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The Jewish Museum is open 11 am - 6 pm. Please review visitor policies.
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January marks one of the highlights on my annual cultural calendar, the New York Jewish Film Festival, co-presented by the Jewish Museum and our longstanding partner, Film at Lincoln Center. Now in its 32nd year, NYJFF is one of the oldest and most influential Jewish film festivals in the world. This year’s outstanding lineup of documentaries, features, and shorts includes the world premiere of Charlotte Salomon: Life and the Maiden, an intimate and expansive look at the young woman who produced a brilliant body of multimedia work before she was murdered in Auschwitz at age 26. The Festival runs from January 12 - January 23.
Another important partner, The Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation, has played a vital role in advancing the Museum’s work with living artists. Barnett Newman (1905-1970), one of the most influential artists associated with Abstract Expressionism, was regarded as a stalwart and generous supporter of his colleagues, befriending and mentoring countless younger artists.
In 2018, the Foundation endowed the Museum’s first curatorship dedicated to contemporary art. That position is currently held by Liz Munsell, who joined the Jewish Museum’s staff in August and is working to enhance the diversity of artists and cultures represented in the Museum’s contemporary program through exhibitions, acquisitions, commissions, and special projects. Liz often says how honored she is to have this unique charge. Her outstanding relationships with artists, her track record of timely exhibitions, and her deep knowledge of Latin American and Latinx art boosts the global scope of our program while reinforcing its rigor and scholarship. She is currently at work on her first temporary exhibition at the Museum, which you will hear about in the coming months.
The Foundation’s generous support of the Museum also extends to works of art from the Newmans’ personal collection and works created by recipients of The Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation Award. This coming March, the Museum will open After “The Wild”: Contemporary Art from The Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation Collection guest curated by Kelly Taxter, our former Newman Curator, with Shira Backer, Leon Levy Associate Curator. The exhibition highlights works by 47 artists of varying ages and nationalities made between 1963 and 2022, part of a larger gift to the Museum made in 2018. Diverse in style, training, background, and age, the artists share Newman’s seriousness of purpose and his drive to explore the outer limits of his own ideas. The exhibition title is inspired by Barnett Newman’s 1950 painting The Wild. Standing 96 inches tall and 1½ inches wide, the work consists of a dark orange “Zip” set against razor-thin bands of black and contrasts sharply with the heroically scaled paintings for which Newman is known. In Newman’s own account, The Wild was meant to test whether something modest could hold its own against something grand. The Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation collection will also be the subject of a forthcoming catalogue.
Last, I’m proud to report that our current show, New York: 1962-1964, made both the New York Times’s “Best Art of 2022” and “Best Art Books of 2022” lists. It’s a testament to everyone here—not just our stellar exhibition team, but every staff member—who persevered through the pandemic to execute our full programming schedule as planned, including this ambitious and technically challenging exhibition. Our Senior Director of Strategic Communications, Anne Scher, who is in her 39th year at the Museum, tells us the Times’s recognition is a Jewish Museum “first.”
And, of course, we couldn’t do this work without the loyal support of members like you. Warm wishes for a wonderful holiday season and a happy, healthy 2023.
Claudia Gould, Helen Goldsmith Menschel Director
The Jewish Museum’s dynamic rotating collection exhibition features a diverse range of works from ancient to contemporary times through a series of exhibitions, or "scenes." Current highlights include Personas: Artists on Artists, which explores the Museum's collection of portraits through artists’ portrayals of other artists and of themselves; and Signs and Symbols: The Zodiac, closing in February, which features works and ceremonial objects depicting the astrological signs. Objects on view in The Zodiac range from c. 1300 to the 1950s and originate from Austria, Denmark, Germany, Iran, Israel, Italy, Poland, and the United States.
The Sassoons reveals the fascinating story of a remarkable Jewish family, following four generations from Iraq to India, China, and England through a rich selection of works collected by family members over time.
After “The Wild”: Contemporary Art from The Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation Collection highlights works by 47 intergenerational and internationally-based artists made between 1963 and 2022, drawn from a larger gift to the Jewish Museum in 2018 comprising a striking range of contemporary artworks made by the recipients of The Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation Award.
This year's edition of New York Jewish Film Festival begins next week. Now in its 32nd year, NYJFF presents a diverse range of films from around the world, including World, U.S., and N.Y. premieres, that explore the Jewish experience. The Festival, a long-running collaboration with Film at Lincoln Center, will run from January 12-23, 2023, with in-person screenings at the Walter Reade Theater and two virtual offerings on Film at Lincoln Center's streaming platform.
