The Metropolitan Museum offers a giveaway pamphlet with just
about all of its major temporary exhibitions, it seems to
me. Of course, they also produce a full-scale catalog, etc.
They are also who I was thinking about when I wrote about
the reading room areas. Two of my favorite museum
experiences there were/are the MANET exhibit and the DEGAS
exhibit, where, halfway through the exhibition, they had a
room with couches, tables, and a dozen well-thumbed copies
of the catalog. What a treat! Also in the Persian Miniature
room, there are chairs and table height displays. I guess I
just like sitting. Also at Winterthur, I think, there is a
solarium off of the newish downstairs (permanent)
exhibition, in which they have several comfortable chairs,
and a collection of catalogs and relevant periodicals.
These were highlights of my visits, a chance to relax,
gather my impressions, and do a little riffling through the
catalogs. In some cases, I would do some serious reading, in
some, I would just skim. These rooms gave me a chance to
see whether I wanted to spring the $$$ for the catalog. Of
course, if they had some coffee and pastries, then I would
have found my perfect museum experience.
Speaking of perfect museum experience, I was talking to a
friend from out of town a few weeks ago, and I told him, to
my own surprise, that I thought that the Metropolitan had
become, over the last five years, the world's greatest
encyclopedic art museum. (I haven't been to the Louvre or
the London National Gallery in more than five years, so
I've missed many developments there.) I have been so
impressed with the balance that they've struck between
integrity to their "elitist" roots and accessibility. Maybe
its when they started opening every Friday and Saturday
night (an obvious move, and a stroke of genius at once.)
I just thought that I'd throw that out there, to see how
other people respond. *GULP*...
Eric Siegel
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