[107] In 2009 Michael Gross published The Secret History of the Moguls and the Money That Made the Metropolitan Museum, an unauthorized social history,[108] and the museum bookstore declined to sell it. Like the Islamic collection, the Medieval collection contains a broad range of two- and three-dimensional art, with religious objects heavily represented. From a few cuneiform tablets and seals, the Met's collection of Near Eastern art has grown to more than 7,000 pieces. [23] In April 2018, Max Hollein was named director. Among the collection's 14,000 objects[54] are many pieces made for and used by kings and princes, including armor belonging to Henry VIII of England, Henry II of France, and Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor. [150] The current chairman of the board at the Met elected in 2011, Daniel Brodsky,[151] stated in response to the Times reports that he "looked forward to working with my administrative and board colleagues to support a climate of candor, transparency, accountability and mutual respect. Howe, Winifred E., and Henry Watson Kent (2009). The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the United States. The Charles Engelhard Court of the American Wing features the facade of the Branch Bank of the United States, a Wall Street bank that was facing demolition in 1913. These included two objects that were originally obtained through the Egypt Exploration Society: a Ptolemaic stela from Oxyrhynchus (1897) and a wall frieze fragment from Deir el-Bahari (1906). The permanent collection consists of works of art from classical antiquity and ancient Egypt, paintings, and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. New York; Wikipédia:Sélection/New York; Wikipédia:Lumière sur/Décembre 2007; Liste des musées et des institutions culturelles de New York; Wikipédia:Lumière sur/Metropolitan Museum of Art; Projet:Impression/Quality images/61; Portail:New York (État) Wikipédia:Sélection/New York (État) Portail:Musées/Lumière sur/2010-09 [62] The curator is Andrew Bolton. All admission tickets include entry to exhibitions as well as same-day entry to both Met locations. 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10028. We look forward to announcing when we will be able to welcome Museum staff and visitors back to the Library. [22] The museum temporarily closed in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, and reopened in late August;[111] this was the first time in over a century that the Met was closed for more than three consecutive days. Kevin Roche has been the architect for the master plan and expansion of the museum for the past 42 years. Smith added, "Those new awful Darth Vaderish fountains take huge chunks out of the plaza and disrupt movement," as an indication of the misuse of funds. [76], The Met's collection of musical instruments, with about 5,000 examples of musical instruments from all over the world, is virtually unique among major museums. [88] Two of the libraries may be accessed without an appointment: The Thomas J. Watson Library is the central library of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and supports the activities of staff and researchers. [128], The roof garden has views of the Manhattan skyline from a vantage point high above Central Park. However, the Met then requested to include the arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas in their personal collection and on permanent display. [43] Although the collection is particularly concentrated in Renaissance sculpture—much of which can be seen in situ surrounded by contemporary furnishings and decoration—it also contains comprehensive holdings of furniture, jewelry, glass and ceramic pieces, tapestries, textiles, and timepieces and mathematical instruments. [121][122] The garden is the gift of philanthropists Iris and B. Gerald Cantor, founder and chairman of securities firm Cantor Fitzgerald. [103] The program presented such performers as Marian Anderson, Cecilia Bartoli, Judy Collins, Marilyn Horne, Burl Ives, Juilliard String Quartet, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Artur Rubinstein, András Schiff, Nina Simone, Joan Sutherland and André Watts, as well as lectures on art history, music, dance, theater and social history. The main building at 1000 Fifth Avenue, along the Museum Mile on the eastern edge of Central Park in Manhattan's Upper East Side, is by area one of the world's largest art galleries. [117][118] The museum building is an accretion of over 20 structures, most of which are not visible from the exterior. | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art", "How Art Collected by a Long-Lost Rockefeller Changed the Met Museum Forever", "The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas", "Metropolitan Museum of Art to Renovate Its Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas Galleries", "The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Asian Art", "Meet the Staff | The Metropolitan Museum of