Past

Engaging with History: Works from the Collection

Sep. 13, 2024 – Jan. 5, 2025

Engaging with History: Works from the Collection features a selection of objects, including painting, sculpture, photography, and ceremonial art from the Jewish Museum’s collection of over 30,000 works.

The Museum’s dynamic holdings reflect an ever-evolving understanding of the relationship between art and global Jewish culture across time, striving to capture history as it unfolds in the contemporary moment. As the Museum reimagines a largescale presentation of its collection, which will open on the third and fourth floors in late 2025, this installation features some of the Jewish Museum’s great treasures as well as new acquisitions on view for the first time.

The exhibition features a wall of portraits, including works by Richard Avedon, Dawoud Bey, and Kali Spitzer; a recently acquired tapestry by William Kentridge; a bracelet of charms assembled by Greta Perlman from late 1941 to late 1944 while she was interned in the Theresienstadt ghetto-concentration camp in former Czechoslovakia; an installation by Christian Boltanski; and highlights from the Jewish Museum’s extraordinary collection of Hanukkah lamps.

Experience Engaging with History: Works from the Collection and the Tel Dan Stele in an interactive, 360-degree Virtual Tour by Ardon Bar Hama, with generous support from George S. Blumenthal.

Digital guide supported by Bloomberg Connects.

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Necklace with various charms made of metal, wood, and ceramic, featuring letters, symbols, and small objects, including a large central pendant with the initials

Bracelet made in Theresienstadt (Terezín), Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic), 1941-44. Brass: cut-out; porcelain; cord. 7 × 4 5/8 in. (17.8 × 11.7 cm). The Jewish Museum, NY. Gift of the Estate of Greta Perlman.

Exhibition highlights

  • Portrait of a young woman with wavy dark hair wearing a pink turtleneck sweater, leaning on the back of a patterned couch in a softly lit room.

    Dawoud Bey, Claire, 2004. Inkjet print and audio, 2 min., 38 sec. 51 1/8 × 40 1/4 in. (129.9 × 102.2 cm). The Jewish Museum, NY. Purchase: Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund. © Dawoud Bey / Courtesy of Stephen Daiter Gallery.

  • Ornate silver and gold Hanukkah lamp with intricate decorative elements, including figures, scrollwork, and animal motifs, set on four legs with a servant light on the side.

    Johann Valentin Schüler, Hanukkah Lamp, late 17th century. Silver: repoussé, engraved, traced, punched, appliqué, parcel-gilt, and cast. 9 7/8 × 11 1/2 × 3 1/2 in. (25.1 × 29.2 × 8.9 cm). The Jewish Museum, NY. Purchase: Norman S. Goetz, Mr. and Mrs. Henry A. Loeb, Mr. and Mrs. Henry L. Marx, Ira A. Schur, Lawrence A. Wien, Leonard Block, Gustave L. Levy, and Robert I. Wishnick Gifts.

  • Abstract modern sculpture featuring geometric shapes in metal and colorful materials, including cubes, cones, and angled planes, arranged on a teal rectangular base.

    Peter Shire, Hanukkah Lamp, Menorah # 7, 1986. Steel: painted; aluminum: anodized; chromium. The Jewish Museum, New York. Purchase: Judaica Acquisitions Endowment Fund, 1989-20.

  • Black and white portrait of a woman with long dark hair, wearing a fur garment and feather earring, gazing directly at the camera with a serious expression.

    Kali Spitzer, Audrey Siegl, 2019. Giclée archival print, based on tintypes. Image: 40 × 32 1/4 in. (101.6 × 81.9 cm). The Jewish Museum, NY. Purchase: Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund.

  • Mixed media wall installation featuring six blurred black-and-white portraits connected by illuminated bulbs and exposed wires, with three small platforms beneath the central images.

    Christian Boltanski, Monument (Odessa), 1989-2003. Gelatin silver prints, tin biscuit boxes, lights, and wire. Installation approximately: 80 × 72 in. (203.2 × 182.9 cm). The Jewish Museum, NY. Purchase: Melva Bucksbaum Contemporary Art Fund. © Christian Boltanski / Courtesy of the Marian Goodman Gallery, New York.