‘Mix Things Up’: Art and Life at the Met

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/opinion/mix-things-up-art-and-life-at-the-met.html

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To the Editor:

Re “The Met Needs to Connect Art to Life,” by Holland Cotter (Critic’s Notebook, March 2): I couldn’t agree more that the Metropolitan Museum of Art needs to “connect art to life.” Indeed, during Tom Campbell’s tenure as director and chief executive, the Met has long been on track to fulfill Mr. Cotter’s recommendations.

Mr. Cotter suggests we “mix things up.” With Mr. Campbell’s encouragement, visitors now regularly encounter art of different periods and cultures meaningfully juxtaposed throughout the Met. A recent favorite, “Plain or Fancy: Restraint or Exuberance in the Decorative Arts,” challenged viewers to examine their tastes. My own “Ink Art” featured contemporary Chinese artworks in our traditional Chinese galleries.

Mr. Cotter’s prescription to “start telling the truth” about art perfectly describes what Mr. Campbell implored the Met’s curatorial team to do, as reflected in exhibitions covering Pergamon, Greece; Diane Arbus; Middle Kingdom, Egypt; Kingdom of Kongo, Africa; and Deccan, India, to name a mere few.

And then there is last year’s opening of Met Breuer, reflecting a bold commitment by Mr. Campbell to modern and contemporary art.

The Met has the same DNA as New York City; it has always led by rising to challenges. Tom Campbell led the Met with an inspiring vision of what this place could be. We are well on the way to realizing that vision. Everyone who cherishes the arts and the Met is in his debt.

MAXWELL K. HEARN, NEW YORK

The writer is chairman of the Asian art department at the Met.