Grade IX Visits the Met

Last week the 9th grade boys, along with teachers Madame de Haugoubart and Dr. Mitchell, were treated to a private tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The museum was closed to all visitors so the group had the entire space to themselves.  

St. Bernard’s parent Jason H. (the Met’s Chief Philanthropy Officer) led the class through the museum, focusing on the Met’s newest additions.  We visited the Alice Neel exhibit where we paid special attention to a portrait of two boys.  The boys sat for Ms. Neel in the 1960s and never saw the finished painting.  One of the brothers, now in his mid-sixties, visited the Met for the first time a week before the exhibition opened to see the painting and a window into his childhood.

The class also visited the roof to see artist Alex Da Corte’s installation which features a blue “Big Bird” sitting on a 26-foot Calder-esqe mobile.  The views are astounding and the spring weather was perfect. 
Mr. H. showed us two pieces that uniquely appeal to St. Bernard’s boys.  One is a new acquisition - an English painting  depicting a scene from Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”and Velasquez’s portrait of Juan de Pareja, the subject of the school’s community book two years ago.

On the bus ride home, the boys discussed their favorite parts of the tour.  The roof garden and the majestic “Washington Crossing the Delaware” were the standouts. 

Many thanks to ninth grade parent Samantha B. for her help arranging the trip and to Jason H. for always being so generous with his time and expertise.  It was certainly a morning the boys will not soon forget.
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