Latest news with #TheMetropolitanMuseumofArt
Time Out
2 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time Out
A record number of museumgoers attended The Met this spring
'If you build it, they will come' doesn't just apply to baseball ghosts. As it turns out, it also applies to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which just discovered that it hosted over 5.7 million visitors between The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters in the 2025 fiscal year. (That would be financial talk for the 12-month period that ended on June 30, 2025.) Part of that growth came late in the tracking period, with a big ol' day party celebrating the new The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing on Saturday, May 31, which was the Met's highest single-day attendance record since 2017. How many people could possibly swing through The Met in a single day? Turns out, 33,700. That's a lot of stickers. Exhibitions still on view from this period are Sargent and Paris (427,000 visitors and counting), which closes August 3, and Superfine: Tailoring Black Style (through October 26), which has had 291,000 guests. Previous exhibitions were Caspar David Friedrich: The Soul of Nature (300,000 visitors), Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300-1350 (298,000 visitors), and the final weeks of The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism (464,000 visitors) and Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion (401,000 visitors). 'We are thrilled by the continued growth of our audiences, particularly across New York City and the surrounding area, with visitors showing incredible enthusiasm for our ambitious programming,' Max Hollein, The Met's Marina Kellen French Director and CEO, said in a statement. 'Whether through our thought-provoking exhibitions, inventive educational initiatives, or wide-ranging digital offerings, The Met provides an array of ways to engage with our collection spanning 5,000 years of art from across time and around the world.' Overall, The Met saw a 5-percent growth in attendance over fiscal year 2024; 62-percent of the visitors were locals from the tri-state area. Upcoming exhibits at The Met include The Genesis Facade Commission: Jeffrey Gibson, The Animal That Therefore I Am (September 12–June 9, 2026), Man Ray: When Objects Dream (September 14–February 1, 2026), Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson (September 20–February 8, 2026), Spectrum of Desire: Love, Sex, and Gender in the Middle Ages (October 17–March 29, 2026), and Seeing Silence: The Paintings of Helene Schjerfbeck (December 5–April 5, 2026).
National Geographic
6 days ago
- General
- National Geographic
Nun's skeleton reveals that some ancient women were extreme hermits
Head of a holy woman, from a mosaic in Turkey. Photograph By Bridgeman Images Today the most extreme forms of devotion to God in Christianity involve tithing, abstaining from meat on Fridays and during Lent, taking religious orders and devoting oneself to a life of celibacy, and, perhaps, taking vows of poverty or even silence. All of these practices pale next to the forms of asceticism practiced in the Byzantine period, when the most dedicated monks isolated themselves from human contact in the desert, restricted their food and sleep, wrapped themselves in uncomfortable sore-inducing chains, and lived their lives on top of small pillars. Traditionally, the most hardcore ascetics were believed to have been men, but recent scholarly and archeological research has revealed that female monastics were equally devoted to self-mortification. In 1924, excavations at Khirbat el-Masaniʾ near Ramat Shlomo (in Israel) uncovered a Byzantine monastery dating to approximately 350–650 CE. Located just three kilometers northwest of Old Jerusalem, the monastery stood along one of the main roads leading from Jaffa and Lydda to the city. Among the tombs discovered at the site were the remains of an unidentified individual unusually wrapped in a metal chain. During the fifth century CE, as Christian monasticism was on the rise, the practice of self-chaining gained popularity among ascetics in Syria. Asceticism and bodily self-denial was seen as a way of emulating the suffering of Christ and drawing closer to God. At the time the tombs were excavated, it was widely believed that such ascetic practices were exclusive to men. So for nearly a century, scholars assumed this person had been male. However, a recent study employing advanced DNA analysis has revealed that the remains belonged to a woman. This would make this one of the first-ever archaeological finds of extreme asceticism among Byzantine women. (Eight things people get wrong about ancient Rome) Byzantine-style mosaic of the Garden of Eden, part of the Old Testament cycle from the Monreale