Videos

Poetry and Patronage: The Laubespine-Villeroy Library Rediscovered

Young, handsome, and highborn, Claude III de Laubespine lived in luxury after marrying an heiress and obtaining the favor of King Charles IX. His brilliant career at court was cut short in 1570, when he died at the age of 25. He left behind a splendid library, which was dispersed, and only recently have his books been identified and properly appreciated for their superb quality and fine bindings. Laubespine now ranks among the great collectors of the French Renaissance.

David Hockney: Drawing from Life

David Hockney (b. 1937) is one of the most internationally respected and renowned artists alive today. This exhibition will be the first to focus on his portraits on paper and one of very few exhibitions to investigate his drawing practice. Featuring about 100 drawings, the exhibition will trace a trajectory from Hockney’s early works as a student, to his Ingres-like portraits of the 1970s, and his return to the sketchbooks in the early 2000s.

Betye Saar: Call and Response

This exhibition, conceived in close consultation with the artist, looks at the relationship between Saar’s finished works and the preliminary annotated sketches she has made in small notebooks throughout her career.

Jean-Jacques Lequeu: Visionary Architect. Drawings from the Bibliothèque nationale de France

Some sixty of these works, the best of Lequeu’s several hundred drawings, are on view in Jean‐Jacques Lequeu: Visionary Architect, the first museum retrospective to bring significant public and scholarly attention to one of the most imaginative architects of the Enlightenment.

Illusions of the Photographer: Duane Michals at the Morgan

Contemplative, confessional, and comedic, the art of Duane Michals exerts an appeal that transcends the conventional audience of photography. Since the early 1960s, Michals has worked past what he sees as the limitations of the camera: he writes in the margins of his prints, creates sequences of images that explore intangible human dilemmas (doubt, mortality, desire), and derives poetic effects from technical errors such as double exposure and motion blur.

John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Charcoal

The first major exhibition to explore the artist’s expressive portraits in charcoal, John Singer Sargent: Portraits in Charcoal will recognize the sheer scale of Sargent’s achievement as a portrait draftsman. Important international loans, from both public and private collections, will showcase Sargent’s sitters, many of them famous for their roles in politics, society, and the arts.

Drawing the Curtain: Maurice Sendak’s Designs for Opera and Ballet

Renowned for his beloved and acclaimed children’s books, Maurice Sendak (1928–2012) was also an avid music and opera lover. In the late 1970s, he embarked on a successful second career as a designer of sets and costumes for the stage. Drawing the Curtain: Maurice Sendak’s Designs for Opera and Ballet will be the first museum exhibition dedicated to this aspect of his career.

Walt Whitman: Bard of Democracy

The exhibition explores Whitman’s process of self-invention, from his early years as a journalist, through the early 1850s when Whitman began to write more privately and poetically, to his final years.

Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth

Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth celebrates the man and his creation. The exhibition will be the most extensive public display of original Tolkien material for several generations.

It's Alive!: A Visual History of Frankenstein

Commemorating the two hundredth anniversary of Frankenstein—a classic of world literature and a masterpiece of horror—a new exhibition at the Morgan shows how Mary Shelley created a monster.

The Magic of Handwriting: The Pedro Corrêa do Lago Collection

For nearly half a century, Brazilian author and publisher Pedro Corrêa do Lago has been assembling one of the most comprehensive autograph collections of our age, acquiring thousands of handwritten letters, manuscripts, and musical compositions as well as inscribed photographs, drawings, and documents.

Wayne Thiebaud: Draftsman

Best known for his luscious paintings of pies and ice-cream cones, California artist Wayne Thiebaud (born 1920) has been an avid and prolific draftsman since he began his career as an illustrator and cartoonist.

Tennessee Williams: No Refuge but Writing

Opening February 2 and continuing through May 13, Tennessee Williams: No Refuge but Writing highlights the playwright’s creative process and his close involvement with the theatrical production of his works, as well as their reception and lasting impact.

Peter Hujar: Speed of Life

The life and art of Peter Hujar (1934–1987) were rooted in downtown New York. Private by nature, combative in manner, well-read, and widely connected, Hujar inhabited a world of avant-garde dance, music, art, and drag performance.

Portrait of a Docent

Miryam Wasserman tells her story about becoming a docent at the Morgan Library & Museum after retiring as a City Tech English literature professor.

Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection

This exhibition highlights more than 150 master drawings from the Thaw Collection, one of the world’s finest private collections containing over 400 sheets.

Henry James and American Painting

Co-curator and acclaimed novelist Colm Tóibín discusses the exhibition Henry James and American Painting, on view at the Morgan Library & Museum, June 9 through September 10, 2017.

I’m Nobody! Who are you? The Life and Poetry of Emily Dickinson

Watch PBS Newshour feature "Finding Emily Dickinson in the power of her poetry".

Armenian Treasures at the Morgan Library & Museum

Learn about the Armenian silversmiths of Kayseri who created beautiful silver covers for Armenian manuscripts. Three of these covers are in the collection of the Morgan Library & Museum in New York.

Treasures from the Nationalmuseum of Sweden: The Collections of Count Tessin

The Nationalmuseum, Sweden’s largest and most distinguished art institution, is partnering with the Morgan to bring more than seventy-five masterpieces from its collections to New York for a rare visit.

A Christmas Carol at The Morgan

NYC-ARTS takes a closer look at A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Guided by Declan Kiely, curator of Literary & Historical Manuscripts at the Morgan Library & Museum, we are encouraged to reconsider the true meaning of Dickens’s work.

Lincoln Speaks

Lincoln Speaks, a 15-minute film, was originally produced to accompany the exhibition, Lincoln Speaks: Words That Transformed a Nation, and features contemporary writers and scholars discussing the power of Lincoln’s language and his enduring legacy in American political life.

Charlotte Brontë: An Independent Will

Curator Christine Nelson discusses the exhibition Charlotte Brontë: An Independent Will, on view September 9, 2016 through January 2, 2017.

Rembrandt’s First Masterpiece

Curator  John Marciari discusses the exhibition Rembrandt's First Masterpiece, on view through September 18, 2016.

Renzo Piano in conversation with Colin B. Bailey

The Morgan Library & Museum marked ten years since the completion of its acclaimed, Renzo Piano-designed expansion project in April 2006.

Sight Reading: Photography and the Legible World

Curator Joel Smith discusses the exhibition Sight Reading: Photography and the Legible World, on view February 19 through May 30, 2016.

Video: Pierre-Jean Mariette and Splitting Drawings

To gain a better understanding of how Mariette split his drawings, the Morgan’s Thaw Conservation Center attempted to separate a replica of an old master drawing with studies on both sides.

Martin Puryear: Multiple Dimensions

Curator Nadia Perucic discusses the exhibition Martin Puryear: Multiple Dimensions, on view through January 10, 2016.

Philippe de Montebello and Colin B. Bailey

Philippe de Montebello and Colin Bailey, the new director of The Morgan Library & Museum, talk about several new exhibitions currently on view.

Alice: 150 Years of Wonderland

Associate curator Carolyn Vega discusses The Morgan Library & Museum’s exhibition Alice: 150 Years of Wonderland. In honor of the 150th anniversary of the first publication of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the Morgan explores the inspiration for the story, its rocky path to publication, and its enduring legacy as a British classic.