Art", "The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Egyptian Art". [58][59][60], In past years, Costume Institute shows organized around famous designers such as Cristóbal Balenciaga, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, and Gianni Versace; and style doyenne like Diana Vreeland, Mona von Bismarck, Babe Paley, Jayne Wrightsman, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Nan Kempner, and Iris Apfel have drawn significant crowds to the Met. This page was last edited on 5 December 2020, at 23:45. Although subject to re-assessment,[144] a 1970 agreement between the museum and the city of New York requires New York state visitors to pay at least a nominal amount; a penny is acceptable. [citation needed], The museum's collection of American art returned to view in new galleries on January 16, 2012. On March 18, 2016, the museum opened the Met Breuer museum along Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side; it extends the museum's modern and contemporary art program. [21] The activities of board of trustees is organized and based upon the activities of the individual trustees and their various committees as of 2016. "[130] Art critics have been known to complain that the view "distracts" from the art on exhibition. [106], The Metropolitan Museum of Art Centennial was celebrated with exhibitions, symposia, concerts, lectures, the reopening of refurbished galleries, special tours, social events, and other programming for eighteen months from October 1969 through the spring of 1971. [42], The European Sculpture and Decorative Arts collection is one of the largest departments at the Met, holding in excess of 50,000 separate pieces from the 15th through the early 20th centuries. The current chairman of the board, Daniel Brodsky, was elected in 2011[16] and became chairman three years after director Philippe de Montebello retired at the end of 2008. [100] However, these new accommodations proved temporary, as the growing collection required more space than the mansion could provide. These were designed by architect and Met trustee Richard Morris Hunt, but completed by his son, Richard Howland Hunt in 1902 after his father's death. ", U.S. National Register of Historic Places, fourth most visited art museum in the world, Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Centennial, New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, Reliquary Shrine from the convent of the Poor Clares at Buda, John Wentworth, lieutenant governor of New Hampshire, "Metropolitan Museum Launches New and Expanded Web Site", "The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Curatorial Departments", "Daniel Brodsky is Voted Chairman of the Metropolitan Museum of Art", "Thomas Campbell resigns as director of Metropolitan Museum of Art", "Times Topics: Metropolitan Museum's Director Resigns Under Pressure", "Met Changes 50-Year Admissions Policy: Non-New Yorkers Must Pay", "Met Museum Changes Leadership Structure", "Metropolitan Museum of Art Names Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco's Max Hollein Director", "The Metropolitan Museum of Art – Ancient Near Eastern Art", "Assyria, 1365–609 B.C. The New York Post writes that the museum has never had the right to charge admission and Alexandra Schwartz in the New Yorker says the new policy diminishes New York City". More info. However, these are not the only cultures represented in Arms and Armor; the collection spans more geographic regions than almost any other department, including weapons and armor from dynastic Egypt, ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, the ancient Near East, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, as well as American firearms (especially Colt firearms) from the 19th and 20th centuries. Though the majority of the Met's initial holdings of Egyptian art came from private collections, items uncovered during the museum's own archeological excavations, carried out between 1906 and 1941, constitute almost half of the current collection. [155] In 2017, the attendance figures indicated seven million annual visitors with 63% of the visitors arriving from outside of New York State. Vaux's ambitious building was not well received; the building's High Victorian Gothic style being considered already dated prior to completion, and the president of the Met termed the project "a mistake". ), Book Cover with Byzantine Icon of the Crucifixion, before 1085, Spanish Processional Cross, late 11th – early 12th century, Asturias, Scuola di biduino, portale da san leonardo al frigido, vicino massa carrara, c. 1170-80, Tomb of Ermengol IX of Urgell (died 1243), The Crucified Christ, c. 1300, Northern Europe, Serpent labret with articulated tongue, c. 1300–1521, Aztec, Attributed to Jean de Touyl (French, died 1349), Reliquary Shrine from the convent of the Poor Clares at Buda, Attributed to Jean Le Noir or follower, Psalter of Bonne de Luxembourg, 14th-c illuminated manuscript, Doorway in granite, in oak, France, Limousin, 15th c, Aixe sur Vienne, Andrea da