The Arts in NYC Fall 2012

So this Friday , I went with Andrew and Nate to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There was a really cool, unusual rooftop exhibit that was running from late August to early November called Cloud City, by a 39-year old Argentinian artist named Tomas Sacareno. However, this exhibit came with one major catch: two infamous words that would drastically change the course of our day.

“Weather permitting.”

If you all remember anything about September 28th, it’s that the rain was absolutely pouring down in the morning. As soon as we asked an employee at the Met, they said it was shut down, in that snarky, “you guys are stupid for even thinking it might be open” way.

So, our original plan was scrapped. Instead we all picked an exhibit to focus on. I picked one I’d seen many times casually but never tried to review critically: The Arms and Armor exhibit.

This exhibit combined art and war, which made it much more interesting for me. I’ve always been a big history buff, and to see artifacts in an art museum is a nice refresher from paint on a canvas. This exhibit allowed me to see how art was incorporated into the lives and customs of nations. It spoke for a different class of person than any painting- it spoke for warriors.

The first two suits of armor that I posted here are both from Japanese Samurai warriors. The one on the left is from the 18th century and the one on the left is from the 15th century, I believe. Before I noticed any differences, I noticed a lot of similarities. The first thing that I saw was the two red tassels, which were present in both sets of body armor. The placement of them had changed, but the fact that the uniform remained fairly standard over generations said a lot about Japanese tradition. Also, the hat style, including the helmet as well as the surrounding design, stayed very similar.

The differences were less obvious and plentiful. They also seemed to be more about function rather than form. For one, the hat was noticeably slimmer, and it also seemed that there was much more body armor actually involved. This didn’t speak of artistic inspiration, more of a necessity as war technology advanced, so I won’t dwell on it.

This showed me that Japanese art styles remained more or less constant during the Feudal Era in Japan. For those who don’t know, the Japanese were living in the feudal system all the way until the mid-1800s. By contrast, Europe had emerged from it in the 1400s-1500s. I liked how the museum featured several decades of Japanese armor, even when on first glance it might seem they aren’t far removed from each other. It really makes the viewer deduce the story as opposed to handing it to them on a silver platter, which I appreciated.

It was interesting to contrast it with the European armor, like the helmet that I took a picture of. The European armor seemed much more intricate. There were a lot of religiously-inspired carvings, made with an incredible attention to detail. It seemed European art was more based on faith and religion, while Japanese art was more based on war (the color red- like the tassels- is very common in war uniforms). I would say European went more for style and inspiration, while Japanese went for intimidation and function.

Even though the initial exhibition that we had hoped to see was closed, this was still a very satisfactory replacement. In fact, I’ll probably start watching the History channel for a couple of hours now. I really found this exhibit connected with me and my interests, it also made itself more approachable and understandable than most art, which is also something that I think drew me to it.

-Ben Chatham

P.S. On a side note, the armor also just looked really badass. That’s what caught my eye. I figured all this out later. 😀

P.P.S. Sorry it’s a week early, but it’s the only convenient time for me this week!