New York Jewish Film Festival 2023
January 12 - 23, 2023
$15 General Public
$12 Students, Seniors, Persons with Disabilities
$10 Members, with code MEMBER23
$10 Virtual, General Public; or $15 Virtual Bundle
$8 Virtual, Members; or $12 Virtual Bundle, with code MEMBER23
Highlights include:
Following the international success of his acclaimed romantic drama The Cakemaker, which played in the 2018 New York Jewish Film Festival, writer, director, and editor Ofir Raul Graizer presents an enveloping and visually sumptuous story about sexual identity and personal trauma, following a man whose return to Israel triggers a series of life-altering events. Having lived in Chicago for a decade, Israeli swimming coach Eli (Michael Moshonov) goes back to Tel Aviv after the sudden death of his estranged father. While there, he visits his childhood friend Yotam (Ofri Biterman) and Yotam’s fiancée, Iris (Oshrat Ingedashet), with whom he runs a flower shop. The patient storytelling style Graizer forged in his previous film is in full evidence in America, a penetrating, tactile study of the inner lives of three people who will forever be physically and emotionally entwined, set against beautiful natural settings.
The extraordinary life of artist Charlotte Salomon has inspired novels, plays, operas, ballets, and even an animated film. This new documentary by Delphine and Muriel Coulin, making its world premiere, offers an intimate and expansive new look at the young woman who, though she was murdered in Auschwitz at age 26, completed an astounding amount of art, including some 1,300 paintings, before her deportation. Narrated as though from her own voice and featuring a cascade of her images, the film delves into Salomon's youth in Berlin, her escape to the south of France after the rise of the Nazis, her love affair with a music teacher, and the creative explosion that resulted in her brilliant body of multimedia work, ahead-of-its-time creations mixing gouache, text, and music.
Violeta Salama makes her moving and wise feature debut with this layered, comic-tinged drama about women breaking free from patriarchal tradition in a contemporary Jewish diasporic community. Set in Melilla, an autonomous, multicultural Spanish city on Africa’s north coast, the film centers on Alegría (Cecilia Suárez), a single mother who has returned to her hometown from Mexico for her niece Yael’s Orthodox Jewish wedding, although Alegría does not acknowledge her own Jewish heritage. Salama’s film sensitively depicts Alegría’s coming to terms with her roots and the cultural past she has rejected, while reconnecting with family and friends. The film features a standout performance from Suárez, and a gorgeous evocation of a fascinating and beautiful corner of the world not often seen on-screen.
Broadening and enriching the collection with new acquisitions of art—including paintings, sculpture, photography, and Judaica—is at the core of the Jewish Museum’s mission. The Museum was founded with a gift of ceremonial art from Mayer Sulzberger to the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1904. The Jewish Museum’s collection now spans 4,000 years of art and Jewish culture through nearly 30,000 objects from around the world, from ancient artifacts to cutting-edge contemporary art.
This imposing menorah is emblematic of artist and designer Gloria Kisch’s mature work in metal sculpture, the category of production for which she is best known. While Kisch’s use of stainless steel and her formal vocabulary are drawn from industry, her menorah’s elegant proportions and visible welds create a sense of refinement. Raised by a prominent collector of historical Judaica, Kisch made at least two dozen menorahs over the course of her career, continually reimagining the form of this ritual object while adhering to the requirements of its use. Menorah II was displayed on a partition wall in Kisch’s family’s loft, where it was visible from several rooms at once.
For over three decades, Weems has been working simultaneously in front of and behind the camera, making herself into an everywoman who acts as a witness and guide into the past. Here the muse (as Weems refers to her alter-ego), with her back to the camera, leads the viewer through the Jewish Ghetto of Ancient Rome towards the sunlit Tempio Maggiore di Roma (the Great Synagogue). This photograph, one of many by Weems that broadly explores the dynamics of power and public architecture, invites us to share the muse’s perspective as we confront such historically charged sites. Weems’s background – a mix of African American, Native American, and Jewish ancestry – presents a complex framework for understanding her interrelated lines of inquiry into sites of historical trauma such as this one.