Giona, Altarpiece with Christ in Majesty, c. 1434, Aldobrandini Tazza of the Roman emperor Vitellius, c.1590s, Neminatha, Akota Bronzes (7th century CE), Muisca tunjo on stool, c. 10th-16th century, Lake Guatavita region, Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Andre-Charles Boulle (November 11, 1642 – February 29, 1732) – Commode, Interior of the early colonial home of John Wentworth, lieutenant governor of New Hampshire, Robert Campin, Triptych with the Annunciation, known as the Mérode Altarpiece, c. 1425–1428, Jan van Eyck, Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych, c. 1430–40, Rogier van der Weyden, Polyptych with the Nativity, c. 1450, Paolo Uccello, Portrait of a Lady, c. 1450, Florence, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Harvesters, 1565, El Greco, Opening of the Fifth Seal 1608–1614, Georges de La Tour, The Fortune Teller, c.1630, Diego Velázquez, Portrait of Juan de Pareja, 1650, Rembrandt, Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer, 1653, Johannes Vermeer, Woman with a Lute, 1662, Francisco Goya, Don Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zúñiga, 1777-1778, Jacques-Louis David, The Death of Socrates, 1787, Eugène Delacroix, Christ Asleep during the Tempest, 1853, Édouard Manet, The Dead Christ with Angels, 1864, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Mme. Sculptural highlights of the sprawling department include Bernini's Bacchanal, a cast of Rodin's The Burghers of Calais, and several unique pieces by Houdon, including his Bust of Voltaire and his famous portrait of his daughter Sabine. Lamont, Lansing. "Tom Hoving and the Met Builds", People magazine, November 17, 1975. The museum admission price as of March 2018 is $25 for out-of-state and foreign visitors, while New York state residents can pay what they wish to enter. Dec 11, 2020 - At New York City's most visited museum and attraction, you will experience over 5,000 years of art from around the world. [citation needed], Though other departments contain significant numbers of drawings and prints, the Drawings and Prints department specifically concentrates on North American pieces and western European works produced after the Middle Ages. [163], One of the most serious challenges to the Metropolitan Museum's reputation has been a series of allegations and lawsuits about its status as an institutional buyer of looted and stolen antiquities. [115], The wings that completed the Fifth Avenue facade in the 1910s were designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White. [32] The range of materials represented in the Africa, Oceania, and Americas collection is undoubtedly the widest of any department at the Met, including everything from precious metals to porcupine quills. [66] Though the Met had always sold duplicate or minor items from its collection to fund the acquisition of new pieces, the Met's new policy was significantly more aggressive and wide-ranging than before, and allowed the deaccessioning of items with higher values which would normally have precluded their sale. The collection also includes artifacts and works of art of cultural and secular origin from the time period indicated by the rise of Islam predominantly from the Near East and in contrast to the Ancient Near Eastern collections. Das Hauptgebäude befindet sich an der Fifth Avenue und 82nd Street in der Upper East Side im Stadtteil Manhattan von New York City , am östlichen Rand des Central Park und ist Bestandteil der Museum Mile . [22], Brodsky, the chairman of the Met, stated that after the 2017 financial setbacks, the director position would be appointed separately from the position of CEO. [22] The next director would report to Weiss as the current president of the museum. After selecting a location and day of visit, you can reserve your exhibition tickets for Making The Met, 1870–2020 and About Time: Fashion and Duration. [4], The museum first opened on February 20, 1872, housed in a building located at 681 Fifth Avenue. [30] The Michael C. Rockefeller exhibits Non- Western works of art which created from 3,000 B.C.E. [119][120], The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden is located on the roof near the southwestern corner of the museum. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Find 15 listings related to Metropolitan Museum Of Art in New York on YP.com. The show on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art was presented as a gift to the city. Going to an exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City?Then use this simple form to find nearby hotels, motels, and other lodging. [40], The Met's collection of European paintings numbers around 1,700 pieces. - present, while at the same time display a wide range of cultural histories. [90], The Nolen Library is open to the general public. [129] The views have been described as "the best in Manhattan. [24], Beginning in the late 19th century, the Met started acquiring ancient art and artifacts from the Near East. [105] After