Titled ‘Musical Bodies’, the event will showcase more than 130 exhibits including several stringed instruments
A new exhibition focusing on the relationship between musical instruments and the human body will open at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art on 7 June. ‘Musical Bodies’ will bring together around 130 works from around the world, from instruments to paintings, sculptures and drawings from the museum’s collection along with several international loans.
The exhibition will include a number of stringed instruments, including Antonio Stradivari’s 1693 ‘Gould’ violin, named after George Gould who gave it to the museum in 1955. Other highlights include a number of pochettes – small, narrow instruments designed to fit into the pocket of a dancer master or a travelling musician. There is also a ‘division viol’ (two or three inches shorter than a normal viola da gamba), made by English maker Richard Meares around 1680, and an unusual viola d’amore pochette from the 18th century, and a 1726 ‘English violet’ made by German luthier Paulus Alletsee.
‘Musical Bodies first formed in my mind as a deceptively simple question: Why are so many instruments shaped and decorated like the human body?’ said Bradley Strauchen-Scherer, curator in the museum’s Department of Musical Instruments. ‘The quest for an answer has become an exploration of humanity through the lens of instruments and music. We find ourselves represented in these instruments because, for much of our history, music has been central to who we are and what we do. I hope this exhibition will reconnect all of us with our innate musicality and shared heritage of harmony.’
Other highlights of the exhibition will be ancient Egyptian rattles, paintings by Titian and Degas, instrument-inspired apparel, and one of Prince’s most notable guitars.
‘Musical instruments, which represent an important part of the Met’s collection, have long been recognised and celebrated as dynamic tools for creative expression, and also as works of art in their own right,’ said Max Hollein, the museum’s Marina Kellen French director and chief executive. ‘This multisensory exhibition is the first to explore – through remarkable instruments, objects, and works of art – the fascinating ways in which sound, musical objects and the human form have been in conversation for millennia.’
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