November Programs at the Jewish Museum
Feature Jazz Great Steve Coleman,
a Conversation with Gertrude Stein, and More

New York, NY - The Jewish Museum’s Fall 2014 slate of lectures, discussions, and events continues in November with Wish You Were Here, a discussion between Jens Hoffmann, The Jewish Museum's Deputy Director, Exhibitions and Public Programs, and Gertrude Stein, as presented by scholar Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev.  Other highlights include a performance by composer, bandleader, and recent MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship recipient Steve Coleman & Friends in partnership with Bang on a Can, inspired by the exhibition, From the Margins: Lee Krasner | Norman Lewis, 1945-1952; and the next event in the popular after-hours series, The Wind Up.

Further program and ticket information is available by calling 212.423.3200 or online at TheJewishMuseum.org/calendar.

PROGRAM SCHEDULE - NOVEMBER 2014

Bang on a Can: From the Margins

Thursday, November 6, 7:30 pm

This concert, featuring composer, saxophone player, and 2014 MacArthur Fellowship recipient Steve Coleman, Jonathan Finlayson (trumpet) and Anthony Tidd (bass), continues the Jewish Museum and Bang on a Can's new partnership to produce a series of dynamic musical performances at the Museum from June 2014 to May 2015, inspired by the Jewish Museum's diverse array of exhibitions. Presented in conjunction with From the Margins: Lee Krasner | Norman Lewis, 1945-1952, which features innovative works by two powerful abstract painters, the performance will highlight the relationship between Abstact Expressionism and jazz in mid-century New York City.

Bang on a Can is dedicated to making music new. Founded by composers Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, who curated the first Marathon concert in 1987 and remain co-Artistic Directors to this day, Bang on a Can has been creating an international community dedicated to innovative music, wherever it is found. With adventurous programs, it commissions new composers; performs, presents, and records new work; develops new audiences; and educates the musicians of the future. Bang on a Can plays "a central role in fostering a new kind of audience that doesn't concern itself with boundaries. If music is made with originality and integrity, these listeners will come" (The New York Times). Current projects include the annual Bang on a Can Marathon; The People's Commissioning Fund, a membership program to commission emerging composers; the Bang on a Can All-Stars, who tour to major festivals and concert venues around the world; the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA, a professional development program for young musicians; Asphalt Orchestra, Bang on a Can's extreme street band; and Found Sound Nation, a musical outreach program partnering with the U.S. State Department to create OneBeat, a program that bridges the gulf between young American musicians and young musicians from developing countries. For more information, visit www.bangonacan.org.

Tickets: $18 General; $15 Students and Seniors; $12 Jewish Museum and Bang on a Can List Members

This Is How We Do It: Masterpieces and Curiosities: A Russian-American Quilt

Tuesday, November 11, 2 pm

Claudia Nahson, Morris and Eva Feld Curator, will discuss the process of developing and organizing Masterpieces & Curiosities: A Russian-American Quilt.  This talk will include a brief exhibition walkthrough.

Showcasing a colorful patchwork quilt bearing Eastern European and American imagery, Masterpieces & Curiosities: A Russian-American Quilt continues a series of exhibitions focused on individual works in the Jewish Museum's world-renowned collection. On view through February 1, 2015, this exhibition highlights a rare quilt (c. 1899), a fascinating expression of the acculturation process undergone by newly arrived immigrants. The quilt was owned by a Russian Jewish family that likely arrived in America during the late 19th century and incorporates imagery from both cultures. Also included in the exhibition are related works from the Museum's collection which feature Russian motifs or reflect a conflation of Russian and Jewish traditions, items of Americana that provide context, and a few works from other collections.

Free with Museum admission

Wish You Were Here: Gertrude Stein

Thursday, November 13, 6:30pm

Jens Hoffmann, Deputy Director, Exhibitions and Public Programs, will speak with Gertrude Stein, as presented by scholar and curator Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev. The evening will offer an interactive component to integrate questions and comments from Twitter and other social media platforms received in advance of each talk. Over the next three years, Hoffmann will interview the subjects of Andy Warhol’s Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century (1980), interpreted by prominent experts, as if each were coming to the Museum to have a conversation in the present day.  The next event will focus on Sarah Bernhardt as presented by curator Carol Ockman.

