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The heads of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall are among dozens of cultural institution leaders quaking in their boots as Mayor Bill de Blasio considers slashing their funds if they fail to meet his staff diversity criteria, The Post has learned.

The biggest names in fashion and Hollywood put on a true spectacle at the Met Gala on Monday night with outrageous - and at times down right ridiculous - interpretations the evening's theme, 'Camp: Notes on Fashion.' The invitation-only event, famed for its A-list celebrities and haute couture gowns, is a benefit for New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and also marks the opening of the Costume Institute's annual fashion exhibit. Reality TV personality Kim Kardashian, rapper Cardi B, singer Katy Perry and Oscar-winning super star Lady Gaga were among those competing to be the night's queen of 'camp' with...

NEW YORK (ChurchMilitant.com) - A Staten Island priest is slamming the archdiocese of New York for embracing a scandalous exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination" purports to show "fashion's ongoing engagement with the devotional practices and traditions of Catholicism" by blending Catholic images and sexuality. In a letter to the New York Post last week, Fr. Robert Repenning blasted the New York archdiocese's accommodation of the sacrilege, warning it signals a collapse of moral authority. Echoing the frustration of faithful Catholics across the country, Fr. Repenning wrote: What has become of the...

NEW YORK, New York, May 10, 2018 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Fr. James Martin, a Vatican advisor and Jesuit priest who has established himself as an advocate of LGBT causes, tweeted from the Met Gala on Monday that a fellow attendee told him “I love that you got dressed up as a sexy priest.” Martin listed other comments he received, including, “Funky outfit,” “I love your costume,” and “Is that, like, for real?” in reference to his priestly suit and collar. Martin also “praise[d]” Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York City, for attending the event, opining that it “was wonderful that the local...

FULL TITLE: 'No other religion would be made fun of in this way': Christian fury at Met Gala's 'blasphemous' Catholic theme as Rihanna goes dressed as the Pope and Katy Perry wears angel's wings Catholics have vented their fury at last night's 'disrespectful' and 'blasphemous' Met Gala theme, which encouraged celebrities to wear outfits inspired by Christianity. The annual fundraising fete in New York brings out Hollywood's elite to celebrate the spring exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, with this year's titled: 'Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.' Pop star Rihanna created the biggest stir, attending...

The Brooklyn Museum has sparked outrage in the black community after tapping a white woman to curate its vast African art collection. On Monday the museum appointed Kristen Windmuller-Luna, 31, who has a Ph.D. in African art history from Princeton University, lectures in Columbia University’s department of art history and archaeology, and once worked as an educator for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she was “responsible for adult and college gallery tours in the African galleries.” Despite the stellar résumé, her hiring left some wondering why a qualified person of color did not get the post. “Seriously, @brooklynmuseum?...

'Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination' opens May 10 at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art Italian designer Donatella Versace poses on February 26, 2018, with editor-in-chief of Vogue Anna Wintour and cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, President of the Vatican Pontifical Council for Culture, at Rome's Palazzo Colonna (Getty Images)The Vatican, Versace and Vogue are joining forces to show off the Catholic influences in fashion. The Vatican’s culture minister joined Donatella Versace and Vogue’s Anna Wintour on Monday to offer sneak peek of gorgeous Vatican liturgical vestments, jeweled miters and historic papal tiaras that will star in a spring exhibit...

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art has refused to remove a 1938 painting by the artist known as Balthus that depicts a young girl in what some are saying is a sexually suggestive pose. The painting , entitled Thérèse Dreaming, shows the girl sitting on a chair leaning back with her underwear visible. The late Polish-French artist, born Balthasar Klossowski, is known for his erotically-charged images of pubescent girls.

New Yorkers have launched a petition demanding that the Metropolitan Museum of Art remove a 1938 painting of a young woman with her underwear exposed, “given the current climate around sexual assault.” The piece, titled “Thérèse Dreaming” by the French artist Balthus, “sexualizes” the girl, who is shown lounging in a skirt with her knee up on a chair, according to the petition, which was posted on the Web site Care 2. Modal Trigger “Thérèse Dreaming” by Balthus Mia Merrill, the New Yorker who started the petition, says the painting should be yanked from the venerable institution because Balthus...

Actress Dakota Johnson was just one celebrity caught on camera disregarding the Big Apple’s smoking ban during a star-studded event held Monday night in New York City. A Snapchat photo of Ms. Johnson, taken by British singer Rita Ora and obtained by the Daily Mail newspaper, shows the “50 Shades” star lighting up a cigarette in what appears to be a smoke-filled bathroom. The photograph was taken during the annual Met Gala, a fundraiser for the city’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Other Met-attending celebrities caught smoking in the girls room, so to speak, were Bella Hadid, musician Courtney Love and...

