Major wing of New York's famed Met reopens with work by First Nations artists
New York: When an institution as large and prestigious as the Metropolitan Museum of Art embarks upon a major project, it takes time. The remaking of its Michael C. Rockefeller wing, which houses the Met's enviable collection of 650 works from Oceania, began 10 years ago at a planning retreat outside the city.
Shuttered since the pandemic, the wing reopened last weekend, including new works by Aboriginal Australian artists at a time when Indigenous art is earning a growing following in the finely tuned and highly competitive New York art world.
'There's a lot of interest and patronage,' says Maia Nuku, the Met's curator for Oceanic art. 'There are particular collectors who have been really invested in making sure these works of art come to major US institutions … It's been ticking away.'
Some of those people, including American actor Steve Martin and gallerist D'Lan Davidson, gathered at the Asia Society's head office in Manhattan last week for a conversation about the ethics and resonance of collecting Australian Indigenous art.
But there are swings and roundabouts. A major Sotheby's auction of Indigenous Australian art on May 20 was a fizzer, with just 24 of 65 lots sold. It was the first such auction in New York since the prominent Indigenous art champion and consultant Tim Klingender died in a freak boating accident on Sydney Harbour in July 2023.
There is a degree of macabre symmetry with Michael Rockefeller, the member of the storied Rockefeller family for whom the Met's wing is named. He was believed to have died when his boat capsized off the coast of then Dutch New Guinea in 1961 – although there has long been a sense of mystery hanging over his disappearance. Unlike Klingender, his body was never found.
The Australian section of the Rockefeller wing is modest, but in a prominent location. It features two newly acquired bark cloth paintings by the late Yolŋu artist Nonggirrnga Marawili from her series Baratjala, including a bright work from late in her career when she began experimenting with vibrant pinks extracted from discarded magenta printer cartridges, mixed with natural clay and ochres.
'She didn't want to limit herself to the ochres and the browns,' says Nuku.
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