THE MET
The American Wing
Sara Berman’s Closet
The American Wing
Sara Berman’s Closet
The meticulously organized, modest
closet in which Sara Berman (1920–2004)—an immigrant who traveled from
Belarus to Palestine to New York—kept her all-white apparel and accessories
both contained her life and revealed it. Inspired by the beauty and meaning of Berman's closet, the artists Maira and Alex Kalman (who are also Berman's daughter and grandson) have
recreated the closet and its contents as an art installation, which is on view
until November 26 in The American Wing
of the museum.
Sara Berman
In Rome – aged 74 - 1994
Sara
Berman’s Closet
This exhibition represents Berman's life from 1982 to 2004, when
she lived by herself in a small apartment in Greenwich Village. In her closet Berman lovingly organized her shoes, clothes, linens, beauty products,
luggage, and other necessities.
Although the clothing is of various tints—including cream, ivory, and ecru—it
gives the impression of being all white.
Sara Berman’s Closet
Sara
Berman’s Closet
This closet, with Sara’s underthings, linens, clothing, shoes, bags, all lined up with military precision and loving
care, represents the unending search
– from the monumental to the mundane – for;
order,
beauty
meaning
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