We visited The Morgan Library and Museum on Friday, May 12 for its free College Night. I was first drawn to Pierpont Morgan’s Study, which is connected to the Historic Library and Librarian’s Office through a Rotunda with an elaborate design. The study was somewhat gothic in architecture and design. The desk was made of a dark wood, and boasted a lamp with elaborate metalwork. The walls were draped with a dark red patterned fabric, and the lighting was dark and dim. There was a large fireplace that added to the elegance of the room, and I can only imagine how cozy it must have been to curl up with a book there. The books were locked behind metal lattice gates, which added to the somewhat medieval-looking setup of the room.
After that, I moved through the Rotunda to the Library itself, which was astounding. There were so many copies of incredible books, with quite a few exhibits behind glass near the center of the room. There were at least three floors of books, although every floor above the first was closed off. The exhibits in the Library were mostly sculptures, seals, and recovered pieces of history.
From there, I moved on to the East and West Galleries. One (I can’t remember which) held “Satire in the Age of Reason,” a Claude Gillot exhibit, and “Sublime Ideas | Drawings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi.” I thoroughly enjoyed both exhibits. The Piranesi exhibit mostly showcased his finished and unfinished sketches of architecture, with a few figure drawings. The Gillot exhibit housed many illustrated scenes from the Commedia dell’Arte. My favorite from these wings wasn’t actually from either exhibit. My favorite piece is displayed on the ceiling, boasting 648 wrought-iron birds on a decorative grille. If you look closely, each bird has a different beak!
Finally, I ended up at the Engelhard Gallery on the top floor of the museum. Here, the museum housed a few exhibits. My favorite was by Nina Katchadourian, which she titled “Sorted Books.” She began the series in 1993 and has been working on it since. As seen in the description below, she utilizes the text on the spines of books she finds on a bookshelf to create a story, poem, etc.. I found this so interesting!