This painting by Ethel Fisher depicts German-born painter and collagist Ilse Getz (1917-1992). Getz fled to New York in 1937, becoming a United States citizen in 1940. In the decade that followed, Getz studied at the Art Students League of New York, making collages and constructions that incorporated found objects. The framed puppetlike figure to the left of her figure alludes to Getz’s artistic creations. Fisher uses a gridlike architecture inflected by color and space, characteristic of her portrayals of artists from this period. This portrait is currently on view in Scenes from the Collection as part of Personas: Artists on Artists.
Levittoux-Świderksa is associated with the Polish School of Textile Arts, a postwar group of women artists whose work explored weaving beyond the realms of the purely decorative, pushing the medium into an experimental investigation of textiles and fibers. Her work emerged at immense scales, in three dimensions, and with energetic, biomorphic form. The looping, open weave of Arrangement of Ropes III [Układ lin III], as well as the mix of cord thickness, highlights the intricacies of her knots. Her woven work often combined natural elements including wool and sisal fibers, tree branches, pine needles and vines with manmade ones such as wire, plastic, or metal scraps. In both its use of unconventional materials and its loose, meandering stitches, Arrangement of Ropes III [Układ lin III] defies the utilitarian roots of tapestry, demanding instead a contemplative examination of its sculptural form.
Alex Katz was born to a family of Russian Jewish émigrés and grew up in Queens, New York. The artist created his first sculptural cut-out like this one in 1959. Here he pays homage to the art dealer Marilyn Fischbach (1931-2003), who opened a gallery on New York’s Madison Avenue in 1960. Fischbach was noted for her early recognition of major figures from a variety of artistic movements, including Katz and the painter and sculptor Eva Hesse, whose work is also in the museum’s collection. This portrait is currently on view in Scenes from the Collection as part of Personas: Artists on Artists.
This winter, participate in a range of on-site and virtual programs, from online art history classes led over Zoom, to in-person art-making workshops, and more.
Jewish artists Amedeo Modigliani and Marc Chagall are well-known—Chagall for his lyrical narratives of Jewish life in Vitebsk and Modigliani for his compelling portraits and nudes. Through past Jewish Museum exhibitions, this two-session course explores the lesser-known works of both artists, specifically, the powerful works Chagall created in response to World War II and Modigliani's astonishing drawings, which reveal his artistic process and illuminate the meaning of his paintings.
Tuesdays, February 7 & 14, 2 – 3 pm EST
Zoom, Virtual Program
Tickets: $30 General; $24 Jewish Museum Members
Explore relief printmaking techniques and learn to use a professional press during this two-part in-person workshop. Participants will draw inspiration from a range of printed works in the Jewish Museum collection to create multiple copies of their own original artwork.
Thursdays, February 9 & 16, 5:30 – 7:30 pm EST
Floor 4 Studio
Tickets: $80 General; $70 Members
Explore all upcoming public programs
Enjoy a collection of videos featuring curators, historians, artists, and experts speaking on a range of topics on the Jewish Museum's YouTube channel.
Discover stories behind works of art from the Jewish Museum’s outstanding collection in the ongoing Object Lesson series, including the recent release The Sabbath Table, featured here.
Watch a series of virtual talks, including interviews with artists, critics, and art historians, exploring a variety of exhibition-related themes, presented in conjunction with the exhibition, New York: 1962-1964.
Take part in programs from kid-friendly virtual tours to lively in-person concerts that keep families engaged with art and Jewish culture during the winter months.
A new season of family concerts at the Jewish Museum kicks off with Grammy-nominated Brady Rymer and The Little Band That Could, whose rootsy, accordion-laced pop and rock music will bring everyone to their feet. Each concert is followed by a drop-in art workshop in the art studio on Floor 4.
Sunday, January 22, 10:30 – 11:30 am EST
Scheuer Auditorium
Tickets: $18 Adult; $14 Adult Jewish Museum Family Member; Children 18 and under are free.
Discover how artists transform everyday materials into imaginative works of art. In celebration of the holiday of Tu B’Shevat (birthday of the trees), think about ways to be kind to the earth and reuse materials around you. See works in the Jewish Museum collection that include a playful mix of objects such as light bulbs, metal cans, stones, wood blocks, and more. Design a unique character out of materials you find or collect and transform these objects into something new.
Sunday, January 29, 10 – 11 am EST
Zoom, Virtual Program
Free with RSVP
Explore upcoming Family Programs
Get inspired by the Museum's exhibitions and collection, then create artwork using materials found at home with Art Break, a new short video series for families on the Jewish Museum's YouTube channel. Follow the instructions in each 1 - 2 minute video, and afterwards, post your creations on social media using #artbreak and tag @thejewishmuseum. We’ll share your work!