his death in 1969, the Robert Lehman Foundation donated close to 3,000 works of art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. [116], The Met measures almost 1⁄4-mile (400 m) long and with more than 2 million square feet (190,000 m2) of floor space, more than 20 times the size of the original 1880 building. Currently, the Drawings and Prints collection contains more than 17,000 drawings, 1.5 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books. "[132] Writer Mindy Aloff describes the roof garden as "the loveliest airborne space I know of in New York. The new galleries encompasses 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) for the display of the museum's collection. [146], In 2019, museum President Daniel Weiss announced that the institution would review its policy for receiving financial donations, under pressure from activist group P.A.I.N. [155] Forty percent of the Met's visitors in fiscal year 2016 came from New York City and the tristate area; 41 percent from 190 countries besides the United States. Much of the 12,000 strong collection consists of secular items, including ceramics and textiles, from Islamic cultures ranging from Spain to North Africa to Central Asia. The Metropolitan Museum of Art opened its latest Costume Institute show Thursday, after multiple delays — and a canceled gala — due to COVID-19. [92], In 1969, a special exhibition, titled "Harlem on My Mind" was criticized for failing to exhibit work by Harlem artists. [160] At the same time, the museum is required to list in its annual report the total cash proceeds from art sales each year and to itemize any deaccessioned objects valued at more than $50,000 each. [137], The list of elective trustees of the Met for 2016–2017 included Jeffrey W. Greenberg, Bonnie B. Himmelman, and Andrew Solomon. [17][18], On March 1, 2017, the BBC reported that Daniel Weiss, the Met's president and COO, would also temporarily act as CEO for the museum. [23] The office of chairman was first introduced relatively late in the museum's history in the 1960s in contemplation of the anticipated donation of the Lehman collection to the museum and has since that time, under Brodsky, become the most senior administrative position at the museum. [23] In January 2018, museum president Daniel Weiss announced that the century-old policy of free admission would be replaced by a $25 charge to out-of-state and foreign visitors, effective March 2018. Instruments were (and continue to be) included in the collection not only on aesthetic grounds, but also insofar as they embodied technical and social aspects of their cultures of origin. #4 of 1,285 things to do in New York City. The centennial's events (including an open house, Centennial Ball, year-long art history course for the public, and various educational programming and traveling exhibitions) and publications drew on support from prominent New Yorkers, artists, writers, composers, interior designers, and art historians. The Met Fifth Avenue and the Met Cloisters are now open. Highlights of the department's collection include several Stradivari violins, a collection of Asian instruments made from precious metals, and the oldest surviving piano, a 1720 model by Bartolomeo Cristofori. In 2007, the museum designated a gallery exclusively for the exhibition of photographs made after 1960. Alfred Stieglitz, a famous photographer himself, donated the first major collection of photographs to the museum, which included a comprehensive survey of Photo-Secessionist works, a rich set of master prints by Edward Steichen, and an outstanding collection of Stieglitz's photographs from his own studio. "[28] This wing is named after Michael Rockefeller's son who died while collecting works in New Guinea. Every known Asian civilization is represented in the Met's Asian department, and the pieces on display include every type of decorative art, from painting and printmaking to sculpture and metalworking. New York’s most visited museum and attraction, The Met presents over 5,000 years of art from every corner of the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. Here’s What’s on View (for Now). [138] On March 10, 2015, the board of trustees chose Daniel Weiss, then president of Haverford College, to be the current president and chief operating officer of the Met, replacing Emily K. Rafferty, who served in that role for a decade. [22], For the fiscal year 2017 which ended on June 30, the museum was reported as having 7 million visitors during the past year, where "37 percent of these were international visitors, while 30 percent came from New York's five boroughs. ... New Jersey 2,046 contributions 172 helpful votes. Between 1879 and 1895, the museum created and operated a series of educational programs, known as the Metropolitan Museum of Art Schools, intended to provide vocational training and classes on fine arts. [55] In 1946, with the financial support of the fashion industry, the Museum of Costume Art merged with The Metropolitan