Three alphabetical lists preview current, upcoming and ongoing exhibitions presented by our member institutions across North America. Click the links for pictures and additional information.
The exhibition features illustrations by fourteen men and three women who produced artwork to accompany the Yiddish writer's Singer's stories. Employing photography, painting, graphic design, and wood-block prints, among other modes of representation, the artists are Des Asmussen, Eric Carle, Leonard Everett Fisher, Antonio Frasconi, Nonny Hogrogian, Julian Jusim,Irene Lieblich, Ira Moskowitz, Larry Rivers, Maurice Sendak, Symeon Shimin, Uri Shulevitz, Raphael Soyer, Phero Thomas, Roman Vishniac, and Margot Zemach.
On display for the first time in the United States, Fabric of Life: Wall Hangings features dynamic textiles created by members of Kishorit, a kibbutz in Israel established in 1997 that fosters artistic development and facilitates independence for those with physical, emotional and mental challenges. Participants of Kishorit's wall hanging group are self-taught rather than conventionally trained artists. They design and create vibrant and compelling work that is visually exciting and rife with meaning, while also forming friendships and strengthening their place in the community.
AJU joins fifty other local galleries and museums in participating in a city-wide examination of Los Angeles area art. The purpose of this project is to highlight the unique contribution of artists in Southern California during the post World War II era. Curators Elizabeth Bloom and Elaine Levin have selected a representative group of eighteen Jewish artists, with work in a variety of media; acrylic, oil,gouache, watercolor, drawing, print-making and photography.. Two ceramists and a sculptor working in metal round-out the diversity of materials. Subject matter covers a wide spectrum, including landscape,abstraction and architecture.
The exhibit represents Jewish women’s extensive and varied accomplishments in performing and visual arts in Richmond and beyond. The exhibition includes works from actresses, singers, musicians, photographers, illustrators, authors, composers, knitters, potters, painters, fashion designers, graphic artists, sculptors, patrons of the arts, and art historians. This exhibition hopes to raise the public visibility of the size and scope of Jewish women involved with the arts and the cultural industry of Virginia. The items in the exhibition help to document Jewish women’s roles in Richmond’s artistic and social arenas, and are a representation of early twentieth century works alongside more contemporary items. The exhibition also exemplifies the complex and sometimes tenuous link between Jewish artists, gender, and Judaism.
The exhibit showcases arts and crafts made by Japanese Americans in U.S. internment camps during World War II. Soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, all ethnic Japanese on the West Coast—more than two-thirds of whom were American citizens by birth—were ordered to leave their homes and move to ten inland internment camps for the duration of the war.
While in these bleak camps, the internees used scraps and found materials to make furniture and other objects to beautify their surroundings. Arts and crafts became essential for simple creature comforts and emotional survival. These objects—tools, teapots, furniture, toys and games, musical instruments, pendants and pins, purses and ornamental displays—are physical manifestations of the art of gaman, a Japanese word that means to bear the seemingly unbearable with dignity and patience.
On loan from the Galicia Jewish Museum, the exhibition features photographs by the late British photojournalist Chris Schwarz and research and texts by Prof. Jonathan Weber (UNESCO Chair of Jewish and Interfaith Studies, University of Birmingham, UK). Over a period of twelve years, they worked together to gather material that offers a completely new way of looking at the Jewish past that was destroyed in Poland. The exhibition pieces together a picture of the relics of Jewish life and culture in Polish Galicia that can still be seen today, interpreting these traces in a manner which is informative, accessible, and thought-provoking. Co-sponsored by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland.
This exhibition combines the CJM's commitment to presenting new perspectives on Jewish tradition with its dedication to working with contemporary artists, like Saitowitz, whose vision enables us to find fresh ways to examine and appreciate Jewish culture and ritual.
The San Francisco-based architect has designed private residences, institutions, and public and commercial spaces. Objects on view range from those associated with daily ritual, such as the mezuzah, to festival-specific objects, such as the etrog box used during Sukkoth. Rendered in metal, this modernist collection is characterized by the clean lines, rational proportions, and smooth, unembellished surfaces that also define Saitowitz's architecture.
Despite the enormous technological and cultural changes between the Gold Rush and today, one can imagine that the founders of San Francisco would appreciate the spirit of contemporary Jewish culture. California Dreaming reveals how the quality of "pioneering" was and still is the driving force of Bay Area Jewish life. Through photographs, documents, newspapers, videos, and ephemera, the exhibition will show how the Bay Area Jewish community, despite its stunning diversity and significant historical changes, still operates according to its unwritten founding principles: a pioneering spirit that gave Jews the confidence to create their own destiny; a complex balance of invention/re-invention of institutions and rituals; a lack of physical, social, and economic ghettoization which led to a confident group of citizens; and inspired by their experience in the Bay Area, a yearning for greater justice for Jews and others, inspired by their California experience, and reflecting a sense of optimism that a newer and fairer society could be built.
