Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser

American Modernist

Marsden Hartley

Clare Davies

Perrin Stein

Karen Van Godtsenhoven

Sheena Wagstaff

Jeff L. Rosenheim

Wolfram Koeppe

Mia Fineman

Jessica Regan

Alisa LaGamma

John T. Carpenter

Donald J. La Rocca

Iria Candela

Maryam Ekhtiar

Stuart W. Pyhrr

Monika Bincsik

Stephanie D'Alessandro

Henry Colburn

Deniz Beyazit

Jayson Kerr Dobney

Ian Alteveer

Sylvia Yount

Kelly Baum

Medill Higgins Harvey

John Byck

Yaëlle Biro

Maia Nuku

Femke Speelberg

Brinda Kumar

Kim Benzel

Ashley Dunn

Douglas S. Eklund

Alyce Perry Englund

Jennifer Farrell

Amanda B. Garfinkel

Alison Hokanson

Mellissa J. Huber

Shanay Jhaveri

Ronda Kasl

Constance McPhee

Asher E. Miller

Elyse Nelson

Stephen C. Pinson

Adrienne Spinozzi

Courtney A. Stewart

E. Bradley Strauchen-Scherer

The second volume in a special two-part edition of Recent Acquisitions, this Bulletin celebrates works acquired by the Museum in 2019 and 2020, many of which were gifts bestowed in honor of the Museum’s 150th anniversary year. Highlights of this volume include Jean-Baptise Carpeaux’s astonishing portrayal of an African woman in the marble sculpture Why Born Enslaved!, a monumental storage jar by African American potter and poet David Drake, an exquisite lacquer mirror case depicting an 1838 meeting between the crown prince of Iran and the tsar of Russia, and Carmen Herrera’s abstract work dating to 1949, Iberic. This publication also honors the many generous contributions from donors that make possible the continued growth of The Met's collection.

Recent Acquisitions: A Selection: 2018–20: Part II: Late Eighteenth Century to Contemporary

Tim Barringer 

Thomas Cole (1801–1848) is celebrated as the greatest American landscape artist of his generation. Though previous scholarship has emphasized the American aspects of his formation and identity, never before has the British-born artist been presented as an international figure, in direct dialogue with the major landscape painters of the age. Thomas Cole’s Journey emphasizes the artist’s travels in England and Italy from 1829 to 1832 and his crucial interactions with such painters as Turner and Constable. For the first time, it explores the artist’s most renowned paintings, The Oxbow (1836) and The Course of Empire cycle (1834–36), as the culmination of his European experiences and of his abiding passion for the American wilderness. The four essays in this lavishly illustrated catalogue examine how Cole’s first-hand knowledge of the British industrial revolution and his study of the Roman Empire positioned him to create works that offer a distinctive, even dissident, response to the economic and political rise of the United States, the ecological and economic changes then underway, and the dangers that faced the young nation. A detailed chronology of Cole’s life, focusing on his European tour, retraces the artist’s travels as documented in his journals, letters, and sketchbooks, providing new insight into his encounters and observations. With discussions of over seventy works by Cole, as well as by the artists he admired and influenced, this book allows us to view his work in relation to his European antecedents and competitors, demonstrating his major contribution to the history of Western art.

Atlantic Crossings

Thomas Cole's Journey

Herbert G. Houze

Carolyn C. Cooper

The fascinating story of the American inventor and manufacturer who perfected the revolver Samuel Colt (1814-1862) first patented his "Colt" revolver in 1835 and thereby redefined the architecture of handguns. This stunning book is the first to present in detail the evolution of his most famous invention and to document the unsurpassed Colt firearms collections held by the Wadsworth Atheneum. Colt designed his revolvers with an artistic sensibility--paying particular attention to form and beauty and juxtaposing colors and finishes to heighten the visual effects. He was also one of the first American manufacturers to secure celebrity endorsements and to commission paintings by renowned artists like George Catlin to promote his arms. Colt's standards for excellence, industrial foresight, and quest for market domination are explored in light of primary documents that reveal his constant battles to protect his patents. Essays discuss Colt's personal collection of historic firearms as well as the memorial collection of Colt-manufactured firearms, the relationship between art and commerce as they pertain to the inventor's career, and his international celebrity. Richly illustrated and beautifully produced, this volume presents the artistry of the firearms that Colt worked so diligently to perfect--as well as his promotional abilities that made a tremendous impact on American culture.

Arms, Art, and Invention

Samuel Colt

Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser

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