Museum of Art as The Costume Institute, and in 1959 became a curatorial department. The collection of some 8,000 items, arranged in open shelves, includes books, picture books, DVDs, and videos. [66] Unlike other departments at the Met, the Robert Lehman collection does not concentrate on a specific style or period of art; rather, it reflects Lehman's personal interests. With 6,479,548 visitors to its three locations in 2019, it was the fourth most visited art museum in the world. They made an agreement to allow the fees in exchange for less funding which the city pledged to use at alternate facilities and promote diversity. The Met maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanian, Byzantine, and Islamic art. Though the department gained a permanent gallery in 1997, not all of the department's holdings are on display at any given time, due to the sensitive materials represented in the photography collection. The new installation provides visitors with the history of American art from the 18th through the early 20th century. The Asian wing also contains a complete Ming Dynasty-style garden court, modeled on a courtyard in the Master of the Nets Garden in Suzhou. Lehman's collection of drawings by the Old Masters, featuring works by Rembrandt and Dürer, is particularly valuable for its breadth and quality. From the sidewalk on Fifth Avenue, the Met, with its tall columns and windows, immense stairways and water fountains, looks like it could be an emperor's palace. By the time she died, the collection had 3,600 instruments that she had donated and the collection was housed in five galleries. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the world’s most prestigious art collections and cultural hubs. The highlights of the collection include a set of monumental stone lamassu, or guardian figures, from the Northwest Palace of the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II. Before Rockefeller's collection existed at the Met, Rockefeller founded The Museum of Primitive Art in New York City with the intentions of displaying these works, after the Met had previously shown disinterest in his art collection. A m… During what is just the dawn of this new initiative, the responses so far have been incredible. Subterranean Lot The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ", "The Met Files a Formal Proposal to Charge Admission to Out-of-State Visitors", The Met Museum Boasts Record Attendance Numbers, "The Metropolitan Museum of Art Announces Record Attendance", "De Blasio, With 'Cultural Plan,' Proposes Linking Money to Diversity", "The Met Should Be Open to All. #terrencemcnally #richardavedon. A much smaller second location, The Cloisters at Fort Tryon Park in Upper Manhattan, contains an extensive collection of art, architecture, and artifacts from medieval Europe. Located in Fort Tryon Park and completed in 1938, it is a separate building dedicated solely to medieval art. Several notable interiors, ranging from 1st-century Rome through modern American design, are installed in its galleries. The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1000 5th Ave. New York, NY 10075, US (212) 570-1437 (212) 535-7710. It stated, "Some critics are outraged. "[154] Previously in 2016, the museum set a record for attendance, attracting 6.7 million visitors—the highest number since the museum began tracking admissions. [52], The Met's Department of Arms and Armor is one of the museum's most popular collections. [56] Today, its collection contains more than 35,000 costumes and accessories. [69], The Cloisters are so named on account of the five medieval French cloisters whose salvaged structures were incorporated into the modern building, and the five thousand objects at the Cloisters are strictly limited to medieval European works. [19][20] Following the departure of Thomas P. Campbell as the Met's director and CEO on June 30, 2017,[21] the search for a new director of the museum was assigned to the human resources firm Phillips Oppenheim to present a new candidate for the position "by the end of the fiscal year in June" of 2018. The Met presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. The Museum lives in three iconic sites in New York City—The Met Fifth Avenue, The Met Breuer, and The Met Cloisters. The museum is governed by a board of trustees of 41 elected members, several officials of the City of New York, and persons honored as trustees by the museum. [113], Within 20 years, a new architectural plan engulfing the Vaux building was already being executed. Paintings in the collection include masterpieces by Botticelli and Domenico Veneziano, as well as works by a significant number of Spanish painters, El Greco and Goya among them. Hotels near The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City on Tripadvisor: Find 54,095 traveler reviews, 92,265 candid photos, and prices for 1,524 hotels near The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, NY. Calligraphy both religious and secular is well represented in the Islamic Art department, from the official decrees of Suleiman the Magnificent to a number of Qur'an manuscripts reflecting different periods and styles of calligraphy. However, the museum has confirmed to the New York Post that it has withdrawn from public display all paintings depicting Muhammad and may not rehang those that were displayed in the Islamic gallery before the renovation. [104], In the 1960s, the governance of the Met was expanded to include, for the first time, a chairman of the board of trustees in contemplation of a large bequest from the estate of Robert Lehman. 