There’s a job opening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And it’ll give you the opportunity to skulk around the museum’s treasures when the public isn’t there.
The catch: It requires you to not be afraid of heights. To embrace them, even.
The opening is for a head lamper. That’s right. The people who change the lights at the Met have a special name. Because at the Met, there’s the art — and then there’s the art that goes into displaying the art, and those are the lights.
The lights are an essential part of the Met experience, though many who walk through the museum’s exhibits, ranging from the artifacts of ancient civilizations to more contemporary art, don’t always notice them. There’s a small team of lighting designers who are tasked with accentuating the art, while also protecting it from the effects of both natural and artificial light: This means using special bulbs as well as casings, both around individual art pieces and the bulbs themselves.
All told, there are about four lighting designers and five lampers who oversee roughly 60,000 light fixtures. Currently, the museum, the largest in the United States, is in a state of transition. The bulbs — a mixture of halogen,fluorescentandincandescent sources — are becoming obsolete or their quality has declined. The lighting team is in the midst of converting all of the lighting to the more efficient and longer lasting LED bulbs. LED bulbs also make it easier to control individual beams of light. Roughly 30 percent of the transition has been completed so far.
The process behind properly lighting an exhibit is dependent on the type of show — an object exhibit versus a painting one, for example. For a show based on paintings, the lighting design team has to decide between washing out the walls or spotlighting individual paintings. Amy Nelson, the head of the lighting design team, said she preferred lighting objects for the challenge.
“With object shows, I just love how you have to really get to know the object,” Nelson said. “You have to approach it, from the various angles. You want to look at all the details, the form, the materiality, how the light reflects or absorbs all that. Object shows are certainly, I would say, more challenging and more satisfying.”
Every single light presents some danger to the art, so the designers and lampers are tasked with protecting the exhibits from the heat. The lighting source is always kept separate from what is called the “art envelope,” or the case that houses the art. Some lights are housed in what is called a light attic — an encased area in the ceiling that helps keep the heat away from where the art is stored. Other considerations include exposure to ultraviolet rays, which the designers battle to keep out of exhibits. And for fans of the “Ocean’s” movie franchise, the lights are turned off overnight for further protection. (This is by no means an endorsement to organize a group of cool people to steal art from the Met, no matter how slick it looks cinematically.)
Andrzej Poskrobko, 59, has been a lamper at the Met for 16 years. He gets the most work done on Wednesdays, the day when what he calls “the most beautiful museum in the world” is closed to the public. Sometimes, the job requires him to take a rig up, as high as 95 feet, to maintain the bulbs. Before joining the museum, Poskrobko worked in creating stained glass fixtures.
“Working with light is like working with paint,” Poskrobko said.
The contrast in colors for lightbulbs is not that different from noticing the contrast of colors in a painting, he added.
But before you go on a museum adventure, as in the fictional story by E.L. Konigsburg, in which an art collector, Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, guides children who were hiding at the Met in exploring art, you need to make the cut.
Levent Oklu recently retired as head lamper after more than three decades at the museum. He first started as a security guard.
Oklu described a multipart exam as part of the hiring process, including a written test and an interview. But there’s a practical section.
“This is the most important part,” Oklu said. “And then if I put you on a rig that goes up 70, 80 feet, and as soon as the rig goes up and if the rig shakes and if you’re afraid, if you’re nervous, I will not hire you.”
Every single exhibit requires its own type of design and maintenance. The designers consider the source of the light, the color temperatures, the beam angles and the height of the ceilings, among several factors.
An illustrative example was the Northern Renaissance Sculpture and Decorative Arts gallery, a space previously used for storage that Nelson said took two and a half years to design. In that gallery alone, the lighting sources include boxes specifically for the stained-glass windows and internal case lighting along the walls, as well as lights for the individual objects.
For the smaller objects, the lighting is designed to get the shadows to fall either in front or behind the artifact. A shadow that comes across the face of a statue, for example, will change the audience’s perception of a piece.
One challenge for Nelson and her team is keeping expectations low for what is possible to achieve with lighting.
“I think a lot of people think we can work magic, and I like to keep that feeling alive to some extent,” Nelson said. “But there are physics involved.”
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.
Alleged Fraud Scheme
Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.
Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.
Massive Seizure of Artworks
In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.
Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.
Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed
In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.
Court Proceedings Ongoing
The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.
Impact on the Local Art Community
The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.
For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.
As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.
While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.
Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.
As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.
