by Sheila-Ann Bender

Created on: July 21, 2008   Last Updated: November 25, 2008

I consider myself an artist of words (as any writer should) but I have always been awestruck by the amazing talents of those artists that can communicate through paintings, photographs or sculpture. Perhaps it's because I've never been able to draw much more than simple stick figure, but I do believe the work of talented artists, such as that displayed in places like New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, to be an awe-inspiring gift and unsung talent. There are hundreds of works of art that move me at the New York Metrolitan Museum of Art, but here are just a few of my favorites:

PHOTOGRAPHY

Black and white photography is always moving. Whether Matthew Brady's civil war photography or his portraits of Abraham Lincoln, General Robert E Lee and other early American post civil-war Presidents, his work always leaves one speechless. A big collection of his work is there at the Met. Since I especially love photographs and paintings of children, I'd have to say these three are right up there with Brady's work:

1.MARY AND HER MOTHER, LONG ISLAND: This is a 1905 carbon print by Edward Steichen, which was previously titled "Mother and Child-Sunlight Patches". Mother and child are as happy as the sunshine they're bathed in, both wearing white. The child of about one year in age is wearing a white bonnet on its head. The smiles across their faces are contagious.

2.MRS. STIEGLITZ AND KATHERINE: This is a 1904 gum bichromate over platinum print, also by Edward Steichen. It so well depicts a typical mother and adolescent daughter of this era, both in dress and posture.

3.BRIDGETTE WENZ: A Frank Eugene picture from 1900 is an adorable little well-dressed girl playing with either a real or toy black-and-white cat in what appears to be an attic room. Absolutely priceless.

SCULPTURES

1.THE INDIAN HUNTER: In this bronze sculpture, a young Native American leans forward, eyes focused on his prey. He restrains an eager, wolfish-looking dog with his right hand while grasping a bow and arrow in his left. It was created by John Quincy Adams Ward around 1860.

2.CLEOPATRA: This was William Wetmore Story's most famous work, created in 1858. Here seated deep in thought, Cleopatra contemplates her suicide. Very moving.

3.Carved in 1874 was HIAWATHA by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The inspiration for his full-size seated nude was drawn from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem "The Song of Hiawatha" .Saint-Gaudens represented the famous Chippewa chief, as a contemplative figure seated on a rock, leaning

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