The Jewish Museum Open December 25 with Art Exhibitions, Family Concerts, and More

NEW YORK, NY, December 12, 2019 – Continuing its popular tradition, The Jewish Museum will be open on Wednesday, December 25 from 11 am to 5 pm.  For those looking for something special to do on Christmas, the Jewish Museum offers a fun-filled way to spend an enjoyable day during the holiday season and Hanukkah.

Celebrate the third day of Hanukkah at the Jewish Museum with a drop-in workshop where kids can paint luminous scenes in celebration of the glowing lights of the holiday. On view in Scenes from the Collection are 80 Hanukkah lamps from North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, ranging in date from the Renaissance to the present. The Jewish Museum’s collection of Hanukkah lamps is the largest and finest in the world at nearly 1,050 pieces, and was amassed over the 115 years of the Museum’s existence.

Nefesh Mountain, a bluegrass band with a Jewish perspective, will perform two concerts for Hanukkah at 11:30 am and 2:00 pm.  (See concert ticket information below.)

Exhibitions on view are Edith Halpert and the Rise of American Art; Rachel Feinstein: Maiden, Mother, Crone; and Scenes from the Collection.

Russ & Daughters at the Jewish Museum’s take-out and appetizing counter will be open from 11 am to 3 pm (the restaurant will be closed).

Admission to the Jewish Museum is $18 for adults; $12 for senior citizens; $8 for students; FREE for visitors 18 and under. Concert tickets for Nefesh Mountain are $18 per person, and include Museum admission.

For information on December 25 at the Jewish Museum, and to purchase tickets online, the public can visit TheJewishMuseum.org/december25.


December 25 at the Jewish Museum

FAMILY ACTIVITIES

Nefesh Mountain in Concert
Two Shows: 11:30 am (for ages 3 and up) and 2:00 pm (for ages 8 and up)
Nefesh Mountain – singer Doni Zasloff and her multi-instrumentalist husband Eric Lindberg – present a blend of bluegrass, Celtic, and Appalachian melodies with a Jewish soul. They will perform original melodies from their albums Songs from the Mountain and Beneath the Open Sky along with Hanukkah favorites.
Concert tickets (includes Museum admission): $18 general public, $14 Jewish Museum family members

Drop-In Art Workshop: Luminous Painted Scenes
1:00 pm–4:00 pm
Kids will paint radiant scenes on canvas board inspired by the glowing light of the Hanukkah holiday and the works of Jacob Lawrence, Stuart Davis, and Georgia O’Keeffe on view in the exhibition Edith Halpert and the Rise of American Art. Ages 3 and up
Free with Museum admission. RSVP Recommended

EXHIBITIONS ON VIEW

Edith Halpert and the Rise of American Art|
This is 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.

Rachel Feinstein: Maiden, Mother, Crone
The first survey of the New York-based artist in the United States, this exhibition includes three decades of Rachel Feinstein’s work in sculpture, painting, and video, as well as a panoramic wallpaper, a major new commission, and the artist’s maquettes for sculpture. Taken together, the works emphasize the artist’s fascination with dualities: her investigations of masculinity and femininity or good and evil echo her formal explorations of balance and precariousness or positive and negative space. Feinstein’s art follows myriad lines of inquiry, but the idea of the feminine is central. She has made a sustained examination of the many ways this concept is manifested culturally. Female protagonists and figures proliferate in her work and bind it together across diverse media.

Scenes from the Collection
The Jewish Museum's ongoing collection exhibition, Scenes from the Collection features nearly 600 works from antiquities to contemporary art. Art and Jewish objects are shown together, affirming values that are shared among people of all faiths and backgrounds. Highlights include a small-scale version of Deb Kass's iconic sculpture OY/YO; Kehinde Wiley’s large-scale portrait, Alios Itzhak (The World Stage: Israel); George Segal’s monumental sculpture, Abraham and Isaac; and over 80 Hanukkah lamps from the Museum’s renowned collection.