Zoma's Metropolitan Museum Expedition

Are museums powerful instruments of our arts and history? We had the great opportunity to explore the Metropolitan Museum which we would like to qualify as a living monument of our Past. This expedition, if it was not our first visit of a museum in New York City, it was undoubtedly our first exploration as an art student trying to apprehend the site and its objects. We will discuss our experience of navigating the museum, about some points as the external and internal physical of the museum, the nature of the spaces and objects in the museum, the different aspects of interest of the elements in the museum, the artistic approach of our exploration (ways of looking) and its educational aspects.

The Metropolitan Museum or Met is a giant site. It seems to us that one can spend half a day or even a whole day, exploring the museum. We went there with a certain amount of time in mind to spend. But we largely overpassed that time. It was also exhausting but very exciting, so that only when we were exiting the museum, we could feel the pain in our whole body. 

    The visitor is first captured by its majestic entrance dominated by the Greco-Roman architecture predicting to the visitor that he is engaging a long journey in the Past. The museum interior is composed of many types of spaces according to a historical and artistic classification. We could find galleries about numerous civilizations in the past like the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts gallery, the Arms and Armor, the American Art, the Modern and Contemporary Art, the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, the Greek and Roman Art, the Egyptian Art, the Art of the Arab Land, the Asian Art Gallery , etc. Our visit was guided by the use of a map we were given at the entrance. The map was very useful, the signs  also in the museum were clear and could be read from a space to another. Beside the signs, other distinctive aspects of the different galleries were helping notifying limits between those spaces. The lighting sometimes artificial, sometimes natural and even the intensity of the lights alert the visitor that the transition from a darker space to a brighter space means a move from a specific gallery to another.

    The styles of the arts were also totally sometimes different so that the Explorer could perceive instantaneously the change of space. For example, our passage was clear from the Medieval, European and Decorative Arts with their omnipresence of religious themes, to the Arms and Armor Gallery that looks like a battle field.

The organization of the spaces was globally orthogonal and regular.  The objects were lined up along the walls, and were disposed based on their similarity and theme. People generally expect from art sites or products to be irregular, unexpected, interrupted... However we think that this choice in the organization is to ease the visitors' circulations in the museums, and also for safety reasons, given the fact that  the

museum receives many people every day. We may also notice that the disposition of the artworks are sometimes unexpected like the magnificent big antique table in the middle of the hallway in the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts gallery or the large suspended decorations in the Arts of Africa, Oceania,  and the Americas gallery.  In the museum, many objects were protected in glass showcases, with a yellow light from the top and a beige background. Some objects were put in contrast with their own shade produced by the light , emphasizing them more. In certain objects, the front glass reflects the light, conflicting with the viewer's observation. Natural light was also present in many areas reviving artworks and also the observer's momentum.

The styles and the themes of the works were various, and educative on history. The Medieval Art gallery was dominated by a Judeo-Christian collection describing scenes of crucifixion of Jesus Christ, congregation of angels, interaction with holy persons, etc. We were fascinated by the Arms and Armor gallery. It is a witness of how human beings had always invested in war instruments and weapons. For having seen armors of 65 pounds, we could imagine that being a soldier at that time required outstanding fitnesses. The American Art gallery was remarkable, through the free forms expressed in the Art, the sculpture of various graceful women, witnessing the desire of freedom of this free World. In the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas gallery, the observer could feel the presence of the sacred, the divine, and the commemoration of a world where people were in constant connection with their Gods and where Art was their privileged language. We could see mask, totems, amulets, etc. In the Egyptian Art, we read through this funeral artistic expression, the connection between life and death in this civilization.

During our expedition in the museums, we were trying to have a look at all the works, but obviously we were drawn much more towards some objects than others. Some works were attractive, because they were very strange. We can cite the example of the statue of this man holding in his head in his own hands. This man is said in the label to be a decapitated saint. Some works were drawing the viewer's attention because they were scary. The Arts of Africa, Oceania,  and the Americas Gallery hosts most of those kinds of works (masks, totems, etc.). I was also attracted by some objects because they were very impressive. That was for example the case of the Field Armor of King Henry VIII of England. This Armor wad very big and impressive so that we thought that his owner may have really terrified his enemies. Before, we read the label, we could imagine that it might have belonged to a very important historic figure. Some works were attractive due to their beauty. In the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, we were also impressed by the talented decorations on porcelains. Other  objects were attractive because of their originality or even their huge dimensions.

We used many kinds of lookings during our journey in the museum: historical, stylistic, formal and biographical. Some works were very rich in details, some very beautifully, others very original in creating a almost living work. We could cite the example of the garden landscape and fountain of Louis C. Tiffany in the American Gallery. The Labels in the museum were very helpful, facilitating an historical looking and also biographical of the works. Before reading the labels, it was much easier for us to gather wright information about the form and the style of the work rather than the biography and the history. Our look also of the objects in different angles, close or distanced, gave us nuanced information. This is the example of the painting of the Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies  by the French Claude Monet. The close look was meaningless showing paint stains, whereas a distanced view allows a reconstruction of the scene. 

We had the opportunity to capture a live artistic drawing by a man picturing a sculpture in the Museum.