Artful Shopping

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

A trip to the museum doesn’t always end in the galleries. Museum shops are filled with all kinds of keepsakes, from colorful exhibition catalogs to handmade jewelry. The New York Sun headed uptown and downtown to scour the boutiques of celebrated museums — and there is plenty to delight everyone, from traditionalists to modernists. After all, when art is a gift, there’s sure to be something for every taste.

Museum The Metropolitan of Art

The Basics: 1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd Street, 212-535-7710. Sunday, Tuesday–Thursday, 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Friday–Saturday,9:30 a.m.–9 p.m., closed Monday. $20 suggested donation, $15 seniors, $10 students, free for members and children under 12.

Exhibitions: “The Gates of Paradise: Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Renaissance Masterpiece,” through January 13; “The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” through January 6; “Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor,” through January 6; “Abstract Expressionism and Other Modern Works: The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” through February 3, and “Eternal Ancestors: The Art of the Central African Reliquary,” through March 2.

Gifts: Gold-plated angel ornaments, pins, and pendants ($65 each) represent the angels from Ghiberti’s “Gates of Paradise,” which many consider to be among the most significant creations of Renaissance art. A reproduction of a Dutch marriage box ($195) — symbolizing the custom in which a suitor would give his beloved a gold coin in a small silver box — is engraved with figures depicting trust, hope, prudence, love, and tenderness.

The Whitney Museum of American Art

The Basics: 945 Madison Ave. at 75th Street, 212-570-3676. Wednesday–Thursday and Saturday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Friday, 1–9 p.m., closed Monday and Tuesday. $15, $10 seniors, and free for New York City public school students, and children under 12.

Exhibitions: “Two Years,” show of new acquisitions, through February 17; “Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love,” through February 3, and “Lawrence Weiner: As Far as the Eye Can See,” through February 10.

Gifts: After viewing “Kara Walker; My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love,” get to know the artist with her coffee table book ($50) that contains more than 200 color images of her work.

The Jewish Museum

The Basics: 1109 Fifth Ave. at 92nd Street, 212-423-3200. Saturday–Wednesday, 11 a.m.–5:45 p.m., Thursday, 11 a.m. –8 p.m., closed Friday. $12 adults, $10 seniors, $7.50 students, free for members and children under 12.

Exhibitions: “Camille Pissarro: Impressions of City & Country,” through February 3; “Isaac Bashevis Singer and the Lower East Side: Photographs by Bruce Davidson,” through February 3; “From the New Yorker to Shrek: The Art of William Steig,” through March 16; “Repairing the World: Contemporary Ritual Art,” through March 16, and “Object of Desire: Yael Kanarek’s World of Awe,” through February 24.

Gifts: Youngsters will keep their minds active while solving creative word puzzles from books by Steig ($16–$16.95). Carry the books home in a canvas market tote ($16.95) featuring one of Pissarro’s Impressionistic landscapes, “The Market on the Grande-Rue, Gisors” (1885).

The Frick Collection

The Basics: 1 E. 70th St., between Madison and Fifth avenues, 212-288-0700. Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m., closed Monday. $15 adults, $10 seniors, $5 students, Sunday, pay what you wish.

Exhibitions: “Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724-1780),” through January 27.

Gifts: A museum calendar ($15.95) showcases work from the permanent collection. Francisco Goya’s “Portrait of a Lady” takes us through September, and Johannes Vermeer, whose “Officer and a Laughing Girl” claims November.

Museum of Modern Art

The Basics: 11 W. 53rd St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-708-9400. Saturday–Monday, Wednesday–Thursday, 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Friday, 10:30 a.m.–8 p.m., closed Tuesday. $20 adults, $16 seniors, $12 students, free for members and children 16 and under.

Exhibitions: “Martin Puryear,” through January 14; “Georges Seurat: The Drawings,” through January 7; “New Perspectives in Latin American Art, 1930–2006: Selections From a Decade of Acquisitions,” through February 25; “Focus: Ellsworth Kelly,” through January 21, and “75 Years of Architecture at MoMA,” through March 10.

Gifts: With its penchant for unique style, the MoMA store is filled with quirky home decorations such as a white porcelain outline vase ($48) and loop candelabra ($28).

Brooklyn Museum

The Basics: 200 Eastern Parkway, between Flatbush and Washington avenues, 718-638-5000. Wednesday–Friday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Saturday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., open 11 a.m.–11 p.m. first Saturday of each month, closed Monday and Tuesday. Suggested contribution, $8, $4 students and seniors, free for members and children under 12.

Exhibitions: “Brushed With Light: American Landscape Watercolors from the Collection,” through January 14; “Global Feminisms Remix,” through February 3; “Infinite Island: Contemporary Caribbean Art,” through January27,and”Pharaohs, Queens, and Goddesses,” through January 20.

Gifts: One-of-a-kind dolls ($50) — made by Teresa Méndez, who now resides in Bogota, Colombia — are dressed in a variety of costumes to represent many ethnic groups, and are a constant reminder of the warmth and vibrant life of the Caribbean. A baroque-style Peruvian carved wood mirror ($40) recalls those that used to hang in the colonial mansions and churches during Peru’s colonial period.

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

The Basics: 1071 Fifth Ave. at 89th Street, 212-423-3500. Saturday–Wednesday, 10 a.m.–5:45 p.m., Friday 10 a.m.–5:45 p.m., closed Thursday. $18 adults, $15 students and seniors, free for members and children under 12.

Exhibitions: “Richard Prince: Spiritual America,” through January 9; “Solomon’s Gift: The Founding Collection of the Guggenheim, 1937-1949” through January 9, and “Foto: Modernity in Central Europe,” through January 13.

Gifts: Art is functional with Richard Prince’s punk-inspired T-shirts ($26). The freely rendered figure on a white cotton shirt is emblematic of the painter and photographer’s free-spirited style.

American Folk Art Museum

The Basics: 43 W. 53rd St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, Lincoln Square branch at Columbus Avenue, between 65th and 66th streets, 212-265-1040. Tuesday–Sunday, 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Friday, 10:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m., closed Monday. $9 adults, $7 students and seniors, free for members and children under 12.

Exhibitions: “Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses: The Synagogue to the Carousel,” through March 23, and “A Legacy in Quilts: Cyril Irwin Nelson’s Final Gifts to the American Folk Art Museum,” through February 24 at the Lincoln Square branch.

Gifts: After learning about Jewish craftsmanship, you’ll look at modern Chanukah lamps from a different perspective. Limited-edition menorahs — only 1,000 of the argentum pewter candleholders were made — are on sale at the museum gift shop.

Rubin Museum of Art

The Basics: 150 W. 17th St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues, 212-620-5000. Saturday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Monday, Thursday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m., Wednesday 11 a.m.–7 p.m., Friday, 11 a.m.–10 p.m., closed Tuesday. $10 adults, $7 seniors, students, artists, free for children under 12.

Exhibitions: “BIG! Himalayan Art,” through March 3; “Bon: The Magic Word — The Indigenous Religion of Tibet,” through April 14; “Bhutan, the Sacred Within: Photographs by Kenro Izu,” through February 18, and “Written on the Wind: The Flag Project,” through February 11.

Gifts: A variety of ornate boxes ($28–$42), covered in beads and shells and made from an array of materials, come in an assortment of shapes and sizes at the museum, which is dedicated to Himalayan art. Made in India, the boxes are great for storing jewelry and other small keepsakes.


The New York Sun

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