Past Exhibitions
They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust
May 10, 2009 - October 01, 2009
They Called Me Mayer July presents over 80 paintings and drawings by Mayer Kirshenblatt vividly chronicling life in Opatów, Poland (Apt in Yiddish) in the 1920s and early 30s. Kirshenblatt left for Canada in 1934 and taught himself to paint at age 73 so he could share his memories of the vibrant Jewish world found in the Poland of his youth.
Reclaimed: Paintings from the Collection of Jacques Goudstikker
March 15, 2009 - August 02, 2009
This exhibition presents rarely-seen Old Master paintings collected by Jacques Goudstikker, a prominent Jewish art dealer in Amsterdam prior to World War II. In 1940, Goudstikker was forced to flee war-torn Europe. His gallery, which contained approximately 1,400 works of art, was looted by the Nazis. Recently his family reclaimed 200 paintings from the Dutch government; the finest of these works will be on view in this exhibition.
The Danube Exodus: The Rippling Currents of the River—by Péter Forgács and The Labyrinth Project
March 15, 2009 - August 02, 2009
This immersive installation interweaves the historical narratives of Eastern European Jews and Germans fleeing in opposite directions along the Danube River, in an effort to escape the horrors of World War II. This interactive exhibition forces us to compare what Hungarian filmmaker and scholar Péter Forgács calls "the incomparable duet of the German-Jewish exodus."
Mary Koszmary (Nightmares): A Film by Yael Bartana
February 19, 2009 - August 27, 2009
Using the structure and sensibility of a WWII propaganda film, artist Yael Bartana explores a complicated set of social and political relationships among Jews, Poles, and other Europeans in the age of globalization in her 2007 film Mary Koszmary.
The 2009 New York Jewish Film Festival
January 14, 2009 - January 29, 2009
An extraordinary international film showcase since 1992, this collaboration between The Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center celebrates the Jewish experience through dramas and comedies, documentaries, and short films.
The Hanukkah Project: The Sound of Light by Julianne Swartz
December 21, 2008 - March 15, 2009
The Jewish Museum's biennial exhibition The Hanukkah Project celebrates Hanukkah with works of art by leading contemporary artists. The Sound of Light is an interactive installation by Julianne Swartz that guides visitors with sound through the museum's permanent exhibition Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey. This site-specific work on the third and fourth floors is inspired by the Hanukkah story and the miracle of light.
Chagall and the Artists of the Russian Jewish Theater, 1919-1949
November 09, 2008 - March 22, 2009
Through paintings, costume and set designs, posters, photographs, film clips and theater ephemera this exhibition brings to light an exhilarating but fleeting moment in the cultural history of the Soviet Union when innovative visual artists joined forces with avant-garde playwrights, actors, and theatrical producers.
Susan Hiller: The J. Street Project
November 09, 2008 - February 01, 2009
Artist Susan Hiller researched every German street that has the prefix "Juden" (Jews) in its name. The street signs she found mark the absence of Jewish communities that lived in Germany before the Holocaust. Hiller has created a grid of 303 photographs arranged alphabetically by location, along with a map of Germany, a list of sites, and a video documenting the hundreds of locations she identified throughout the country.
Theaters of Memory: Art and the Holocaust
November 09, 2008 - February 01, 2009
Theaters of Memory presents work by eight artists who have addressed the histories surrounding the Second World War, the atrocities of genocide and mass destruction, and their attendant moral devastation. From the self-consciously dramatic to the intensely self-contained, the works respond to the drama of incomprehensibility and traumatic historical memories. The eight artists are presented in three galleries and include works by George Segal, Tadeusz Kantor, and Matthew Buckingham.
