The Making of an Icon
When Franz Kafka died of tuberculosis at the age of forty, in 1924, few could have predicted the influence his relatively small body of work would have on every realm of thought and creative endeavor over the course of the 20th century and into the 21st. This exhibition presents, for the first time in the United States, the Bodleian Library’s extraordinary holdings of literary manuscripts, correspondence, diaries, and photographs related to Kafka, including the original manuscript of his novella The Metamorphosis.
In addition to presenting unique literary and biographical material, the exhibition examines Kafka’s afterlife, from the complex journeys of his manuscripts, to the posthumous creation of a literary icon whose very name has become an adjective, to his immense influence on the worlds of literature, theater, dance, film, and the visual arts.
“Franz Kafka” is open to the public now through April 13, 2025.
Video By SandenWolff.
#MorganLibrary #FranzKafka
"Here I am in this time and space, able to see [these paintings] with such intimacy and that is so, so exciting to me as a painter." -Shahzia Sikander
For our centennial, we asked some of our friends and collaborators to speak about what they love about the Morgan Library & Museum. In our final installment in the series, watch artist Shahzia Sikander discuss the centuries-old practice of illuminated manuscripts in India and Persia and what we can learn from the past.
Video by SandenWolff.
#ShahziaSikander #Morgan100 #PersianManuscripts #IlluminatedManuscripts
“The dreamscape is where anything can happen. It's a nice place to keep experiences to use later.” -Naudline Pierre
For our centennial, we asked some of our friends and collaborators to speak about what they love about the Morgan Library & Museum. Watch artist Naudline Pierre discuss her creative inspirations and connection to artist and poet William Blake. Pierre takes us through her favorite works and Blake's connection to the unseen.
Video by SandenWolff.
#NaudlinePierre #Morgan100 #WilliamBlake
In this video, curators Philip Palmer and Erica Ciallela discuss the life, career, and impact of the Morgan’s inaugural director, Belle da Costa Greene. Widely recognized as an authority on illuminated manuscripts and deeply respected as a cultural heritage executive, Greene was one of the most prominent librarians in American history.
The exhibition traces Greene’s storied life, from her roots in a predominantly Black community in Washington, D.C., to her distinguished career at the helm of one of the world’s great research libraries. Through extraordinary objects―from medieval manuscripts and rare printed books to archival records and portraits―the exhibition demonstrates the confidence and savvy Greene brought to her roles as librarian, scholar, curator, and cultural executive, and honors her enduring legacy.
“Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian's Legacy” is on view through May 4, 2025.
Video by SandenWolff.
#MorganLibrary #BelleGreene #BelledaCostaGreene
Meet the most fascinating librarian in American history. Honor the life and legacy of our inaugural director Belle da Costa Greene, widely recognized as an authority on illuminated manuscripts and deeply respected as a cultural heritage executive. In our current exhibition “Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian's Legacy,” the curators examine the instrumental role Greene played in building the exceptional collection of rare books and manuscripts formed by American financier J. Pierpont Morgan, who hired her as his personal librarian in 1905. After Morgan's death in 1913, Greene continued as the librarian of his son and heir, J.P. Morgan Jr., who would transform his father's Library into a public institution in 1924. But her career as director―a leadership role she held for twenty-four years―is less well understood, as are aspects of her education, private collecting, and dense social and professional networks.
The exhibition traces Greene’s storied life, from her roots in a predominantly Black community in Washington, D.C., to her distinguished career at the helm of one of the world’s great research libraries. Through extraordinary objects―from medieval manuscripts and rare printed books to archival records and portraits―the exhibition demonstrates the confidence and savvy Greene brought to her roles as librarian, scholar, curator, and cultural executive, and honors her enduring legacy.
“Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian's Legacy” is on view through May 4, 2025.
Video by SandenWolff.
#MorganLibrary #BelleGreene #BelledaCostaGreene
Tickets now on sale! Our Young Fellows invite ages 21-39 to our Centennial Winter Gala on Wednesday, December 11 at 8:00PM ✨
Ages 21 to 39! In jazz age fashion, join us for a black-tie holiday party featuring dancing, cocktails, passed hors d’oeuvres, live jazz, and a reading of a passage from the holiday favorite, A Christmas Carol.
🔗 Purchase your tickets today! https://www.themorgan.org/support/centennial-winter-gala
Supporters of this event include Nick Domino - Associated Benefit Consultants
#Morgan100 #NYC #NYCMuseums
✨The Morgan Shop ✨
The Morgan Shop that you all know and love has had a revamp with our brand new online shopping experience. Get inspired with the incredible assortment of merchandise in our new online Shop! The Morgan Shop offers an array of items related to the Morgan’s world-renowned collections of medieval and renaissance manuscripts, drawings, rare books, original music scores and more.
Shop in-store and online for one-of-a-kind finds, exhibition merchandise, and gifts for anyone on your list. Located in a 19th century brownstone’s ballroom, the Morgan Shop’s elegant atmosphere lends itself to perusing aisles of books, stationery, children’s items and decor.
https://shop.themorgan.org/
#Morgan100 #MorganLibrary #MuseumGiftShop #NYCshopping
On view October 25, 2024 through May 4, 2025, “Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy” will trace Greene’s storied life, from her roots in a predominantly Black community in Washington, D.C., to her distinguished career at the helm of one of the world’s great research libraries.