Cathedral Mosaics in Palermo, Siciliy. The Latin inscription reads, MULIER SUGGESTIONI SERPENTIS TULIT DE FRUCTU ET COMEDIT DEDITQUE VIRO SUO ('At the serpent's suggestion, the woman picked the fruit and ate it, and gave it to the man.') Photograph By Ghigo Roli / Bridgeman Images Byzantine churches were often decorated with shimmering mosaics, portraying events from the life of Christ on their upper walls. This fragmentary head of Christ, with its caring expression, is probably from such a scene. Photograph By Gift of Mary Jaharis, in memory of her late husband, Michael, 2017, The Metropolitan Museum of Art A self-tormenting nun During the original excavation of Khirbat el-Masaniʾ, archaeologists uncovered two crypts containing scattered skeletal remains of multiple individuals—including children, women, and men. Based on the grave goods, burial context, and stratigraphy, these interments were dated to the fifth century CE. A third tomb, which held the highly fragmentary remains of the chained individual, was also discovered. At the time, the bones were too incomplete to determine the individual's sex or age at death. But this spring, a team of Israeli researchers, led by archeological scientists Dr. Paula Kotli from the Weizmann Institute of Science, finally pinned down an identity. By conducting a proteomic analysis on enamel obtained from the only tooth recovered from the tomb, the team determined that burial belonged to an adult aged between 30 and 60 years old at the time of their death. The results, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, proved that the individual buried in chains in tomb three was actually a woman. As the authors note, 'the ascetic nun symbolizes a phenomenon of isolation, perhaps enclosure, and in extreme cases self-torment. This is the first evidence showing that the Byzantine self-torment ritual was performed by women and not exclusively by men.' The discovery marks a significant advance in the methods used to determine sex in fragmentary remains. Yet, evidence for asceticism among late antique women is more widespread than one might assume. (Christianity struggled to grow—until this skeptic became a believer) Detail of the 'Procession of Virgins' mosaics from the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Byzantine School, 6th century. Photograph By Leemage/Corbis/Getty Images Dr. Caroline Schroeder, Professor of Women's and Gender Studies and Professor of Data Scholarship at the University of Oklahoma and author of several pioneering studies on monasticism, told National Geographic, 'in late antiquity and Byzantium, people of all genders engaged in a wide variety of ascetic practices. In Egypt in the fourth and fifth centuries we have irrefutable evidence from papyri, monastic letters, and episcopal writings for women who practiced asceticism in their family homes, in homes they themselves owned or rented, and in communities of women [monasteries].' In general, asceticism meant abstaining from sex (even if married), limiting one's food intake, withdrawing from the world, rigorous engagement with prayer, and a life of discomfort and seclusion. These practices were not limited to Egypt. In Syria, we have copious evidence documenting what might be considered more extreme forms of asceticism. Schroeder mentioned a ninth-century male monk who described a women's monastery he encountered where residents lived in seclusion as stylites. Stylites 'were monks who lived for years atop a tall pillar, often exposed to nature's elements and totally dependent upon people on the ground to provide them with food and water,' Schroeder explained. 'The most famous is the original stylite, Symeon the Elder, who lived on his pillar for 36 years, praying, doing prostrations and other exercises, and experiencing physical decay. People came from all over for his blessings, to hear his preaching, and also to request his judgments in disputes between individuals and political leaders.' Stylites were physically constrained by the pillars—they were not able to stretch out fully, there were no bathroom breaks (which caused quite a stench), and they were exposed to the elements—and they also survived on limited sustenance and without the comfort of companionship. Schroeder pointed out that 'a monastery with women stylites is evidence that some women practiced as physically rigorous and severe asceticism as men.' With respect to the new study of the chained woman from outside Jerusalem, Schroeder pointed to an example recorded by fifth-century CE theologian Theodoret of Cyrrhus in his Religious History. In this collection of saint's lives, Theodoret describes visiting two Syriac sisters, Marana and Cyra, who wore heavy iron rings and chains as a form of extreme self-denial. According to Theodoret, these women lived in a roofless house—that