ways in which primitive cultures depicted the human form. The influence of African masks is evident in this bronze by Picasso. African masks made to propitiate the gods have a tremendous power, but they are also harbingers of some of the best abstract art created in the west, which is why people like Picasso collected African masks. This finely carved ivory mask is from the 16th century West African kingdom of Benin. It's believed to portray the mother of the Oba, or ruler. We basically, in this museum, seek to include the art of the entire world, and the arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas represent a very significant portion of that art, and this actually includes most of the arts and cultures of the world. Our holdings in the arts of Africa, Oceania, and Mesoamerica open the eye to the ineluctable fact that it is in the nature of man to want to express themselves even in the most ordinary objects in an aesthetic way. In the early 20th century, these objects were regarded as ethnographic material, better suited for a natural history museum, but New York politician Nelson Rockefeller saw them as art, as did his son Michael, and Michael was very enthusiastic about his father's passion for art, particularly art from the Pacific, and so after he graduated from college, he decided that he was going to go personally to New Guinea, which he did. It ultimately cost him his life. Reportedly, in 1961, he tried to swim ashore when the motor on his boat failed. His body was never found. The Michael C. Rockefeller wing at the Met opened in 1982. Some of the most striking pieces were collected by Michael himself. Michael spent some time in the highlands of New Guinea, but he spent the majority of his time down with the Asmat people. The Asmat people are prolific and accomplished wood carvers. They are also head hunters. The towering beach poles form one of the most dramatic displays, I think, in the entire museum. The figure at the top represents an Asmat warrior recently killed in battle. Each pole is carved from a single upside-down tree. While the top of the tree points to the ground, the remaining root, representing the phallus of the pole, is fashioned into a projecting wing with intricate carvings of enemies killed by the warrior. So in a way, the carvings can be said to represent a resume. In Oceania, there are 1,200 different cultures and languages and hundreds of religions and artistic traditions. A common practice in Oceanic cultures was ancestor worship. Now, these may be fantastic creatures, but to the people who create them, these are what these beings look like. From the Polynesian islands, this giant slit gong is basically a musical instrument. A wide, hollowed-out tree trunk forms the body of the ancestor. Hair surrounds the face with its large plate-like eyes and a long slit mouth down the front. There was often a special carver who made only the nose. One of the things that I always asked myself was, why would somebody make an image like this? The questions, like the world of art itself, are never-ending. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's mission requires that it remain a work in progress. No museum in the world stops collecting. No matter how much you have, there are always gaps. One never has so complete a picture that you can simply close the book. We'll never know everything. That, of course, is the joy of scholarship. There's always something else to learn and to know. That's the wonder of works of art. They're unfathomable. You cannot complete them. You cannot complete them. Great Museums is provided by the Eureka Foundation, dedicated to the educational power of television and new media. Exercise your curiosity. Explore America's great museums.