The Jewish Museum and The New York Public Library (NYPL) have jointly acquired the complete series of 57 gouaches on paper created by designer, author, illustrator, and artist Maira Kalman for the 2005 edition of The Elements of Style. 

Bang on a Can and the Jewish Museum’s 2018-2019 concert season, pairing innovative music with the Museum’s exhibitions and showcasing leading female performers and composers, continues on Thursday, November 15, 2018 at 7:30 pm. Mystical Soviet-era Russian composer Galina Ustvolskaya meets American minimalist master composer Philip Glass in a brilliant contrast of works for solo piano, featuring the New York premiere of Glass’ Passacaglia, performed by the remarkable Jenny Lin. Set alongside the Jewish Museum’s exhibition Chagall, Lissitzky, Malevich: The Russian Avant-Garde in Vitebsk, 1918-1922, this concert features a collision of recently re-discovered music from early 20th century Russia with some of the most acclaimed piano works by contemporary legend Philip Glass. Jenny Lin is a New York-based pianist by way of Taiwan and Austria. Celebrated for her performances of classical and contemporary music, she has joined Philip Glass over the last five years in his ongoing world tour of his complete Piano Etudes.

Highlights include fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi in conversation with author Caroline Weber on October 11; an author talk with artist Maira Kalman and her son Alex Kalman on November 7; and appearances by Marc Chagall’s granddaughter Bella Meyer on December 6 and noted architect Daniel Libeskind on December 13 in conjunction with the exhibition Chagall, Lissitzky, Malevich: The Russian Avant-Garde in Vitebsk, 1918-1922.

The Jewish Museum will offer museum visitors a rare opportunity to explore a little-known chapter in the history of modernity and the Russian avant-garde. On view from September 14, 2018 through January 6, 2019, Chagall, Lissitzky, Malevich: The Russian Avant-Garde in Vitebsk, 1918-1922 will focus on the People’s Art School (1918-1922), founded by Marc Chagall in his native city of Vitebsk (in present day Belarus).  The exhibition explores the extraordinary years following the Russian October Revolution of 1917, during which Vitebsk – a small city with a significant Jewish population – became an incubator of avant-garde art. Through nearly 160 works and documents loaned by museums in Vitebsk and Minsk and major American and European collections, the exhibition will present the artistic output of three iconic figures – Marc Chagall, El Lissitzky and Kazimir Malevich – as well as works by students and teachers of the Vitebsk school, such as Lazar Khidekel, Nikolai Suetin, Ilya Chashnik, David Yakerson, Vera Ermolaeva, and Yuri (Yehuda) Pen, among others. Chagall, Lissitzky, Malevich: The Russian Avant-Garde in Vitebsk, 1918-1922 is organized by the Centre Pompidou, Paris, in collaboration with the Jewish Museum, New York.

In conjunction with the exhibition Chagall, Lissitzky, Malevich: The Russian Avant-Garde in Vitebsk, 1918-1922, the Jewish Museum will present a series of public and family programs featuring speakers such as Marc Chagall’s granddaughter Bella Meyer on December 6 and noted architect Daniel Libeskind on December 13, and a family day on October 21.

The Jewish Museum kicks off its fall 2018 season of family programs in September with concerts, family days, art workshops, and more. The Museum welcomes three new acts to its slate of family concerts, with Sonia De Los Sontos, The Moonlights, and Nefesh Mountain  joining long-time favorites The FunkeyMonkeys and Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights. Other programs on the schedule are the annual Hanukkah Family Day on December 2; drop-in art workshops every Sunday and on selected holiday weekdays; and family art activities. See below for details about each program.

The Jewish Museum will present Television and Beyond: TV Therapy from August 17, 2018 through March 31, 2019, featuring a selection of television clips exploring psychotherapy and therapists from shows ranging from M*A*S*H  and Sex and the City to The Sopranos and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Therapy is sometimes presented in earnest and often with humor, the inherent discomfort expected in a therapy session serving as fodder for comedic set-ups. One of seven sections that make up the Jewish Museum’s third floor collection exhibition, Scenes from the Collection, “Television and Beyond” draws inspiration from the Museum’s National Jewish Archive of Broadcasting.

The Jewish Museum announced today that it has received a major gift from The Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation, established in 1996 by Annalee Newman, the artist's widow. The gift includes artworks from Barnett and Annalee Newman’s personal collection and works created by artists who were recipients of the Barnett and Annalee Newman Award. The gift also includes $10 million, for the endowment of the Museum’s first curatorial position dedicated to contemporary art; for the care and exhibition of the collection; and a promised gift for future institutional use.

The Jewish Museum will present Masterpieces and Curiosities: Elaine Lustig Cohen from August 17, 2018 through August 11, 2019, featuring over 30 works by the pioneering graphic designer and artist. One of seven sections that make up the Jewish Museum’s third floor collection exhibition, Scenes from the Collection, “Masterpieces and Curiosities” offers an in-depth examination of a single object or group of objects within a larger cultural, historical, or aesthetic context. This iteration of “Masterpieces and Curiosities” will focus on six Jewish Museum catalogues whose covers and interiors were playfully and ingeniously designed by Elaine Lustig Cohen (1927-2016). Over six decades of practice, Lustig Cohen moved between diverse activities including art-making and rare book dealing, as well as design. This exhibition will bring together the public sphere of her graphic design work and the private vision of her paintings, highlighting a pivotal moment and a singular voice in American visual culture of the twentieth century.

Bang on a Can and the Jewish Museum’s 2018-2019 concert season, pairing innovative music with the Museum’s exhibitions and showcasing leading female performers and composers, begins on Thursday, July 19, 2018 at 7:30pm. Brooklyn-based composer, pianist, and vocalist Judith Berkson performs a dynamic set featuring her unique blend of cantorial music, Hebrew liturgy, and her innovative indie-contemporary composed songs, in conjunction with the exhibition Chaim Soutine: Flesh.

Josh Gondelman, comedian and writer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, returns to the Jewish Museum to host a night of comedy and music on Thursday, June 21, 2018, beginning at 8 pm. The lineup features comedians Roy Wood Jr., Emmy Blotnick, and Alison Leiby, with a musical performance by singer-songwriter Laura Stevenson.

Now celebrating its 40th year, the annual Museum Mile Festival takes place rain or shine on Tuesday, June 12, 2018, from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm.  Over 1.5 million people have taken part in this annual celebration since its inception. Festival attendees can walk the Mile on Fifth Avenue between 82nd Street and 105th Street while visiting six of New York City’s finest cultural institutions, which are open free to the public throughout the evening.