1942 (Poznan): A Video by Uriel Orlow
November 09, 2008 - February 01, 2009
1942 (Poznan) memorializes a place, a people, and one of the darkest periods in European history. The video begins with a close-up of a tiled floor. The camera then rises to reveal an indoor pool with a lone swimmer in slow motion. As a cantor chants a memorial prayer in Hebrew, the camera exposes the building's vaulted ceiling and seating area above the main entrance, revealing the building's history. Orlow's video is a provocative reflection on the uses of former synagogues in once-vibrant Jewish communities decimated by Nazism and forgotten under Communism
October 30, 2008 - January 04, 2009
Leola Bermanzohn will produce a temporary, site-specific mural in the basement lobby of The Jewish Museum. Otiyot (Letters) responds to the script of the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as the spiritual and sacred significance of the letters themselves. Bermanzohn reinvents the Hebrew alphabet in a colorful manner inspired by ancient calligraphy and contemporary street art. Bermanzohn may be observed working on the mural Thursday nights for six weeks starting October 30.
The Dead Sea Scrolls: Mysteries of the Ancient World
September 21, 2008 - January 04, 2009
In 1947, a significant discovery of ancient Jewish texts was made in a cave near the Dead Sea. These and other Dead Sea Scrolls found later have shed light on the major transformations and debates that occurred in ancient worship during the first centuries BCE and CE, that contributed to the development of early Judaism and Christianity. This exhibition will present six Dead Sea Scrolls complemented by objects excavated from the site near where they were found. Three of the scrolls have never been exhibited, including a portion of one of the three earliest copies of the Hebrew Bibles in existence, and three others have never been shown in New York.
Mother Economy: A Film by Maya Zack
July 01, 2008 - October 23, 2008
Mother Economy, a 20-minute film by Israeli artist Maya Zack, is a meditation on Holocaust remembrance and loss. In Zack’s video, a frugal, industrious woman locates objects belonging to absent family members and proceeds to inventory, catalog, and assign them numerical values. Using the data in equations and formulas, she meticulously transforms kugel (noodle pudding) into an economic pie chart. With reports of World War II broadcast over the radio, the lonely protagonist maintains order and composure through domestic rituals. Sketched portraits of relatives, as well as personal artifacts traced on paper, serve as memorials to the dead.
Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940-1976
May 04, 2008 - September 21, 2008
A fresh look at the painting and sculpture that transformed the art world in the years after World War II. Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940-1976 features over fifty key works of postwar art, revealing the cultural and intellectual framework of Abstract Expressionism, the movements that followed it, and popular culture's fascination with the art and artists of the period.
Warhol's Jews: Ten Portraits Reconsidered
March 16, 2008 - August 03, 2008
This exhibition of Andy Warhol's ten "Jewish genius" paintings from 1980, presented 28 years after their initial showing at The Jewish Museum, depicts renowned luminaries of Jewish culture: Sarah Bernhardt, Louis Brandeis, Martin Buber, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, George Gershwin, Franz Kafka, the Marx Brothers, Golda Meir, and Gertrude Stein. Warhol's iconic portraits attest to the lasting achievements and fame of these singular figures.
March 16, 2008 - March 27, 2008
Off the Wall: Artists at Work is a two-week open studio project featuring 11 artists working and performing in the galleries. Representing a new generation with strong Jewish social networks or a familiarity with Jewish rituals and symbols, artists will create a work-in-progress and exhibit other work in various media including fashion, music, performance art, video and new technologies. Events include concerts, salons, a runway show, and a Purim party.
Art, Image, and Warhol Connections
March 16, 2008 - August 03, 2008
Art, Image, and Warhol Connections presents works by seven artists who directly respond to Andy Warhol or employ techniques often associated with Warhol’s oeuvre. This exhibition is on view in the contemporary gallery of the Museum’s permanent exhibition Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey.
Oil/Water—Mother/Daughter: Video and Photography by Mor Arkadir
March 09, 2008 - June 22, 2008
The documentary film Oil, Water (2005) and photograph Overlap (2004) by Mor Arkadir, winner of the 2005 Adi Prize for Jewish Expression in Art and Design, explore the intersection between the artist’s secular world and her mother’s religious observance. Oil, Water is a 14-minute film depicting a 24-hour road trip in which mother and daughter confront generational differences, conflicting belief systems, and engine troubles. Arkadir's portrait Overlap depicts a microcosm of Israeli society that is at once diverse and contradictory.
