NYC Guide - Visiting the MET: The American Wing

The American Wing is a favorite destination for the visitors of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, so I was particularly pleased to be able to visit it on my recent trip to the Met. This is where the joint works of the curatorial staffs of the Departments of American Decorative Arts and American Paintings and Sculpture are on display.

Displayed in the Early National Portraiture and History Painting entrance to the American Wing are paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts from Federal Era (1790-1825). Images of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, celebrated founding fathers of the American nation, are among the most numerous ones in the exhibition. They define the chronological and stylistic focus of the gallery. In general, American art of this period speaks to the energy, optimism, and innovative spirit that characterized the early days of the republic.

The first painting that caught my attention was Gilbert Stuart's "George Washington"(1795). Stuart's most popular portraits of Washington are the so-called Athenaeum type, of which there are as many as sixty replicas dating from the turn of nineteenth century to the artist's death. The image of Washington is at the same time lifelike and iconic-a compelling quality that is pleasing and exciting, and I saw in the eyes and faces of other people at the exhibit the same reaction as my own when they stopped to look at the Stuart's painting. One of the remarkable features of the painting is the blue-gray shadows that dominates Washington's skin tone. This gives his face the appearance of aristocratic paleness and at the same time makes it look marble-like, adding to the illusion of an iconic statue. At the same time, the somewhat exaggerated eyebrows add life to his face and make him appear authoritative.