CYNTHIA POLSKY

POLSKY--Cynthia Hazen. The Trustees and staff of The Metropolitan Museum of Art mourn with great sadness the passing of Trustee Emerita and Benefactor Cynthia Hazen Polsky. Mrs. Polsky exhibited unparalleled dedication and ardent leadership to the Museum for more than 50 years, serving on numerous Board Committees, including the Membership Committee, which she formerly helmed for 30 years, and serving on the Visiting Committees for the Departments of Asian Art, Islamic Art, the Watson Library, and Modern and Contemporary Art, where her more than 45 years of service included tenures as chair and co-chair. Along with her husband, the Honorable Leon B. Polsky, also a Benefactor, the Polsky family has made transformational gifts to The Met and their generosity has extended across the Museum. The Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Curatorship of Contemporary Art in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art is named in recognition of their support. They endowed the Watson Library's Lita Annenberg Hazen and Joseph H. Hazen Special Collections Reading Room, which has been named in tribute to her parents since its original founding in 1997 as a visionary library hub for online resources. Mrs. Polsky was a champion of the Roof Garden exhibitions program, yearly providing support since its launch in 1998. She and her family have also provided annual support for the Facade Commission, and enabled important acquisitions for and gifted numerous works of art to the Departments of Asian Art, Modern and Contemporary Art, and Photographs, among others. Further, Mrs. Polsky had a great love for the performing arts, and she supported some of the boldest and most impactful performances curated by The Met's Department of Live Arts. While she had many passions and talents, above all, she was an accomplished visual artist. We are proud to have her painting "Love's Tide" (1973) in our collection, and she recently presented her work in the solo exhibition "Here Comes the Sun" at Pearl Lam Galleries in Hong Kong in 2023. Mrs. Polsky proudly carried on a long legacy of support from her family, and their impact on The Met is immeasurable. She is simply irreplaceable, and we will greatly miss her sharp eye, keen enthusiasm, and singular advocacy for the arts. We send our deepest condolences for this difficult loss to the family, particularly her husband Leon, sons Alexander and Nicholas Polsky, daughter-in- law Eve Yohalem, and grandchildren Maximilian, Joseph, and Maya Polsky. Candace Beinecke, Co-Chair; Hamilton E. James, Co-Chair; Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director and CEO