Videos

Joel Smith discusses the ways that various artistic media can overlap and intersect. In this case, we examine photography, drawing, and sculpture.

Erica Cialella, Belle da Costa Green Curatorial Fellow, and Philip Palmer, Robert H. Taylor Curator of Literary and Historical Manuscripts, discuss Belle da Costa Greene’s enduring legacy and their ongoing research on her work as the director of the Morgan Library & Museum.

In celebration of Pride, the Morgan presents two lectures on queer artists Rick Barton and Ray Johnson. Held Friday, June 24, 2022.

Take a closer look at this 900 year old English manuscript with Dei Jackson, Assistant Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts as she tells the story of St. Edmund.

Take a closer look at three “action portraits” from the Morgan’s 20th-century photography collection with Joel Smith, the Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography. Listen as Joel shares his insights on these dynamic images!

Maria Fredericks, the Sherman Fairchild Head of Conservation in the Morgan's Thaw Conservation Center, shares her insights on conserving the Codex Mellon.

Hendrick Goltzius was one of the greatest Dutch printmakers and draftsmen of the sixteenth century. Our Annette and Oscar de la Renta Assistant Curator of Drawings and Prints Austeja Mackelaite describes his work in detail.

The original ideas for many of Beatrix Potter's stories can be found in the manuscript picture letters she wrote to children of friends and family members.

Robinson McClellan, Assistant Curator of Music Manuscripts and Printed Music provides an introduction to Mahler's Fifth Symphony.

Isabelle Dervaux, Acquavella Curator of Modern and Contemporary Drawings provides a glimpse into the collection by taking a closer look at two drawings by Juan Gris and Wangechi Mutu.

Albrecht Dürer's engraving Adam and Eve is one of the most celebrated of the artist's career. It complements the Morgan's drawing of Adam and Eve by Dürer (I, 257d). Dürer produced the Morgan drawing while trying to resolve the composition, which he then translated into the engraving.

Very little is known about Rick Barton (1928–1992), who, between 1958 and 1962, created hundreds of drawings of striking originality. His subjects range from the intimacy of his room to the architecture of Mexican cathedrals, and from the gathering places of Beat-era San Francisco to the sinuous contours of plants.

A widely connected pioneer of Pop and mail art, Ray Johnson (1927–1995) was described as “New York’s most famous unknown artist.” Best known for his multimedia collages, he stopped exhibiting in 1991, but his output did not diminish.

With rarely seen architectural drawings, period photographs, and significant rare books and manuscripts from Morgan’s collection, this exhibition traces the design, construction, and early life of J. Pierpont Morgan’s Library.

Maurice Ravel’s Bolero started out as a ballet score commissioned by dancer Ida Rubenstein. Her troupe danced the composition's first performance at the Paris Opera in 1928. It was an instant hit. Our Assistant Curator of Music Manuscripts and Printed Music Robinson McClellan has more on this iconic piece of music.

Set on one day, 16 June 1904, James Joyce’s Ulysses follows the young poet Stephen Dedalus and the unlikely hero Leopold Bloom as they journey through Dublin. The groundbreaking novel links the epic to the ordinary, connecting characters and motifs from Homer’s ancient Greek poem the Odyssey with life in the Irish city that created Joyce.

Our multiyear restoration project restored the exterior of one of the finest examples of Neoclassical architecture in the United States and the historic heart of the Morgan.

The Morgan will be seen in a new light! An important part of our project to restore the 1906 McKim, Mead, & White-designed library and improve the site surrounding it is a lighting design by New York City-based lighting designer Linnaea Tillett.

The lionesses that flank the original entrance to our Library building were created by the acclaimed sculptor, Edward Clark Potter, who also created the lions at the entrance of the NYPL.

This symposium will feature presentations from an international group of experts, focusing on Holbein’s varied contributions to the development of sixteenth-century art. Held Friday, May 6, 2022.

The ornate brass and wooden doors to our J. Pierpont Morgan Library received a deep cleaning and much needed repairs as part of our restoration project. At the beginning of the project, they were removed from the building and sent to the Art Conservation Group in Long Island City to remove the dirt that has accumulated on the surface of the doors for over a century.

As part of the second phase of a $12.6 million restoration project, this new outdoor space will add a new layer to our campus. It will enable visitors to experience the jewel of our campus—J. Pierpont Morgan’s library—from a different view.

Sicilian artisan Orazio Porto comes from a family of artisans known for their work using the 2,800 year old Roman method of laying pebble pavements for generations.

Hans Holbein the Younger’s portrait of Sir Thomas More, painted in 1527, is one of the pinnacles of the artist’s career. Xavier F. Salomon, Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator, The Frick Collection, explores the friendship between artist and sitter. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition Holbein: Capturing Character. Held Thursday, March 17, 2022.

In conjunction with Imperial Splendor: The Art of the Book in the Holy Roman Empire, 800–1500, Sharon Liberman Mintz, Curator of Jewish Art at The Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary, and Adam S. Cohen, Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Toronto, will consider the production, use, decoration, and meaning of Hebrew illuminated books made in Central Europe between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries

Listen to George Condo in conversation with Isabelle Dervaux, Acquavella Curator of Modern & Contemporary Drawings, to learn more about Condo's practice and the drawings in this recent acquisition.

The author of more than three thousand folk songs, Woody Guthrie (1912–1967) is one of the most influential songwriters and recording artists in American history.

Take a closer look at three touching, humanist drawings by Rembrandt (1606–1669) in the Morgan's collection. John Pierpont Morgan loved Rembrandt. He owned 500 prints by Rembrandt, and in 1909 acquired his first drawings by the artist.

This exhibition celebrates the life and work of American poet Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000). Though Brooks is generally well-known for her poetry, few recognize her expansive social and political impact.