With exhibitions and educational programs that inspire people of all cultural backgrounds, the Jewish Museum explores 4,000 years of art and Jewish culture. The museum was founded in 1904 in the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, where it has been housed for decades. In 1944, Frieda Schiff Warburg donated her family mansion to the seminary which has been home to the museum since 1947. Early exhibitions featured avant-garde art, but in the 1970s the museum broadened its scope to encompass all of Jewish culture, including the development of a collection of archaeological material from ancient Israel and an education department. In 1993, the museum completed a $36 million expansion, the centerpiece of which is the exhibit Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey. Because of its encyclopedic breadth this exhibit, covering 4,000 years, tells the unfolding story of Jewish culture and identity, and provides a frame of reference for subjects explored in temporary shows, such as Schoenberg, Kandinsky, and the Blue Rider; The Power of Conversation: Modigliani: Beyond the Myth; Jewish Women and Their Salons; and Sarah Bernhardt: The Art of High Drama.
The museum also operates a 232-seat auditorium, a café, two shops and an education center with classrooms, and children's gallery. The education department presents programs for individuals, families and school groups. The Warburg mansion was designed by Charles Gilbert and completed in 1908. The renovation and expansion, designed by Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates, was unusual in that it extended the Gothic chateau-style of the original mansion to the rest of the building. The result is an astonishing seamlessness that helps to make it one of Fifth Avenue's architectural highpoints.
2016-12-15 17:30:00 (Ended) | Talk - Dialogue and Discourse: Christian Boltanski and Jens Hoffmann | Find Tickets |
2016-12-18 11:00:00 (Ended) | Hanukkah Family Day: Art, Music, and More | Find Tickets |
2017-02-16 18:30:00 (Ended) | Bang on a Can: Performance by Bonjour | Find Tickets |
2017-02-19 13:00:00 (Ended) | The Ghetto, Venice, and the Jews: A Historical Journey | Find Tickets |
2017-03-16 23:00:00 (Ended) | The Arcades: Contemporary Art & Walter Benjamin | Find Tickets |