Masterworks at the Met: Mannerism’s Perverse Beauty Jerrilynn Dodds, Dean, Sarah Lawrence College Mannerism transformed late Renaissance art with a new energy and a sense of the unexpected: jarring, dramatic transformations that could range from an exquisite, exaggerated elegance to dramatic scenarios, which some contemporaries called “terribilità” in painting. This series explores Mannerism in Italy; featured in the discussions are masterworks from the Metropolitan’s extraordinary collections, including 16th-century work by Michelangelo, Bronzino and Tintoretto. 3 Wednesdays at 6 pm: October 29; November 5 and 12 Single tickets start at $30 / Series: $75 The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Orientalism and New York Barry Lewis, architectural historian In the 19th century, Europeans and Americans saw the Middle East as a veritable Shangri-La where they could find refreshingly different cultural ideals. This was the beginning of “Orientalism,” a century-long infatuation with everything Middle Eastern. In terms of architecture, the new vogue provided Westerners a way to free themselves from rigid, established formulas. Middle East–inspired designs opened up cluttered interiors and created a new “metallic style” to better suit emerging iron and glass structures. Perusing the New York area, this talk uncovers a fine collection of buildings with roots in Oriental design. Tuesday, September 30 at 6 pm Tickets start at $40 The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Background: New York City Center
metmuseum.org/tickets
The Unknown “Lincoln-Douglass” Debate Harold Holzer, historian Featuring Norm Lewis Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass never publicly debated. But using words from their correspondence and commentary, illustrated by period images, historian Harold Holzer brings the two great figures face-to-face. Featuring Tony Award-Nominated actor and singer Norm Lewis (Porgy and Bess, Phantom of the Opera, ABC’s Scandal) Friday, February 13 at 6 pm Tickets start at $40 BRING THE KIDS FOR $1 (SEE PAGE 17) The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian, 1475–1564), Studies for the Libyan Sibyl (recto); Studies for the Libyan Sibyl and a small Sketch for a Seated Figure (verso) (detail), ca. 1510-1511. Red chalk, with small accents of white chalk on the left shoulder of the figure in the main study (recto); soft black chalk, or less probably charcoal (verso); sheet: 11 3/8 x 8 7/16 in. (28.9 x 21.4 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1924 (24.197.2)
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