Past Exhibitions - 2009
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.