This exhibition, as did Greene’s life, tackles some challenging material and topics that require a delicate hand. In order to ensure that Greene’s story is presented with the utmost care and responsibility, the Morgan has created an Advisory Committee, comprising librarians, historians, and professors from institutions across the country with specialized interest in the themes of the exhibition. In this video, listen as the curators Philip Palmer and Erica Ciallela and advisory committee members Rhonda Evans and Dominique Jean-Louis explain how they are telling Greene’s story.
Video by SandenWolff.
#BelledaCostaGreene #Librarian #NYC #NYCHistory #BlackLibrarianship #Morgan100 #MorganLibrary
Belle da Costa Greene, the Morgan Library’s long-time librarian and pathbreaking inaugural director, attracted considerable attention both in the press and from her many admirers and acquaintances. Among them was the Italian Renaissance art historian, scholar, and connoisseur Bernard Berenson (1865–1959). Following their introduction in early 1908, Greene and Berenson maintained a decades-long epistolary relationship (which occasionally became more intimate than letter-writing). Though Greene destroyed Berenson’s letters to her (as she did all her personal papers and correspondence before her death), hers to him remain at I Tatti, the former home of Bernard and his wife, Mary, on the outskirts of Florence, now the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. These letters, which span the period February 1909 to March 1949, constitute by far the most substantial surviving archive of personal papers associated with Greene.
In this video, members of the Morgan staff, including Philip Palmer one of the curators of the upcoming exhibition on Greene's life and legacy, explain what it means to have access to these artifacts of Belle’s life.
"Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian's Legacy" opens on October 25th.
Video by SandenWolff.
#MorganLibrary #Morgan100 #BelledaCostaGreene
To close out Fellows Appreciation Week, Erica Ciallela, former Belle da Costa Greene Fellow, takes us through her research project on Belle da Costa Green's professional papers that led her to being co-curator of the upcoming exhibition, "Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian's Legacy."
In this video, Erica, along with Philip Palmer, Robert H. Taylor Curator of Literary and Historical Manuscripts, discuss Belle da Costa Greene’s enduring legacy and their research on her work as the director of the Morgan Library and Museum.
Belle da Costa Greene (1879–1950) began working as J. Pierpont Morgan’s librarian in 1905. After Morgan’s death in 1913, Greene maintained a similar role as the institution’s first director, opening the private treasure-house to the public in 1924. Her professional correspondence, catalogued only recently, offers new insight into how Greene maneuvered in a world of books and manuscripts dominated by men.
Greene and the women she hired were respected and widely regarded as experts in their field. Above all, these women of the Morgan were ambitious, committed to the value of their work, and well attuned to their boss’s high expectations. Greene was not only a director but also a mentor and friend.
“Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian's Legacy” opens October 25th.
Video by SandenWolff.
“Opera is primal. It’s about the human voice that we are born with and how it can communicate emotion. So we have to have a way to get ideas for reinvention. And for me, returning to this, this place and these manuscripts, it gives me an opportunity to meditate and to create.” -Anthony Roth Constanzo
For our centennial, we asked some of our friends and collaborators to speak about what they love about the Morgan. Watch opera singer Anthony Roth Constanzo discuss his career and passion for music. From Gluck to Handel to Mozart to Philip Glass, Constanzo takes us through the history of music performance.
Video by SandenWolff
#Morgan100 #AnthonyRothCostanzo #PhilipGlass #Handel #Gluck #Mozart
Our curator Robinson McClellan, Associate Curator of Music Manuscripts and Printed Music, discusses the importance of Robert Owen Lehman’s extraordinary collection of music manuscripts that has been an inspiration to scholars and visitors since it was placed on deposit at the Morgan Library & Museum. Among its many splendid works are deep holdings of early-twentieth-century ballet, including Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird (1910), Petrouchka (1911), and Les Noces (1923); Claude Debussy’s L’après-midi d’un Faune (1912); and Maurice Ravel’s Bolero (1928) and La Valse (1920).
The exhibition opens with the dramatic arrival of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes troupe in Paris in 1909 and goes on to trace its impact across the arts, highlighting the rise of women in leading creative roles. They include Bronislava Nijinska, who in 1921 became the Ballets Russes’ only female choreographer and whose groundbreaking choreography defined Les Noces, Bolero, and other ballets of the era; and Ida Rubinstein, whose riveting stage presence helped establish the Ballets Russes in its first seasons and who came to rival Diaghilev as a patron of music, commissioning Bolero in 1928.
At the core of the exhibition is the creative process that brought these ballets to life. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue address the sketches, drafts, and working copies of the composers, choreographers, and designers, capturing the ways in which they imagined, conceived, and collaborated to kindle works of astonishing originality and ongoing influence.
“Crafting the Ballets Russes: The Robert Owen Lehman Collection” is open to the public now through September 22, 2024.
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“Crafting the Ballets Russes: The Robert Owen Lehman Collection” is supported by the William Randolph Hearst Fund for Scholarly Research and Exhibitions, the Robert Lehman Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Clement C. Moore II, the Lucy Ricciardi Family Exhibition Fund, Elizabeth and Jean-Marie Eveillard, Cynthia Ha