Pomegranate: A Video by Ori Gersht
March 09, 2008 - August 21, 2008
Referencing a still life by 16th century Spanish artist Juan Sánchez Cotán, Ori Gersht’s eerie and painterly video features a ripe pomegranate dangling from a string and framed with other freshly harvested produce in a window. In slow motion a bullet slices through the fruit—a food symbolic of Bible, Jewish law, and Near Eastern culture—spraying blood-red seeds and flesh in the air.
From The New Yorker to Shrek: The Art of William Steig
November 04, 2007 - March 16, 2008
William Steig was a brilliant cartoonist for The New Yorker and an award-winning, beloved author of children's books, including Shrek! and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. This exhibition delves into every phase of Steig's prolific career, which spanned eight decades.
Repairing the World: Contemporary Ritual Art
November 04, 2007 - March 16, 2008
This exhibition highlights a group of contemporary ceremonial artworks from The Jewish Museum's collection. These works, innovative in design and message, explore a wide range of contemporary issues facing both modern Jewish life and broader society.
Object of Desire: Yael Kanarek's World of Awe
October 30, 2007 - February 24, 2008
Yael Kanarek presents digital prints and online art from the third chapter of her World of Awe integrated media project. Focusing on languages, alphabets, and Near Eastern themes, she weaves English, Arabic, and Hebrew into rich narratives and dazzling visuals.
Please note, this exhibition is open Sunday through Thursday.
Camille Pissarro: Impressions of City and Country
September 16, 2007 - February 03, 2008
Camille Pissarro was among the preeminent French Impressionists. Nearly 50 paintings and works on paper--including rarely-seen masterworks--explore his interest in the urban environment and rural countryside outside Paris where he lived and worked.
Isaac Bashevis Singer and the Lower East Side: Photographs by Bruce Davidson
September 16, 2007 - February 03, 2008
Acclaimed photographer Bruce Davidson's intimate and moving images of writer Isaac Bashevis Singer and residents of New York City's Lower East Side -- taken from 1957 to 1990 -- reveal Singer's literary world of Holocaust survivors and East European Jewish immigrants.
Love and Loss: A Video Trilogy by Neil Goldberg
August 18, 2007 - October 14, 2007
Neil Goldberg's videos--at once personal and detached, humorous and poignant--are anxious reflections on aging, mourning, and death. Goldberg uses family members as willing subjects and agents in his conceptual art.
The Sculpture of Louise Nevelson: Constructing a Legend
May 05, 2007 - September 16, 2007
Louise Nevelson, a towering figure in 20th century American art, continues to inspire artists today through her pioneering installations and sculptures made of found wood. This exhibition, the first major survey of Nevelson's work since 1980, includes 66 sculptures, works on paper, and two room-size masterworks.
Dateline Israel: New Photography and Video Art
March 10, 2007 - August 05, 2007
Life in Israel provides inspiration for 23 artists in this wide-ranging exhibition.
Landslide:
A New Media Installation by Shirley Shor
March 10, 2007 - August 05, 2007
Combining custom software, video projection, and a sculptural element, Landslide addresses geography, contested borders, and political power.
Light x Eight: The Hanukkah Project
November 25, 2006 - February 04, 2007
In celebration of Hanukkah, this exhibition will explore how eight contemporary artists use the transformative properties of light to create luminous, magnificent visual objects and spaces.
Food for Thought: A Video Art Sampler
October 31, 2006 - February 28, 2007
In these four videos from two generations of artists, food is a resource for memory, a way of connecting or disconnecting with family, and above all, a means of digesting one's own identity. Works include Martha Rosler's Semiotics of the Kitchen (1975), Jessica Shokrian's Ameh Jhan (2001), Boaz Arad's Gefilte Fish (2005), and Laura Kronenberg's 1973 video of Abbie Hoffman making gefilte fish in the Chelsea Hotel.