exposed them to the unforgiving elements—the door of which had been sealed with mud and stones so that they were shut off from the world and unable to leave. Small windows allowed for food and water to be passed to the women. (Schroeder told me that Theodoret says that, since he was a bishop, they allowed him to dig through the door to see them.) The women wore iron collars, iron belts, and chains on their hands and feet. Even though the two women were secluded from the world, they, like Symeon the Stylite, became ancient Christian celebrities. They attracted pilgrims who travelled to receive their blessing. Saint Donatus, priest and anchorite, from "Les Images De Tous Les Saincts et Saintes de L'Année" (Images of All of the Saints and Religious Events of the Year.) Print By Jacques Callot , The Metropolitan Museum of Art Gender is a complicating question when it comes to asceticism because some women dressed as men when they entered monasteries. Dr. Christine Luckritz Marquis, Associate Professor of Church History at Union Presbyterian Seminary and author of 'Better Off Dead? Violence, Women, and Late Ancient Asceticism,' said 'the reality is that we have many individuals who were trans saints. While some women might merely dress as male monks to safely practice asceticism among men, there is no reason to believe that others did not truly feel themselves trans monks. And some men were castrated, becoming eunuchs for God, so they too did not fit into a simple two-sex binary.' The more fluid gender categories were complicated by the ambivalent attitude that male religious leaders had toward women in general. For commentators like Theodoret, Schroeder added, ascetic women were 'a bit of a paradox… On the one hand, women were viewed as inherently weaker than men and also the gender that carried the guilt of Eve for breaking God's command in the Garden of Eden. But on the other hand, they were capable of such strenuous devotions and, when they achieved them, were seen as even extra holy for going beyond the expectations of their gender.' An anchorhold against the south wall of All Saints church in Norfolk, United Kingdom. Built circa 1500 CE, it would have housed an anchorite devoted to solitary prayer. Photograph By UrbanImages/ Alamy From late antiquity onwards, into the medieval period, women's asceticism persisted. Anchorites—men and women who walled themselves up in permanent enclosures in lifelong solitary confinement—became more common among European women. Many of them lived in small cells, known as anchorholds, that were attached to local churches. In German-speaking regions, bishops would say the office for the dead as the anchorite entered their cell as a symbol of the ascetic's death to the world. Though small windows allowed them a limited view of the church's altar and access to food, water and the Eucharist, anchorites took vows to remain in their cells. The eleventh-century hagiographer Goscelin of Saint-Bertin refers to several anchorites who burned—or came close to burning—alive when the towns in which they lived in were sacked or looted. Other women embraced physical suffering an illness. In her book Holy Feast and Holy Fast, Caroline Walker Bynum documents the centrality of pain and illness to the spiritual lives of late medieval women. For those women even self-inflicted illness was a way of drawing near to God. Bynum writes that 'some Italian saints drank pus or scabs from lepers' sores.' In the German Nonnenbücher, a fourteenth-century collection of inspirational spiritual biographies of nuns authored by women, the desire for illness was so strong that the sisters exposed themselves 'to bitter cold' and prayed 'to be afflicted with leprosy.' The late fourteenth century, French anchoress Jane Mary of Maillé, 'stuck a thorn into her head in remembrance of Christ's crown of thorns.' As late as the sixteenth century, an account of the life of St. Alda of Siena recalled that she slept on a bed of paving stones, whipped herself with chains, and wore a crown of thorns. 'Among the more bizarre female behaviors' in this period, writes Bynum, 'were rolling in broken glass, jumping into ovens, hanging from a gibbet, and praying upside down.' For modern readers the critical question is why late antique people would want to engage in these practices of self-punishment and self-effacement at all. Theodoret characterizes Marana and Cyra's ascetic devotion as a kind of spiritual athleticism. Schroeder explained that the women took on these goals 'on these challenging practices with joy, knowing that the 'goal' or prize of their contests is a 'crown of victory' and eternity with Christ their 'beloved.'' Luckritz Marquis agreed, saying that while there were many reasons that people practiced asceticism, the goal was 'ultimately to be closer to God.'
