The Jewish Museum will present Edith Halpert and the Rise of American Art, the first exhibition to explore the remarkable career of Edith Gregor Halpert (1900-1970), the influential American art dealer and founder of the Downtown Gallery in New York City. A pioneer in the field and one of New York’s first female art dealers, Halpert propelled American art to the fore at a time when the European avant-garde still enthralled the world. The artists she supported — Stuart Davis, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O'Keeffe, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Ben Shahn, and Charles Sheeler key among them — became icons of American modernism. Halpert also brought vital attention to overlooked nineteenth-century American artists, such as William Michael Harnett, Edward Hicks, and Raphaelle Peale, as well as little-known and anonymous folk artists. With her revolutionary program at the Downtown Gallery, her endless energy, and her extraordinary business acumen, Halpert inspired generations of Americans to value the art of their own country, in their own time.

Bang on a Can and the Jewish Museum’s 2019-2020 concert season continues on Thursday, November 14, 2019 at 7:30pm at the Jewish Museum (1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street). Grammy-nominated jazz singer, new music composer, and long time collaborator with Bang on a Can, Theo Bleckmann takes on the mysterious songbook of British pop icon Kate Bush in a project entitled Hello Earth! – The Music of Kate Bush that goes beyond re-creating her music to further realms of sound and interpretation. Joining him on this performance are long-time collaborators percussionist Ben Wittman, bassist Chris Tarry, and keyboardist Henry Hey,  along with special guest, multi-instrumentalist Caleb Burhans on viola, guitar, and laptop.

The Jewish Museum launches its fall 2019 season of public programs in October with lectures, panel discussions, performances, adult studio workshops, and more. Highlights include a panel discussion on American art today and politics with contemporary artists Mike Cloud, Louis Fratino, and Tschabalala Self on November 7; and performances featuring Theo Bleckmann on November 14 and Dynasty Handbag on November 21.

The Jewish Museum kicks off its fall 2019 season of family programs in September with concerts, family days, art workshops, and more. New this fall is The Sound of Color, a six-week program in partnership with the Diller-Quaile Music School for preschoolers and their families exploring how music and art intertwine. The Museum welcomes Dan and Claudia Zanes to its slate of family concerts, joining The FunkeyMonkeys, Hopalong Andrew, and Nefesh Mountain. Other programs on the schedule are the annual Hanukkah Family Day on December 15; 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 Masterpieces and Curiosities: The Benguiat Collection from September 6, 2019 through July 2020, featuring over 30 works from the Museum’s H. Ephraim and Mordecai Benguiat Family Collection. This collection of 300 examples of decorative and ceremonial art related to Jewish culture is one of the formative groups of the Jewish Museum’s collection. The exhibition includes objects ranging from a newly restored Torah ark curtain from Istanbul (ca. 1735) to an ornately embroidered silk eighteenth-century pillowcase for the Passover Seder from Bulgaria.

Come to the Jewish Museum every Thursday in August to toast the influential singer/songwriter on the occasion of the exhibition Leonard Cohen:  A Crack in Everything. Enjoy cocktails in the Jewish Museum lobby or head downstairs to Russ & Daughters at the Jewish Museum to dine on food from the Appetizing Counter.

The Jewish Museum has launched new audio tours that will illuminate works of art from the Museum’s collection, highlight a range of perspectives, and provide an engaging experience for visitors of all backgrounds. Tours feature the voices of contemporary artists Maira Kalman, Isaac Mizrahi, Arlene Shechet, and Kehinde Wiley; curators and rabbis discussing Jewish traditions and rituals through ceremonial objects; students talking about art; verbal descriptions for visitors who are blind or have low vision; and a podcast-style conversation between artists Ross Bleckner and Deborah Kass discussing their work in the context of Jewish identity and LGBTQ+ history.

The Jewish Museum presents Personas: George Segal’s Abraham and Isaac, an installation of the life-sized plaster sculpture by American artist George Segal (American, 1924–2000), being shown at the Museum for the first time. The artist adapted the biblical story of Abraham, who was commanded to sacrifice his son Isaac as proof of his obedience and faith in God, as an allegory for the 1970 tragedy at Kent State University in Ohio. During the incident, National Guardsmen, who were ordered to control an escalated anti-Vietnam protest, shot and killed four students, wounding nine others. The exhibition will be on view from July 19, 2019 through October 2020.

The Jewish Museum will present Television and Beyond: Workplace Encounters from July 12, 2019 to March 20, 2020, featuring a selection of television clips exploring interactions in the workplace from classics such as The West Wing and contemporary programs like Atlanta and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. 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.

Bang on a Can and the Jewish Museum’s 2019-2020 concert season, pairing innovative music with the Museum’s exhibitions, begins on Thursday, July 11, 2019 at 7:30pm. The Young People’s Chorus of New York City (YPC), founded and directed by Francisco J. Núñez, perform a concert that will include songs and poems by Leonard Cohen and others, coinciding with the Jewish Museum’s exhibition, Leonard Cohen: A Crack in Everything. Recognized throughout New York City and internationally as one of the leading and most diverse children’s choirs, YPC is a longtime and frequent collaborator with Bang on a Can. The chorus has forged a unique presence in the city’s music community both as a champion commissioner and performer of new works by today’s leading composers and for its innovative vocal arrangements that consistently cross all musical borders.

Now celebrating its 41st year, the annual Museum Mile Festival takes place rain or shine on Tuesday, June 11, 2019, 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 110th Street while visiting eight of New York City’s finest cultural institutions, which are open free to the public throughout the evening. The Museum Mile Festival’s opening ceremony takes place at 5:45 pm at El Museo del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Avenue at 105th Street. Traditionally, the Commissioner of Cultural Affairs and other city and state dignitaries open the Festival. 

The Jewish Museum will present Rachel Feinstein: Maiden, Mother, Crone, the first survey of the New York-based artist in the United States, from November 1, 2019 through March 22, 2020. Three decades of Feinstein’s work in sculpture, installation, painting, drawing, and video, as well as a newly commissioned wall-relief, a panoramic wallpaper, and the artist’s sculptural maquettes will be brought together to emphasize her fascination with the dualistic nature of cultural expression and everyday life, how fundamental yet oppositional concepts coexist and are ceaselessly negotiated in art and the construction of identity. From Feinstein’s earliest to her most recent works, female figures and protagonists dominate — a distinguishing feature of both the artist’s practice and this exhibition. Feinstein probes how notions of “the feminine” manifest in the popular imagination, an investigation that pulses through and binds together Maiden, Mother, Crone.