October 27, 2006 - March 18, 2007
For almost fifty years, the American painter Alex Katz has painted a series of portraits of his wife, Ada. These portraits raise fascinating questions, piquing us with how much they reveal and how much they conceal about their subject.
September 15, 2006 - January 28, 2007
Throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, comic strips and comic books have been a tremendously influential form of mass media. Masters of American Comics brings together the work of fourteen artists, from Winsor McCay to Chris Ware, who have defined and expanded the possibilities of a vastly popular art form.
Superheroes: Good and Evil in American Comics
September 15, 2006 - January 28, 2007
Comic book superheroes created from 1938 to 1950, such as Superman and Batman, are presented in this exhibition. The show includes art by 15 Jewish comic book artists and writers--among them, Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, and Bob Kane and Bill Finger--and illuminates how the comic characters these artists created explored the battles of good and evil before, during, and after World War II.
Idol Worship: Video by Ariela Plotkin and Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay
July 03, 2006 - October 26, 2006
Casting themselves in star roles, artists Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, and Ariela Plotkin use music video and celebrity pop culture as a means to transgress conventions and to resist the allurements of contemporary society.
May 12, 2006 - September 17, 2006
The first major New York museum exhibit of Eva Hesse's sculpture since 1972 will focus on large-scale works she created in the years 1965-70. Also featured: never-before-exhibited family diaries, photos, and letters.
April 18, 2006 - October 22, 2006
Count the omer with this interactive version of Saphyr, the omer calendar by Tobi Kahn.
Max Liebermann: From Realism to Impressionism
March 10, 2006 - July 30, 2006
Approximately 45 paintings by Max Liebermann (1847-1935)--the majority of which have never been seen by an American audience--will highlight stylistic changes in Liebermann's art, as he introduced modernism to Germany, and became one of his country's most renowned cultural figures.
Sarah Bernhardt: The Art of High Drama
December 02, 2005 - April 02, 2006
The first major museum show ever devoted to the great French actress will illuminate her life and art through painting, sculpture, photography, costumes, jewelry, stage designs, her furniture and personal effects, as well as selected films and recordings.
Mix and Match: Love, Religion, and Cultural Diversity on TV
November 01, 2005 - February 28, 2006
This 30-minute compilation of video clips from the Museum's broadcast archive examines portrayals of interfaith and intercultural love on television.
The Jewish Identity Project: New American Photography
September 23, 2005 - January 29, 2006
Through works by distinguished contemporary photographers and video artists, this exhibition will explore the remarkably diverse face of Jewish life in the United States today.
Inner Realities: Self-Taught Artists from The Jewish Museum Collection
September 02, 2005 - October 23, 2005
Drawn from the collection of The Jewish Museum, paintings by self-taught Israeli and American artists encompass Jewish holidays, scenes of daily life, and biblical themes running the gamut from the joyous to the tragic. Memory and vivid imagination act as catalysts in the creation of astonishing pictorial worlds.
Joan Snyder: A Painting Survey, 1969-2005
August 12, 2005 - October 23, 2005
Over 30 of Joan Snyder's major works are presented in the most comprehensive museum survey of this influential artist's paintings to date. This exhibition incorporates groundbreaking 1970s "stroke paintings" and subsequent works expressing Snyder's political and social concerns and personal associations.
July 01, 2005 - October 31, 2005
This film, adapted from a stage work by a Toronto-based dance company, offers a contemporary perspective on a European community confronted with the Holocaust.
Wild Things: The Art of Maurice Sendak
April 15, 2005 - August 14, 2005
Through original drawings, sketches, costumes, and sets, this exhibition will examine Sendak's art, his Jewish identity, and his latest work, Brundibar -- a picture book and opera created in collaboration with Tony Kushner.
Body Politic: Recent Video by Israeli Artists
March 09, 2005 - June 30, 2005
In this exhibition of recent videos, Alona Friedberg, Limor Orenstein, Sharon Glazberg, and Hilla Lulu Lin use the human body and stunning imagery to examine nationhood, landscape, and personal history.
