I appreciated the shock value of the placement, of Lilith’s display in a liminal space where she greeted travelers who were only ever on their way somewhere else. But it also felt like the stairs dishonored her. It’s not that stairs cannot be a majestic home for a work of art—the Louvre’s Daru Staircase, which houses the Hellenistic Winged Victory of Samothrace, comes to mind. But I sat with Lilith often enough in this back staircase of the Met that I witnessed how many people simply passed by, how few really took time with her, shocked and awed by her ferocity, by her piercing gaze, which
...more
