Contemplating Art

by Norman Reisman

I’m fortunate enough to live just a short stroll from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and as I’m sure you have all heard, last week was the annual Fashion Gala. My neighborhood was literally crawling with police, paparazzi, limos and A-listers attending the annual affair. My wife and I were not invited and consequently (and happily) we did not attend.

But on quieter days, I must say that I love the Met. My favorite sections are the Impressionists on the 2nd floor, the American Wing and the newly renovated Michael C. Rockefeller Wing. Every so often we walk over and take a docent tour. It’s so interesting to hear more about the art that we’ve been observing for so many years.

My favorite item in the entire museum though is an item that I not only enjoy looking at, but I also have some history with. It’s Rembrandt’s “Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer.” When the museum purchased it in 1961 for $2.3 million dollars (and it was the most expensive piece that had ever purchased by that time) my parents decided that they should expose their kids to some higher culture than baseball and rock and roll, and they schlepped my 10 year old brother and 13 year old me in to the City from Long Island to see it.

I remember it was a cold day as we waited outside the museum on the steps to go in. (Timed tickets hadn’t been invented yet.) But we did get to see it albeit briefly. (That line needed to keep moving.)

Many years went by and then in 1997 we moved to our current location and became museum regulars. Needless to say, I have visited that painting on many, many occasions. It now resides in the newly renovated European Art Gallery on the 2nd floor. And what was once a major draw for the museum, now sits quietly on a wall of a room full of Rembrandts and other Dutch Masters. There’s a large bench a few feet away so you can sit there for as long as you like and observe it. You’d never guess that it was once the talk of the town.

Of course, it reminds me of my parents and some of the better times that we had together, and how they always tried their best to enrich their children’s lives. But along with Aristotle, it makes me contemplate lots of things. Art, for one. Life, for another. And people and their preferences over time. Would that be a great painting if it were painted today? Would Aristotle have appreciated Ella Fitzgerald? I don’t know. (Actually, I don’t know how anyone wouldn’t appreciate Ella Fitzgerald. Bad example.)

Art is truly a funny thing. I wish I could create it. For a long time I served on a not for profit theater board and when asked what I did in the theater by theater professionals, I would reply that I’m just an audience member. I don’t do anything really. But generously, as most theater people are, they would almost always tell me how important it is for artists to have audiences, and that there would be no art without them.

For that thought, I’m forever appreciative. I think I’ll go now and appreciate some art.

Later.

Norman Reisman is writing a book of essays about life.