The Power of Conversation: Jewish Women and Their Salons
March 04, 2005 - July 10, 2005
The exhibition will examine representative salons from Berlin, Vienna, Paris, London, New York, and Milan, their hosts, participants, and the art that flourished as a result of the contacts and conversations that took place there.
Aleph: A Film by Wallace Berman
January 04, 2005 - March 06, 2005
Aleph is an artist's meditation on life, death, mysticism, politics, and pop culture. Berman uses Hebrew letters to frame a hypnotic, rapid-fire montage that captures the energy of the 1960s.
Collective Perspectives: New Acquisitions Celebrate the Centennial
November 05, 2004 - March 06, 2005
Featuring highlights from among new acquisitions, this exhibition includes major works by Christian Boltanski, Adolph Gottlieb, Anselm Kiefer, Adi Nes, Chana Orloff, Jules Pascin, and Man Ray. Newly commissioned works of Judaica by contemporary artists and designers including Lyn Godley, Chunghi Choo, and Karim Rashid will also be shown.
December Dilemma: Jews, Television, and the Holiday Season
November 02, 2004 - January 02, 2005
A compilation of video clips from educational and entertainment programs provides an overview of conflicted emotions surrounding the December holidays.
October 03, 2004 - January 16, 2005
Training his lens on the most illustrious cultural and intellectual figures of the twentieth century, Arnold Newman forged a new tradition of portrait photography. This exhibition of 21 portraits includes Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keefe, Marc Chagall, Louise Nevelson, Leonard Bernstein, and David Ben-Gurion.
Our Great Garden: Nurturing Planet Earth
September 26, 2004 - July 31, 2007
The Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam translates from Hebrew to 'Repairing the World.' This new exhibition for families and children explores ways in which we can fulfill this value in our daily lives, through appreciation and protection of the natural environment.
Innovator, Activist, Healer: The Art of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis
September 10, 2004 - January 16, 2005
This is the first full-scale exhibition celebrating the art, teaching methods and spirit of Friedl Dicker-Brandeis (1898-1944), the remarkable Bauhaus artist and art teacher who taught children in the Terezín ghetto and concentration camp.
Urban Eden: Three Videos by New York Artists
July 01, 2004 - October 31, 2004
In this collection of videos, three artists examine the pleasures and pains of city life. Works by Jem Cohen, Neil Goldberg, and Shalom Gorewitz.
Re/collecting: A Centennial Installation by Shimon Attie with Norman Ballard
June 25, 2004 - January 16, 2005
On the occasion of The Jewish Museum's centennial, artist Shimon Attie, in collaboration with Norman Ballard, presents a year-long, multimedia installation that illuminates the shifting conversations that have shaped the museum's mission over the last century.
May 21, 2004 - September 19, 2004
The Jewish Museum will present the first major exhibition of Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) in New York since his 1951 retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art.
April 18, 2004 - June 30, 2004
Ghosts and memories linger in Gate of Death, a melancholy and haunting video meditation on the Holocaust, presented in conjunction with Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) on April 18.
My America: Art from The Jewish Museum Collection, 1900-1955
March 26, 2004 - July 25, 2004
Works by such prominent artists as Ilse Bing, Morris Louis, Elie Nadelman, Ben Shahn, and Alfred Stieglitz, among others, illuminate the intersection of American art and Jewish-American history in the first half of the 20th century.
Focus on the Soul: The Photographs of Lotte Jacobi
February 06, 2004 - April 11, 2004
Jacobi learned the principles of photography from her father, and, in 1927, took over the family portrait studio in Berlin.
Elijah Chair: Art, Ritual, and Social Action
February 06, 2004 - April 11, 2004
Elijah Chair, a video sculpture on view in the new Goodkind Media Center, was created for the Times Square Seder, a public art and social action project which took place in New York in 2002.
