The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

This article from Harper' s New Monthly Magazine focuses on the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. The article begins by describing the origins of the Museum which began on fifth avenue in 1869. The museum originally opened with nothing but a gallery dedicated to paintings. Which at first had been criticised for having some below average paintings included, though the magazine defended this saying that the the same was true of many museums, even those of Europe. European visitors to the museum stated that it was up to the standards of those of Europe and in some cases beyond them. In 1873 the Museum began to look for works of art from the homes of New York that they could display in a new building near sixth avenue. This became the greatest early success of the museum as a collection of porcelain and pottery came together. This collection resulted in demands for such items to be sold in the stores of New York and lead to New York as being one of the best places in the world to find such items, which obviously had positive economic implications. With this the museum began to expand again and a new building was commissioned in central park, pictured on the first page, that would be the new home of the museum. By this time the museum had begun to compete with the very best of Europe. The second half of the article is dedicated to describing the best works that can be found in the museum, and throughout the whole article images of pieces of art are displayed.

Harper's New Monthly Magazine

"The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Harper's New Monthly Magazine May 1880: 863-78. Making of America. Web. 15 Dec. 2015.

Harper's New Monthly Magazine

Dalton Spatz

http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=harp&cc=harp&xc=1&idno=harp0060-6&g=moagrp&q1=Metropolitan+Museum+of+Art&node=harp0060-6%3A8&view=image&seq=873&size=100