The Met's Forgotten Collection: A History of Artists, Plaster Casts & The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Zoom)

​When the Metropolitan Museum of Art first opened its doors in the last decades of the nineteenth century, visitors encountered a very different type of collection from what is on view now. Plaster casts, highly precise copies of sculptural art and architecture, filled its galleries and central halls, offering viewers a curated narrative of the important highlights of art and architectural history, focused mainly and narrowly on Ancient Greece, Rome, the Renaissance, and the great architecture of Europe. The MET's collection comprised thousands of objects; virtually none remain on view at the museum today.

What happened to these works of art? Why fill a gallery with copies in the first place? What was the purpose of this replicative art form? Join Mollie Wohlforth, Senior Gallery Manager at the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, for this talk as she discusses the life of these objects and their lasting effects in art history.

Hosted on Zoom. Free and open to all. Register here: https://bit.ly/metforgottencollect.