Schoenberg, Kandinsky, and the Blue Rider
October 24, 2003 - February 12, 2004
More than sixty artworks by Kandinsky, Schoenberg, and other German expressionists in the Blaue Reiter group.
Bel Canto(r):
Jewish Superstars of Song
October 24, 2003 - January 30, 2004
This 30-minute video, on view in the new Goodkind Media Center, celebrates the careers of mid-20th century Metropolitan Opera superstars Robert Merrill, Jan Peerce and Richard Tucker and critically examines the media's role in the creation of music heroes.
Signs from Berlin: A Project by Stih and Schnock
September 05, 2003 - January 04, 2004
Installed throughout the Bayerisches Viertel neighborhood in 1993 the project consists of eighty signs. On one side is printed a Nazi ordinance restricting the rights of Jews, and on the other is a color pictogram created by the artists that corresponds to the restriction.
Frida Kahlo's Intimate Family Portrait
September 05, 2003 - January 04, 2004
Based on a schematic family tree, My Grandparents, My Parents and I provides a direct visual expression of Kahlo's genealogical identity.
Erwartung/Expectancy: A Video Installation by Dara Birnbaum
September 05, 2003 - January 04, 2004
Contemporary artist Dara Birnbaum reflects on Arnold Schoenberg's opera, Erwartung.
Contemporary Art/Recent Acquisitions
April 11, 2003 - July 27, 2003
Featuring works acquired within the past two years and created since 1970, the exhibition highlights video, installation art and photography, and also includes drawing, painting, and sculpture.
Entertaining America: Jews, Movies, and Broadcasting
February 21, 2003 - September 14, 2003
Over the past century, the various connections between American Jews and the nation's entertainment media have generated a discussion that has been extensive, passionate, and, at times, contentious.
Light x Eight: The Hanukkah Project 2002
November 22, 2002 - February 02, 2003
An interactive, multimedia exhibition of eight works of contemporary art displayed in unexpected locations throughout the Museum.
Adolph Gottlieb: A Survey Exhibition
October 11, 2002 - March 02, 2003
Gottlieb, like most Abstract Expressionists, endeavored to make his paintings a reflection of his unconscious.
September 11, 2002 - September 18, 2002
Photograph by Jeff Mermelstein
Untitled, September 11, 2001
New York: Capital of Photography
April 28, 2002 - September 02, 2002
Taken between 1900 and the 1990s, these photographs embody a critique of social conditions while conveying the exhilaration of New York.
The City of K: Franz Kafka and Prague
April 11, 2002 - January 05, 2003
This exhibition uses space, sound, light, and image to explore the complex universe of Franz Kafka, what his native city of Prague did with him, and the city's subsequent metamorphosis in his remarkable and profound literary achievements.
An Artist's Response to Evil: We Are Not the Last by Zoran Music
March 17, 2002 - June 30, 2002
This series reinterprets drawings of the dead that Music originally made during his two-year internment at Dachau.
The Emergence of Jewish Artists in 19th Century Europe
November 18, 2001 - March 17, 2002
In post-Enlightenment Europe, opportunities arose for Jews to establish themselves as professional artists for the first time. The paintings shown here highlight the complexities faced by minority artists in a dynamic European art world.
Camels and Caravans: Daily Life in Ancient Israel
September 09, 2001 - June 20, 2004
An exhibition for children offering hands-on interaction in a simulation home and marketplace. Visitors will learn about daily life in 1st century CE Jerusalem.
Doug and Mike Starn: Ramparts Café
September 09, 2001 - February 10, 2002
Created to commemorate the three-thousandth anniversary of Jerusalem in 1995, Ramparts Café is a meditation on the ancient and modern aspects of the city.
Arnold Dreyblatt: The Re-Collection Mechanism
September 09, 2001 - February 10, 2002
This installation is a container of a vast and mysterious series of spoken and projected words that recall Central and Eastern European lives in 1933.
Marc Chagall: Early Works from Russian Collections
April 29, 2001 - October 14, 2001
These early years in Russia - from 1907 to 1922 - provide the key to Chagall's long and prolific career.
