NY Gov. Cuomo Allows Reopening of Museums as Infection Rate Drops to 1%
Last Aug. 24, 2020, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ended the 5-month shutdown period, museums went through at the height of the battle vs. the COVID-19 pandemic. The New York governor’s decision came, after the recent two days saw the Big Apple’s Phase IV of coronavirus strategies, holding down the Covid-19 infection rate at below one percent (1%).
Still, museums have to follow certain conditions and restrictions when receiving visitors, such as allowing only 25% capacity by way of timed ticketing. This denotes visitors must register for a pre-scheduled entrance. Moreover, temperature checks and wearing of protective face coverings are a must, while coat check-in is not in practise.
The firsts New York museums to reopen were the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) at 53rd St. in Midtown Manhattan and the Metropolitan Museum of Art at 5th Ave.
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
MoMA reopened last August 27, 2020 with a treat, as admissions are free for a month. The MoMA PSI in Queens though remains closed but is scheduled to reopen on September 17.
The MoMA at 53rd St is currently exhibiting 130 works of Félix Fénéon, whilst touting the artist as “The Anarchist and the Avant-Garde. ” The extraordinary exhibition is sub-captioned as “From Signac to Matisse and Beyond” as the collection highlights Fénéon’s commitment to literary engagement and in helping new artists — exemplified by his acquisitions, reviews and exhibitions.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met)
The Met reopened last August 29, 2020. In addition to the institution’s collections of antiquities, painting and other cultural displays, the museum boasts of three new exhibits, namely:
1. “In Pursuit of Fashion”
On display are pioneering collector Sandy Schreier’s promised gifts to The Met’s Costume Institute, comprising over a half century of America’s most elegant private fashion collections featuring about 80 of the 165 promised gifts coming from Sandy Schreier.
A pioneering collector, Ms. Schreier, who over the course of more than half a century, had assembled one of the finest private fashion collections of French and American couture and ready-to-wear apparels including fashion illustrations and accessories. Most which were intended as a form of creative expression and not as part of one’s wardrobe.
2. “Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara”
A first-of-its-kind exhibition that traces the legacy of the mighty Sahel states located between the Sahara and the Sudanian savanna. The presentation showcases what the empires produced as visual arts during transformative developments, as political dynasties rose and fell, as well as in the advent of Islamic religion.
The Met has about 200 hundred objects on display, consisting of dyed textiles, manuscripts and sculptures in varying media: gold, bronze, stone, wood, fired clay and cast metal.
3. “Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle”
This exhibit showcases the rarely-seen paintings of Jacob Lawrence, whom the art world dubs as the iconic American modernist. Captioning his series of tempera paintings as the “Struggle: From the History of the American People,” Lawrence describes his works as depictions of
“The struggles of a people to create a nation and their attempt to build a democracy.”