83 Metropolitan Museum of Art jobs available in New York, NY on Indeed.com. "[96] The founders included businessmen and financiers, as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day, who wanted to open a museum to bring art and art education to the American people. The collection ranges from 40,000-year-old indigenous Australian rock paintings, to a group of 15-foot-tall (4.6 m) memorial poles carved by the Asmat people of New Guinea, to a priceless collection of ceremonial and personal objects from the Nigerian Court of Benin donated by Klaus Perls. The City of New York owns the museum building and contributes utilities, heat, and some of the cost of guardianship. Under their guidance, the Met's holdings, initially consisting of a Roman stone sarcophagus and 174 mostly European paintings, quickly outgrew the available space. With 7.06 million visitors in 2016, it was the second most visited art museum in the world, and the fifth most visited museum of any kind. [124], Every summer since 1998 the roof garden has hosted a single-artist exhibition. [157], Both Holland Carter and Roberta Smith of The New York Times have argued in response to Weiss's decision to rescind the previous free admission policy as lacking in responsible fiscal planning. Coordinate. [77] The collection began in 1889 with a donation of 270 instruments by Mary Elizabeth Adams Brown, who joined her collection to become the museum's first curator of musical instruments, named in honor of her husband, John Crosby Brown. The past week has seen a New York Times piece titled "The New Pay Policy Is a Mistake", while Jezebel's Aimée Lutkin claimed "The Met Should Be Fucking Free". [13] The museum is also home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, and antique weapons and armor from around the world. [49], The Met's collection of Islamic art is not confined strictly to religious art, though a significant number of the objects in the Islamic collection were originally created for religious use or as decorative elements in mosques. The main building at 1000 Fifth Avenue, along the Museum Mile on the eastern edge of Central Park in Manhattan's Upper East Side, is by area one of the world's largest art galleries. Since that time, many additions have been made, including the distinctive Beaux-Arts Fifth Avenue facade, Great Hall, and Grand Stairway. [159], The Metropolitan Museum of Art spent $39 million to acquire art for the fiscal year ending in June 2012. The artist Eastman Johnson acted as co-founder of the museum,[98] as did landscape painter Frederic Edwin Church. [65] To emphasize the personal nature of the Robert Lehman Collection, the Met housed the collection in a special set of galleries which evoked the interior of Lehman's richly decorated townhouse; this intentional separation of the Collection as a "museum within the museum" met with mixed criticism and approval at the time, though the acquisition of the collection was seen as a coup for the Met. Weiss was further reported as having hired Will Manzer, formerly an executive at Perry Ellis, to help re-invigorate recently declining revenues at the museum. The Metropolitan Museum Of Art also has two satellite buildings known as the Met Breuer located at 945 Madison Ave at 75th Street New York N.Y. and The Met Cloisters located at 99 Margaret Corbin Drive Fort Tryon Park, New York, NY. There is no additional charge for exhibition tickets. Other early donors to the department include Junius Spencer Morgan II who presented a broad range of material, but mainly dated from the 16th century, including two woodblocks and many prints by Albrecht Dürer in 1919. "What Broke the Met? The department is well known for its comprehensive collection of Chinese calligraphy and painting, as well as for its Indian sculptures, Nepalese and Tibetan works, and the arts of Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia and Thailand. Before then, the works of art from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas were considered art of the "primitives" or ethnographic objects. The first curator was Albert Lythgoe, who directed several Egyptian excavations for the Museum. Today, an entire wing of the museum is dedicated to the Asian collection, and spans 4,000 years of Asian art. [33], The Met's Asian department holds a collection of Asian art, of more than 35,000 pieces,[34] that is arguably the most comprehensive in the US.