Edward Hopper died in 1967 and his wife, Jo Hopper, died eight months later, leaving the Hoppers Cape Cod home in Truro, Mass., to Mary Schiffenhaus, a neighbor and friend who helped care for Jo at the end of her life. Schiffenhaus found the 22 Hopper drawings in drawers and cupboards in the house, and subsequently gave them to Capezerra, a friend, in 1969. The gallery has published a thoroughly illustrated catalogue to mark the exhibition. For more info, see www.findlay.com

For the show, the Met has converted its temporary exhibition space on the first floor into a kind of dark and dreamy department store, dividing the gallery about 20 shop-window-like vitrines (eat your heart out, Guggenheim Museum). Interspersed with the classic Chanel designs are the more vulgar updates of her style done by Lagerfeld, who in 1983 was brought in from Chlöe to take over design duties (the show entirely omits any clothes from the 1971-83 "interregnum, " when the firm entered a more dowdy, old-lady period under designers like Yvonne Dudel, Jean Cazaubon and Philippe Guibourge).

The Met shop has stepped up for the occasion as well, offering some special merchandise. Among the items are a Chanel Icon Charm Bracelet, featuring charms in the forms of a quilted Chanel handbag, the classic CC monogram and the trademark No. 5 ($495); a silk mousseline Coco Chanel Scarf featuring a portrait of Chanel by Lagerfeld ($245); and a Coco Doll Costume Jewelry Wardrobe Suite, including a pin, pendant, earrings, cell phone charm and key ring ($175-$295).

WEAK DAYS AT NATIONAL ENDOWMENT
Ever since the "culture wars " of the 1980s and early 90s, the National Endowment for the Arts has been largely irrelevant to the contemporary art world, though it does still manage to pass along a limited amount of federal funds to some important arts organizations. NEA recently awarded a total of $61 million in arts grants, and several important museums received funds under the "American Masterpieces: Visual Arts Touring " category for worthwhile projects, including $120,000 to the Georgia OKeeffe Museum for "Georgia OKeeffe and the Women of the Stieglitz Circle " and $100,000 to the Phillips Collection for "Jacob Lawrence: The Migration Series. "

But other grants on the list suggest that things NEA have sunk to a new low. For instance, in the "access to artistic excellence " category, grants include $25,000 for the Pier Walk sculpture show in Chicago, $20,000 to support a series of exhibitions in the waiting room of a Richmond public hospital, and $20,000 for the Craft Emergency Relief Fund website. And to think, NEA fellowships for visual artists were eliminated in part because the winners were said to have been insufficiently "national " in stature to deserve awards from a federal arts agency. For more of the sad details, see www.nea.gov