The Star
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Star
Justin Bieber unveils surprise 7th album just hours after teaser
Justin Bieber attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala on Sept. 13, 2021, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File) Canadian superstar Justin Bieber released his seventh album, Swag , on Friday just hours after sharing a sneak peek of it on social media. Comprising 21 tracks totaling 54 minutes, the project marks the return of the 31-year-old singer more than three years after his last single, Honest , a duet with Don Toliver. His previous album, Justice , was released in 2021. Bieber has collaborated with US rappers Gunna, Lil B, and Cash Cobain, among others, on this seventh album. He posted a video on his Instagram account on Thursday showing the tracklist for Swag on a large screen in Times Square in New York City. Posters also appeared this week in Reykjavik, Iceland, where US media said Bieber finalized the album in April. Bieber's comeback follows a period marked by the singer's withdrawal from media. His fans, known as the "Beliebers", had been hoping for a new album for several months. In 2022, Bieber was forced to cancel the remainder of his world tour – 82 of 131 scheduled concerts – after revealing he suffered from Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a neurological disorder that partially paralyzed his face. The hashtag #SWAGOUTNOW was among the top global trends on X a few hours after the album's release, underscoring the excitement of his fans. Bieber rose to prominence in 2010 at just 15 years old with the global hit "Baby," becoming a teen pop star before turning to R&B. In August 2024, the singer and his wife Hailey Bieber announced the birth of their first child, Jack Blues. – AFP
Toronto Sun
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Justin Bieber teases his long-awaited seventh album, apparently called 'Swag'
Published Jul 10, 2025 • 2 minute read Justin Bieber attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala on Sept. 13, 2021, in New York. Photo by Evan Agostini / Invision Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. NEW YORK (AP) — Justin Bieber is teasing his long-awaited seventh studio album — apparently called 'Swag' — with a series of billboards and social media posts Thursday. Billboards depicting Bieber were found by fans in Reykjavik, Iceland and Los Angeles with the word 'Swag.' The singer also shared images of billboards on his official Instagram account that appeared to depict a tracklist that includes song names like 'All I Can Take,' 'Walking Away,' 'Dadz Love' and 'Forgiveness.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account No details on when the album would drop were included. The Hollywood Reporter , which was first to report the album was nearing release, said it would arrive on streaming services Friday. Bieber, the two-time Grammy Award-winning singer and Canadian pop idol who revolutionized teen pop and social media fame, is best known for his silky R&B pop lyric tenor, demonstrated on the diamond-selling 'Baby,' 'Sorry,' and 'Stay' with the Kid Laroi. At the beginning of his career, and as a tween, Bieber began working with Usher and the influential music manager Scooter Braun. In 2023, Bieber sold the rights to his music — all six of his albums, including hits like 'Sorry' and 'Baby' — to Hipgnosis, a U.K-based music investment company. The deal's financial details were not disclosed, but Billboard Magazine reports that the sale was worth an estimated $200 million. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In August 2024, Bieber and his wife, the model Hailey Bieber (nee Baldwin), announced the birth of their first child, Jack Blues Bieber. Read More Love concerts, but can't make it to the venue? Stream live shows and events from your couch with VEEPS, a music-first streaming service now operating in Canada. Click here for an introductory offer of 30% off. Explore upcoming concerts and the extensive archive of past performances. Toronto & GTA Canada Toronto & GTA Toronto Blue Jays Crime
Toronto Sun
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
SHOCK DIDDY SEX TRIAL VERDICT: Rap mogul 'owned' the kinky -- and won