The Jewish Museum created the Warburg Society—a special group of generous individuals who support our future by incorporating a planned gift or bequest into their estate planning, as a tribute to Frieda Schiff Warburg. In 1944, Frieda made a generous and transformative commitment to the arts by donating her and Felix Warburg’s mansion to become a museum of art and Jewish culture, now known as the Jewish Museum.
For this newsletter we spoke with Ellen Weissman about her mother, long-time Jewish Museum Trustee and Warburg Society member, Mildred Weissman, who died on February 6, 2022 at the age of 102.
Mildred joined the Jewish Museum as a member of the Board of Trustees in 1988. Over the next 31 years, Mildred supported a series of landmark projects, including the original café (formerly known as the Café Weissman), the gift shop (now known as the “Cooper Shop”), and many exhibitions and lectures featuring Jewish women artists. On her mother’s perspective on the role of a Board Member, Ellen observed, “Mom wasn’t the kind of person to interfere in curatorial decisions. My mom’s attitude was, ‘They’re the curators, they’re the experts, they should decide.’"
At the end of her life, Mildred supported the Museum with a historic, multi-faceted bequest, including a substantial cash gift towards general operating expenses, artworks donated to the Museum’s collection, and artworks bequeathed for sale to support the Museum’s acquisitions. Ellen, the Executor of her mother’s estate, worked closely with the Museum on administering the bequests, including the process of selecting which works would be given to, and accepted by, the Museum. On this process, Ellen shared, “In the case of drafting my mom’s will, we went through the collection and identified items that none of the three kids thought they would want, then we took that list and went over it with Mom, who agreed that these works should be given to charity.” After consulting with an estate attorney, they learned that artworks do not have to be designated to a specific charity and can instead be designated to be given to a charity selected by the executor within 9 months of the date of death. As the executor, when it came time for Ellen to designate a charity, she explained that she “…started with the Jewish Museum because I knew of my mom’s longstanding affiliation, commitment, love of the Museum, and so I offered them everything.”
After reviewing the offer against the Museum’s collection guidelines, our curatorial team worked with Ellen and narrowed the designation to four pieces. Two of these works, a Lichtenstein and a Warhol, fit the Museum’s mission and would be included in the collection. As for the other two works, both sculptures by Henry Moore which were recently sold by Christie's, the curatorial staff explained in advance that although these works did not fit within the Museum’s collection, the Museum would love to receive them and sell them to raise funds for acquisitions that better fit the Museum’s mission. When asked about the decision to bequeath the sculptures knowing that they would be sold, Ellen shared that:
“I went to mom first, and said, would it bother you if the Jewish Museum, instead of displaying [the Henry Moore sculptures], sold them to raise cash for the collection. She said, ‘Absolutely not!’ She was a very practical person, and she understood that the Museum had a specific mission and types of art that they want to display, and that the Henry Moore sculptures might not fit….”
For any families thinking about making a similar legacy gift, Ellen advised, “If you are thinking of bequeathing particular pieces of art to a specific institution, you should have a conversation with the institution before doing so to make sure they’ll accept them.”
To summarize her mother’s hopes for her legacy at the Museum, Ellen shared that, “Mom cared a great deal about the Museum and about art and Jewish artists…. She loved being on the Jewish Museum board, and she stayed on it until she turned 100; that was the Board she was on the longest. The institution meant a lot to her, and she got great pleasure from it.”
The Jewish Museum is deeply grateful to Mildred and George Weissman for their lifetime of love for the Museum, their humor, and their generous bequest resulting in multi-million-dollar support for our collection. Special thanks to Ellen Weissman for her time, thoughtfulness, and assistance in producing this profile.
Curious about joining the Warburg Society? To learn more, please contact Ella Parker, Development Associate, at 212.423.3347 or eparker@thejm.org.
Enhance your Sabbath celebration with Judaica from the Jewish Museum Shop. Choose from a selection of challah covers, boards, and plates, kiddush cups, and other handcrafted and designed objects to usher in a beautiful break from the everyday.
Geometric Design Challah Board by American Heirloom
$100 Price
$90 Members
Anemone Challah Cover by Leo's Dry Goods
$124 Price
$111.60 Members
Glass Kiddush Cup by R+D Lab: Cameo Pink
$98 Price
$88.20 Members
"Time to Bloom" Vase by Yaara
$140 Price
$126 Members