Highly regarded curator Jens Hoffmann joined The Jewish Museum in a newly created position as Deputy Director, Exhibitions and Public Programs in November 2012. Hoffmann is conceptualizing ideas and strategies for exhibitions, acquisitions, publications, research, and public programs, drawing on his global perspective and deep knowledge of contemporary art and visual culture. Formerly Director of the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art in San Francisco from 2007 to 2012 and Director of Exhibitions and Chief Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London between 2003 and 2007, Hoffmann has organized more than 40 shows internationally since the late 1990s. Hoffmann is known for applying a multi-disciplinary approach to his curatorial practice.

Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev is Visiting Professor in the Department of Art Theory & Practice at Northwestern University. Named 2012’s most powerful person in the art world by Art Review’s Power 100 listings, Christov-Bakargiev was artistic director of dOCUMENTA(13) from 2008 to 2002, which took place in Kassel, Germany, and held workshops, seminars and exhibitions in Alexandria, Egypt; Kabul, Afghanistan; and Banff, Canada. Previously she has served as Artistic Director of the 16th Biennale of Sydney (2008), Chief Curator at the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art (2002-08); and Senior Curator at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center (1991-2001). Her books include William Kentridge (1998), Arte Povera (1999), and for dOCUMENTA(13) the 100 Notes – 100 Thoughts series as well as The Book of Books (2011–12).

Free with Pay-What-You-Wish-Admission - RSVP Recommended

The Wind Up: Mykki Blanco

Thursday, November 20, 8pm - 11pm

The Jewish Museum presents the next event in its popular series of after hours events, The Wind Up. Focused on the exhibition From the Margins: Lee Krasner | Norman Lewis, 1945-1952, the evening features a performance by rapper, performance artist, and poet Mykki Blanco. Multi-gendered and genre defying, Blanco brings hip-hop, electronica, and punk into surprising juxtaposition with high-fashion drag and queer performance. Known for testing the boundaries of hip-hop, in which queer artists remain largely tokenized despite their enormous influence, Blanco exemplifies the way in which the cultural margin is often the most innovative site of artistic production. Similarly, artists Lee Krasner and Norman Lewis innovated “from the margins” of Abstract Expressionism during the 1940s and 50s, and as a woman and an African American, respectively, were often overlooked in mainstream criticism of the time. 

The event will also feature a DJ set by P. Morris, guided tours of From the Margins, spin art t-shirt making, an abstract painting station, and an open bar with beer and wine.

Tickets: $13 in advance; $18 day of event

A Closer Look Gallery Talks

Mondays, 1:00pm

Educators and curators engage visitors in discussions about select works of art in the exhibitions, Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power on November 3 and 17, and From the Margins: Lee Krasner | Norman Lewis, 1945 - 1952 on November 10 and 24.

From the Margins: Lee Krasner I Norman Lewis, 1945-1952, on view through February 1, 2015, features key 1940s and 1950s works by two powerful painters during a transformative period in American art when both artists were experimenting with innovative approaches joining abstraction and culturally-specific references. Lee Krasner (1908-1984) and Norman Lewis (1909-1979) were major contributors to Abstract Expressionism but as a woman and as an African American, respectively, they were often overlooked in mainstream criticism of the time. 

Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power is the first museum exhibition to explore the ideas, innovations, and enduring influence of the legendary cosmetics entrepreneur Helena Rubinstein (1872-1965). By the time of her death, Rubinstein had risen from humble origins in small-town Jewish Poland to become a global icon - the head of a cosmetics empire extending across four continents. She was the first modern self-made woman magnate, an avatar of female entrepreneurship, and a tastemaker in the worlds of art, fashion, and design.  On view through March 22, 2015, the exhibition explores how Helena Rubinstein - as a businesswoman, arts patron, and one of the leading collectors of African and Oceanic art of her time - helped break down the status quo of taste by blurring boundaries between commerce, art, fashion, beauty, and design. Through works of art, photographs, and ephemera, Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power reveals how Rubinstein's unique style and pioneering approaches to business challenged conservative taste and heralded a modern notion of beauty, democratized and accessible to all.

Free with Museum Admission

Support

Public programs are made possible by endowment support from the William Petschek Family, the Trustees of the Salo W. and Jeannette M. Baron Foundation, William Halo, Benjamin Zucker, the Marshall M. Weinberg Fund, with additional support from Marshall M. Weinberg, the Rita J. and Stanley H. Kaplan Foundation, the Saul and Harriet M. Rothkopf Family Foundation and Ellen Liman.  Public support is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.