“The Morgan Library & Museum offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to see a remarkable collection of materials related to one of the world’s most beloved authors, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892–1973). Tolkien’s adventurous tales ignited a fervid spark in generations of readers. From the children’s classic… Read More
“A new exhibition of contemporary drawings from the Morgan’s collection asks, what can drawing do? For many artists, drawing represents an attitude of experimentation and open-endedness more than a devotion to specific materials or techniques. By Any Means: Contemporary Drawings from the Morgan presents twenty-four… Read More
“The dramatic canvases of Jacopo Tintoretto (1518/1519–1594), with their muscular, expressive bodies, are some of the most distinctive of the Italian Renaissance. His drawings, however, have received less attention as a distinctive category in his oeuvre. Drawing in Tintoretto’s Venice is the first exhibition since… Read More
“Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus—in which a chemistry student makes a living being out of corpses—has compelled our attention since it was first published in 1818. This exhibition explores its adaptability to stage and screen, its sources in Gothic art and Enlightenment science, and the haunted life… Read More
“Medieval artists were experts of the monstrous. From dragons, unicorns, and other fabled beasts, to hybrid creations that combined wings, tails, and limbs in effortlessly inventive ways, the craftsmen and illuminators of the Middle Ages drew on an encyclopedic knowledge of monstrosities to fill the… Read More
“The Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, one of the great autograph collectors of the twentieth century, once begged Rainer Maria Rilke for a precious gift: the manuscript of one of Rilke’s own poems. “I realize it is a lot to ask,” Zweig told his friend, “for… Read More
“Best known for his rich, colorful paintings of cakes, ice cream cones, and candy counters, California artist Wayne Thiebaud (b. 1920) has been an avid and prolific draftsman since he began his career as an illustrator and cartoonist. Featuring subjects that range from deli counters… Read More
“The Thaw Collection is considered among the foremost private collections of drawings assembled over the last half century. It was first promised to the Morgan in 1975 by Eugene V. Thaw, now a Life Trustee, and the museum received the full collection of 424 works… Read More
“The French refer to the seventeenth century—especially the reigns of Louis XIII (r. 1610–43) and Louis XIV (r. 1643–1715)—as the Grand Siècle, or the Great Century. During this time, France reached a peak of political power and cultural richness. Artists born in France or the… Read More
Photographs by Corrado Serra. The analogy between the art of the painter and the art of the novelist is, so far as I am able to see, complete. Their inspiration is the same, their process (allowing for the different quality of the vehicle), is the same, their success… Read More
“Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) occupies a lofty place in American cultural history. He spent two years in a cabin by Walden Pond and a single night in jail, and out of those experiences grew two of this country’s most influential works: his book Walden and the essay known as “Civil Disobedience.”… Read More
“The Nationalmuseum, Sweden’s largest and most distinguished art institution, collaborated with the Morgan Library & Museum to bring more than seventy-five masterpieces from its renowned collections to New York in an extraordinary new exhibition. The Nationalmuseum’s core holdings were assembled by Count Carl Gustaf Tessin (1696–1770), a diplomat and… Read More
