Artwork from my life, going into the Met



From the Metropolitan Museum of Art

I just came across a news article from a week ago, about how Thomas Hart Benton’s mural "America Today" is going into the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I have seen this mural many times.

As the article explained, it was installed in an office building lobby from 1996 until recently. For seven months after 9/11 I worked in a temporary office my employer set up in that building. I went through the lobby frequently, and I much admired this huge work of art.

In recent years I have gone through the lobby monthly, on my way to the meetings of the board of LeGaL--The LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York. Again I delighted in seeing the mural.

Then, they started renovating the lobby, and the murals were covered up for their protection--at least that's what I thought. However, the article tells me, they were actually removed and put in storage, as their owner has donated them to the Metropolitan Museum.

So I will be able to see them again, but not immediately. They will be going into the Met's new space where the Whitney Museum is now, and will be until 2015. Eventually, though, it is planned to move the murals to the main Metropolitan building--only four blocks from my home.