A man is actually suing the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for exhibiting masterpiece paintings of Jesus Christ because Jesus is white and blond in the paintings ” and that is racist. Justin Renel Joseph has filed a lawsuit in the Manhattan Supreme Court alleging that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 demands that the four paintings be removed, according to an article in New York Post. "They completely changed his race to make him more aesthetically pleasing for white people," he told the Post. "I'm suing a public venue which by the Civil Rights Act of 1964...

A Manhattan man is suing the Met, claiming it's committing sacrilege by depicting Jesus as a blond. "Racist" paintings portraying Christ as an "Aryan" male should be removed from the walls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Justin Renel Joseph argues in his Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit. The masterpieces are "offensive aesthetic whitewashing" of the reality that the Savior, as a native of the Middle Eastern region, had "black hair like wool and skin of bronze color," says Joseph, 33, who is acting as his own lawyer. He says he suffered "personal stress" after viewing "The Holy Family with Angels"...

She's one of the biggest names in fashion, but even someone like Donatella Versace can have an off day. The 59-year-old fashion mogul shocked as she stepped out at the grand opening of the new $40 million Anna Wintour Costume Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday.

Unless you live in a cave, or flyover country, you know about Lady M’s grand opening of the Costume Institute's new Anna Wintour wing at Metropolitan Museum of Art.Finally, a little well deserved recognition for the art and science of costumes.This  event will no doubt be commemorated for generations to come; Lady M and Anna managed to forever transform “stinko de mayo” from a Mexican holiday commemorating the Mexican army’s implausible victory over the Frogs in the “Battle of Puebla” in 1862 to a holiday celebrating the nuclear Wintour instead. I hope that’s not racist.Before I begin my official coverage...

Under the rule of the Kushans, northwest India and adjoining regions participated both in seagoing trade and in commerce along the Silk Road to China. The name Kushan derives from the Chinese term Guishang, used in historical writings to describe one branch of the Yuezhi—a loose confederation of Indo-European people who had been living in northwestern China until they were driven west by another group, the Xiongnu, in 176–160 B.C. The Yuezhi reached Bactria (northwest Afghanistan and Tajikistan) around 135 B.C. Kujula Kadphises united the disparate tribes in the first century B.C. Gradually wresting control of the area from the...

Talking about Islamic art is rather like talking about the art of the Khanates. The Imperial Kingdom of Genghis Khan was the largest contiguous empire on earth. But just because different lands and cultures were conquered by Genghis Khan doesn't mean that there is a significance to grouping their art. The sphere of power of the Muslim Empire stretched from the borders of China and the Indian subcontinent across Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, Sicily, and the Iberian Peninsula, and on to the Pyrenees. There needs to be a further rationale for calling art collections from lands conquered...

On Wednesday I went into NYC and spent the entire afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was most interested to visit the newly renovated "American Wing." I admit to being a bit frightened by the idea of a renovation because I always like the American Wing the way it was, which was a little bit unusual. Paintings covered most of the walls nearly up to the ceilings. The only other museum I can recall that was like this was the old Barnes Museum in (or near) Philadelphia. I couldn't find a picture of an old American Wing gallery...

The Met is no longer non-prophet. After at least an eight-year absence, images of Mohammed will return to the Metropolitan Museum of Art as the renovated Islamic galleries reopen in November. The controversial depictions have not been seen in years, and there was some doubt about whether they would resurface when a $50 million renovation of the gallery space is completed.

King Tutankhamun's mummy was wrapped in custom-made bandages similar to modern first aid gauzes, an exhibit at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art reveals. Running in length from 4.70 meters to 39 cm (15.4 feet to 15.3 inches), the narrow bandages consist of 50 linen pieces especially woven for the boy king. For a century, the narrow linen bandages were contained in a rather overlooked cache of large ceramic jars at the museum's Department of Egyptian Art. The collection was recovered from the Valley of the Kings between 1907-08, more than a decade before Howard Carter discovered King Tut's treasure-packed...

Dr. Zahi Hawass, the secretary general for Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities told a press conference Wednesday that hosting the Tutankhamun's tomb at the Discover Time Square Exposition cheapened the exhibition. "This priceless artifact should be at the Met, not at this hole," Hawass said. In an embarassing preview for the exhibition, Hawass called Arts and Exhibitions International President John Norman to the stage and demanded he "answer the question. Why is King Tut not at the Met?" Norman responded by saying then when plans to bring Tut back to New York began over five years ago, he met with...