Get the latest from Brad Hunter straight to your inbox In this May 4, 2015 file photo, Sean Diddy Combs is pictured with Cassie, one of the complainants in the case against pictured at at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating "China: Through the Looking Glass" in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File) Hip hop impresario Sean 'Diddy' Combs may have skated on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, but still faces prison on prostitution convictions. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The 55-year-old was acquitted in a New York courtroom on Wednesday of sex trafficking that could have seen him sent to prison for life. But a prostitution conviction could still see him jailed for 10 years. In addition, the prostitution conviction and the lurid details that flowed from the eight-week trial have likely torpedoed his career. It took jurors three days of deliberations — which were reportedly contentious, at times — to reach their verdict. When the verdict was read, the man who was the ringmaster for days-long sex and drug fuelled orgies, clasped his hands together in a prayer motion. He hugged his lawyer, Teny Geragos. One legal analyst said the key to the courtroom win was that the billionaire 'owned' the bad facts of the case. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'This trial was a major gamble and Combs won that bet,' New York Law School Professor Anna Cominsky told the New York Post. 'Everything is stacked against the defendant going into a federal case, in particular one like this. His attorneys were smart and they owned the bad facts. They fought on the things that mattered, and it paid off.' Cominsky said that lawyers for the founder of Bad Boy Records admitted that Diddy had: Beat up girlfriends, engaged in eye-popping kinky sex, made porn and lived a swinger's lifestyle. But they argued the case was about domestic violence, not sex trafficking. One confusing aspect of the trial is that while Combs walked on the sex trafficking charges, he did go down in flames on prostitution, which consisted of him flying girlfriends and male sex workers around the U.S. to engage in sex. Those actions were a felony violation of the Mann Act. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. But the jury of eight men and four women acquitted Combs of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges, related to allegations that he used his money, power and frightening physical force to manipulate girlfriends into hundreds of drug-fuelled sex marathons. Recommended video His legal eagles argued the women were willing participants in the orgies and that his violent actions did not justify the heavyweight charges. After the verdict was read, Combs continued to pump his right fist subtly, seemingly satisfied that he was acquitted on the most serious charges. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian was weighing whether to grant Combs bail in the wake of the verdict. He adjourned the court while he considered whether to spring Diddy. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Combs has been locked up since he was arrested and charged last September. Diddy appeared buoyant arriving in the courtroom earlier Wednesday morning, a contrast to his mood a day earlier after he learned that the jury at his sex trafficking trial had reached a yet-to-be-disclosed verdict on all but one of the five charges. On Tuesday, Subramanian ordered the jury to continue its closed-door discussions for a third day after the panel of eight men and four women said it was unable to reach consensus on the top count: racketeering conspiracy. The judge agreed with prosecutors and Combs' defence team that less than 13 hours of deliberations was too soon to give up on reaching a verdict on all counts. In a note to the court late Tuesday, the jury said 'unpersuadable opinions on both sides' among some jurors had prevented the group from reaching a unanimous verdict on the racketeering conspiracy charge. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The disclosure of Tuesday's jury note about the partial verdict had seemed to put defence attorneys and their client in a dour mood even before it was read in open court by the judge. Eight defense lawyers formed a half-circle behind Combs as the smiles and lighthearted mood that accompanied the arrival of other jury notes over two days seemed absent. His attorneys contemplated the possibility that jurors had reached agreement on counts that carry the heaviest sentencing penalties. Combs appeared morose as his lawyers spoke with him. At one point, the hip-hop mogul solemnly read a piece of paper that attorney Marc Agnifilo handed to him. After the jury came in for instructions and then exited the room, a subdued Combs sat in his chair for a few minutes. As he stood to leave, he faced his relatives and supporters in the audience, blew a kiss and tapped his heart, as he frequently has done at the start and end of each day. Then he paused before his mother and exchanged a few words, telling her, 'Love you' and 'I'll be all right.' Marshals then led him from the room. — WITH FILES FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Sports Money News MLB Relationships Editorial Cartoons