The exhibition explores the subject of the tree in Jewish tradition through the lens of contemporary artists who enable us to see the world in new ways and to encourage us to find fresh meaning in tradition. The tree is a universally potent symbol with particular significance in Judaism, especially now as global environmental concerns have begun to impact contemporary Jewish practice.
Jewish realist painter Ferguson learned the discipline for his meticulously rendered canvasses while doing animated films as a teenager, graduating from New York University film school in 1980. But it was while spending a year at an art school in Amsterdam that his interest switched to painting. He developed an enduring admiration for Dutch seventeenth-century painters and has sought to integrate their concern for craftsmanship with contemporary urban realism. For him, "the ideal artistic marriage would be Vermeer and Hopper." This is his 13th solo exhibition.
The exhibition examines and celebrates the role of Jewish servicemen and women who labored on and off the battlefield during World War II. The story is told almost exclusively in the first person, using quotations from the more than 400 oral histories of Jewish servicemen and women. It powerfully illustrates what it was like to serve as an American and a Jew in this greatest of human conflicts.
Contrary to common belief, Nazi Germany's legal assault on the Jews between 1933 and 1945 was not unique in its racial character nor its segregationist aims. There are remarkable similarities between America's own Jim Crow laws and those in Nazi Germany. As with many Nazi attacks against the Jews, the Nazis took ideas and practices that were common in their own and other cultures and radicalized them to suit their needs. This exhibit will examine the Jim Crow laws — with examples from Houston's segregationist past — and the Nuremberg laws.
Ours to Fight For explores and celebrates the achievements of Jewish men and women who were part of the American war effort on and off of the battlefield. In their own voices and through their artifacts, letters, and photographs the "Greatest Generation" tells the stories of what the war was like for all its participants, and for Jews in particular. Approximately 500,000 Jews served in all branches of the U.S. armed forces during the war and 52,000 were decorated for bravery. Ours To Fight For brings to life the actions and feelings of these courageous young men and women ‐ their discomfort, camaraderie, faith, fear, horror,deep meaning they found in getting the job done.
This major exhibition explores, among other topics, the unexpected variety of foods that can be identified as Jewish; how identities are forged around the dinner table; the role of food in life-cycle and communal events; the Jewish meanings of eating out; and the issues inherent in "ethical eating." It includes five videos, an audio station and a computer interactive that asks visitors to vote on which food is "most Jewish." A website and catalogue extend exhibition themes and information.
Composed features the artwork of seven contemporary artists using conventional forms of photography-including traditional portraiture, photojournalism, and online profile pictures-to focus on the highly mediated politics of sex and desire. As a group they build an emotional portrait of the national, ethnic, and sexual identities that make up our public and private lives.
The New York premiere of contemporary American painter Kehinde Wiley's The World Stage: Israel showcases Wiley's vibrant large-scale portraits of Israeli youths from diverse ethnic and religious affiliations, each embedded in a unique background influenced by Jewish ritual objects. Also featured will be a selection of textiles and papercuts from The Jewish Museum's collection—chosen by the artist—that will provide a dynamic interchange between the contemporary portraits and the traditional Judaica that inspired their decorative backgrounds.
This exhibition offers a fresh view of Edouard Vuillard's entire career, from the vanguard 1890s to the urbane domesticity of the lesser-known late portraits. The presentation focuses on the context of inspiration provided by those friends and patrons whose support is inseparable from the artist's achievement. Featuring some fifty key works in various media, the exhibition will extend pioneering past projects of The Jewish Museum on the significance of collectors and dealers for the development of modern art.
The first Canadian survey of the stunning, bold and often controversial work of the internationally acclaimed Israeli photographer. Referencing art history and photo-journalism, Adi Nes' meticulously crafted interpretations of Biblical, mythological and literary subjects propose a critical view of the present while seeking to uncover a universal humanism. Off-Site at Olga Korper Gallery, 17 Morrow Ave.
Known for more than a century as the author of the lines "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free . . . ," the poet Emma Lazarus gave voice to the Statue of Liberty and generations of newcomers to America. However, few people know her fascinating story, her Sephardic background, her American roots, and her work for Jewish causes and a Jewish homeland. Learn how Emma Lazarus' journey inspired her to craft an enduring message on exile, refuge, and the promise of America.
The exhibition tells the story of Jews in the former Soviet Union who wanted to emigrate but were denied permission to leave. Learn about their efforts to maintain a Jewish identity, their struggles with Soviet authorities, and the worldwide support they received. This traveling exhibition is organized and circulated by the State of Israel-Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs and Beit Hatfutsot, the Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv.
Hollywood directors John Ford, George Stevens, and Samuel Fuller entertained audiences with American cinema classics like The Grapes of Wrath, Shane, and The Big Red One. But their most important contribution to history was their work in the U.S. Armed Forces and Secret Services, filming the realities of war and the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. Filming the Camps presents rare footage of the camps and documentary evidence shown at the Nuremberg trials, some of which is on view to the general public for the first time in the U.S.
