The Lure of the East

A Curator's Fascinating Journey

Marilyn Jenkins-Madina

• Publisher: Rodin Books
• Year: 2024
• ISBN:
  9781957588278
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

The remarkable journey of one of the first women tobecome a curator of Islamic art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and an internationally recognized scholar in the field. As a girl growing up in Frenchtown, New Jersey, Marilyn Jenkins-Madina recalls first learning about the Egyptian pyramids in sixth grade. That discovery opened her mind to the possibility of not only learning more about worlds far removed from her small-town existence, but of actually experiencing them and living them. Throughout her life, opportunities to follow uncharted roads have presented themselves in ways that she has not dismissed. It has been the driving force in her career and her life. She became a curator of Islamic art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and an internationally recognized scholar in the field. She took more than 50 international trips, most of which were to the Middle East, at times and in locations where women were not exactly respected or welcomed in a capacity of authority. She came to enjoy an enduring friendship with Kuwaiti royalty. And, last but certainly not least, she became the wife and partner-in-adventure of a wonderful gentleman from Damascus who was a professor at Columbia University and also a Kurdish agha. From the banks of the Delaware to the shores of the Arabian Gulf and beyond, The Lure of the East: A Curator's Fascinating Journey is the story of her remarkable journey. Dr. Jenkins-Madina began her long curatorial career at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 1964. Having received her B.A. from Brown University in 1962, she continued to pursue her education while working at The Metropolitan Museum, earning both her M.A. and Ph.D. during this time. From her initial appointment as Curatorial Assistant, she rose through the ranks during her forty-year tenure as curator in the Department of Islamic Art and was named Curator Emerita upon her retirement in 2004. This memoir is meant to inspire others to dare to take their own road less traveled.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Chapter 1: Rising to the Occasion / The Road Not Taken
• Chapter 2: A Small-Town Childhood
• Chapter 3: Education and Early Career
• Chapter 4: The Adventures Begin
• Chapter 5: Developing The Met’s Islamic Galleries
• Chapter 6: Meeting the Sheikh
• Chapter 7: Creating Kuwait’s Museum of Islamic Art
• Chapter 8: The Reentry of Maan Agha
• Chapter 9: Significant Installations and Collaborations
• Chapter 10: Publication Highlights
• Chapter 11: Adventures in the Middle East with Maan
• Chapter 12: Treasure Hunting
• Chapter 13: Life at The Wylds
• Chapter 14: A Great Tree Has Fallen
• Chapter 15: Kuwait Revisited
• Chapter 16: Our Legacy
• Chapter 17: Closing Thoughts
• Acknowledgments
• Appendix: International Travelogue
• Copyright