Voice, Image, Gesture: Selections from the Jewish Museum's Collection, 1945 - 2000
March 25, 2001 - August 05, 2001
Selections from the Museum's broadcast media, fine arts, and ceremonial arts collections reflect a diversity of perspectives on Jewish history and contemporary culture.
Charlotte Salomon: Life? or Theatre?
December 10, 2000 - March 25, 2001
Salomon combines painting with text and musical cues to tell a compelling autobiographical coming-of-age story set during World War II amid increasing Nazi oppression.
Morocco: Jews and Art in a Muslim Land
September 24, 2000 - February 11, 2001
Many strands of history and culture have gone into the making of Morocco's people during the past three thousand years. Together, Muslims and Jews forged a common spiritual culture and an artistic culture that reflects the dominant aesthetics of Islamic art.
Drink and Be Merry: Wine and Beer in Ancient Times
July 30, 2000 - November 05, 2000
Drink and Be Merry examines the subject of wine and beer in antiquity - their production and trade to their central role in ritual, festive celebrations and everyday life.
May 28, 2000 - August 20, 2000
Anni Albers is considered the foremost textile artist of the twentieth century. She bravely broke from the tradition in which textiles reproduced naturalistic imagery or decorative ornament.
Paris in New York: French Jewish Artists in Private Collections
March 05, 2000 - June 25, 2000
From about 1907 to shortly after World War I, these Jewish painters and sculptors, predominantly from Eastern Europe, experimented with the stylistic innovations of the key avant-garde figures of the period, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.
Berlin Metropolis: Jews and the New Culture, 1890 - 1918
November 14, 1999 - April 23, 2000
The city dweller confronted the vitality and diversity of urban life in the form of crowds, new modes of transportation, and a barrage of images and texts from store displays, kiosks, newspapers, and posters. The art and literature of Berlin during these years reflect this dynamism.
John Singer Sargent: Portraits of the Wertheimer Family
October 17, 1999 - February 06, 2000
All twelve formal portraits displayed here have been reunited for the first time in more than sixty years. They tell the story of a friendship between artist and client, and offer a glimpse into the world of a privileged family of English Jews who lived nearly a century ago.
The Changing Face of Family: Photographs from the Collection of the Jewish Museum
October 17, 1999 - February 06, 2000
This exhibition assembles images of the Jewish family from the second half of the nineteenth century to the present. Its chronological breadth reveals a significant theme: time.
Sigmund Freud:Conflict and Culture
April 18, 1999 - September 09, 1999
Our notions of identity, memory, childhood, sexuality, and, most generally, of meaning have been shaped in relation to—and often in opposition to—Freud's work. This exhibition examines Freud's life and his key ideas and their effect upon the twentieth century.
Ikat: Splendid Silks of Central Asia
February 07, 1999 - May 16, 1999
In the barren landscape of Central Asia, ikat hangings and robes lent vibrant color to daily life and ceremonies, creating the atmosphere of a garden, an enduring metaphor of Paradise in both Jewish and Islamic lore.
After Rabin: New Art from Israel
September 13, 1998 - January 03, 1999
Created during the three years since the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, the art on view in this exhibition communicates the flavor of a turbulent, splintered, dynamic time in Israeli society.
An Expressionist in Paris: The Paintings of Chaim Soutine
April 26, 1998 - August 16, 1998
Known as a "painter's painter," Soutine's work is characterized by his energetic, lively brushwork and bold use of color. This exhibition, the first major presentation of the artist in New York in nearly fifty years, brings together some of Soutine's most extraordinary works.
Assignment: Rescue, The Story of Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Committee
November 23, 1997 - March 29, 1998
A dramatic installation recounts the daring mission of Varian Fry, who was responsible for rescuing some 2,500 Jews and opponents of the Nazis, including such great figures as Marc Chagall, Hannah Arendt, Max Ernst, and Jacques Lipchitz.