The artists root their connection to the past in childhood memories and family connections. They use World War II as the backdrop from which to explore the remembered realities of wartime. Dutch-born Pander's work delves into a difficult and dangerous childhood. Portland-native Podemski remembers her father's tales of surviving ghettos, concentration camps, and a daring post-war escape. The two explore complex relationships--between time and memory and truth and the subjectivity of the mind--with intellectual rigor and brilliant rendering.
An immersive gallery installation that projects Jewish "homegrown movies" on three giant screens. The vibrant films explore the dynamic interplay between personal memories and collective history, document diverse immigration trajectories,illuminate rival allegiances to new locations and homelands left behind, and reveal complex relations forged with other ethnic communities. Unlike most cultural histories of Jews, which begin with Ellis Island, this exhibition focuses on the Jewish experience in the West, a reversal that enriches our understanding of Jewish history in America.
As a photojournalist for the Reuters news agency, Gil Cohen-Magen was assigned in 2001 to take pictures of Jewish new year's customs in Mea Shearim, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Jerusalem and a longtime enclave for the Haredi or ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. The experience grew into a decade-long project, during which Cohen-Magen built personal bonds that allowed him unprecedented access to some of Israel's most cloistered and conservative groups. As doors began to open up for him, he documented rituals, holiday celebrations, weddings, and scenes of everyday life.
The exhibition, presented in collaboration with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, explores the Jewish encounter with modern medicine, 1860-1960.
If every meal is a set of choices, what does the food we choose to eat say about who we are? The exhibition examines the significance of Jewish meals. Organized by the Jewish Museum of Baltimore, this exhibit will include Atlantan’s opinions, recollections, photographs and memorabilia of cooking and eating “Jewishly” as well as others from all around the United States.
A variety of exceptional contemporary artists apply their skillful creativity to the ever-evolving understanding of Jewish values. Approximately two dozen outstanding textiles address issues of memory and reflection, interpretations of history and ritual, and links between the past and present. They delve into aspects of the Holocaust, war, patriotism, celebration, prayer, feminism, and sexuality, frequently through the inclusion of Biblical texts and sometimes challenging traditional forms. On display in the Brodsky and Second Floor Exhibition galleries during Summer 2012.
Henny Youngman's iconic catchphrase is the title of this original summer exhibit, honoring the role that Jewish comedy and comedians have played in the life of 20th century America. Who could ever forget Groucho Marx and his eyebrows, the Three Stooges, or Mel Brooks? Come celebrate their contributions, and, bring your wife, please. In the Mezzanine Gallery, Summer 2012.
This expansive exhibit project, which includes a wide range of multi-media, examines the significance and importance of sports and sports-related activities as viewed through the lens of the Jewish experience in Oregon. At its core is the ancient Jewish concept that a healthy body is needed to house a healthy mind and soul. It includes fascinating glimpses into national and local sports role models, from baseball professional Hal Saltzman to former Ducks star Igor Olshansky to Trailblazer founder, Harry Glickman. It looks at high school athletics, college varsity and intramural sports, the business of sports, sports medicine and rehabilitation and sports journalism.
The inaugural exhibition in the newly expanded Derfner Judaica Museum uses approximately 250 objects to explore the intersections of Jewish history and memory as they inform individual and communal identities. Among the featured objects: a silver filigree kiddush cup, ca. 1911; an early copper alloy Hanukkah lamp; from the famed Bezalel School; a set of 18th century Torah implements from Meerholz, Germany; and a velvet fish-scale embroidered matzah cover from turn-of-the-century Jerusalem.
To honor the Holocaust survivors who have volunteered their time over the past thirty years to share their painful WWII experiences at the Museum of Tolerance, the MOT engaged Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Marissa Roth to photograph each of these ambassadors of memory, hope and tolerance.
Inspired by the ancient flood story, which has parallels in hundreds of cultures around the world, this multi-sensory indoor and outdoor attraction invites visitors to board a gigantic wooden ark and to play, climb, build, discover, problem-solve and collaborate alongside handcrafted, one-of-a-kind animals. An innovative, delight-filled destination for children and families of all backgrounds.
What Does It Say to You? presents more than 60 objects from Spertus Museum's collection along with videos of reactions by various members of our audience. Premised on the assumption that the meaning of an object is enhanced by both curatorial interpretation and the associations and knowledge viewers bring to it, the exhibition encourages visitors to share their impressions of the works on view. What Does It Say to You and the Open Depot Collection Display are open every second Thursday evening of the month and on alternate Sundays.
The exhibit explores the continuing impact of the most widely distributed antisemitic publication of modern times. Despite countless exposures as a fraud, the myth of a Jewish world conspiracy has retained power for Nazis and others who seek to spread hatred of Jews. Technology has now made the Protocols available via the Internet; it continues to be circulated by those promoting violence, and even genocide.
This exhibition reveals how the Nazi Party used modern techniques, new technologies and carefully crafted messages to sway millions with its vision for a new Germany and to drive the world into a war that cost some 55 million lives, including six million Jews. It includes rare posters, photographs, artifacts, and film documenting the pivotal role of propaganda in the Nazi effort.
