The Jewish Museum

Free to city residents. Mizrahi exhibit wonderful! Museum gift shop closed for memorial day weekend which really disappointed me because it looked so great!

I visited the museum last week, and have mixed reviews based on the exhibits themselves.
The Isaac Mizrahi exhibit was by far, the most popular, and is the first ever museum exhibit devoted to the fashion designer. This exhibit focuses on one aspect of his career, his high-​end couture for women. The core of the show consists of 43 faceless, white mannequins sporting outfits dating from the late ‘80s to 2010 displayed on two shin-​high platforms. There is, blessedly, no theatrical fuss — no dramatic lighting or stage setting. The installations are crowded, yet each piece has enough space of its own to be clearly seen. I liked his Desert Storm dress the best, from an artistic perspective: it was a US Army uniform-​inspired piece, a dress made of silk printed with brown and sand-​colored camouflage, accessorized with a wide, three-​buckle leather belt and a black beret, that would be worm at a chic party, transcending the boundaries between feminine and masculine, soft and hard features, the coddled and the brave. I found all of his sketches to be great art in and of themselves, and the fact that he sketches everything first shows he’s a genuine artist. I liked the more pop art-​inspired pieces, as well, like his Indian motif-​inspired jackets and whatnot.
The permanent exhibit left me a little underwhelmed. I love all sorts of Judaica, and the collection here had many interesting items, and I had the pleasure of serving as an interpreter/​guide to several who came, as I explained the function of a page of Talmud and its layout, the function of an aron kodesh and ner tamid, tools for brit milah, havdalah, kiddush cups, and the like. I loved the collection of Chanukah menoros, and I was mesmerized by the wall taken from a Persian synagogue, in Islamic blue motifs.
Another exhibit we enjoyed was the Television Project, which explores the full range of the medium’s approach to anti-​Semitism, from the satire and humor of situation comedies to serious dramas. Clips from programs including «All in the Family,» «Downton Abbey,» «Mad Men,» «Gunsmoke,» and «The Mary Tyler Moore Show» were featured. Scenes included Mary Richards standing up to an anti-​Semitic friend in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, «Some of My Best Friends Are Rhoda;» Jews fighting to prevent neo-​Nazis from holding a rally in a predominantly Jewish town in Skokie; and Jewish emigrants confronting hatred in the Old West in the Gunsmoke episode, «This Golden Land» (featuring a young Richard Dreyfuss) and Little House on the Prairie, «The Craftsman.» Also included are clips from the first episode of the acclaimed Mad Men, where Roger Sterling suggests to Don Draper that their ad agency hire a Jew prior to meeting with a new Jewish-​owned client; an LA Law segment, «Rohner vs. Gradinger,» depicting a confrontation between a Jewish lawyer and his Jew-​hating WASP mother-​in-​law and her close friend; my favorite TV character of all time Archie Bunker looking for a «Jew lawyer» because Jews are «smarter and shrewder» in Norman Lear’s groundbreaking All in the Family, «Oh, My Aching Back;» and a scene from Downton Abbey showing the family matriarch (Maggie Smith) expressing displeasure at news of a cousin romantically involved with a Jew. In addition, the exhibition includes art and artifacts from the collection of the Jewish Museum relating to anti-​Semitism, ranging from paintings by Philip Evergood and Robert Moskowitz to an advertisement from a 1950 comic book featuring Superman lending his voice to the fight for tolerance during Brotherhood Week.
The museum building itself is a converted mansion that used to be owned by Felix Warburg, a banker and philanthropist, whose home is constructed in the Francois I/​chateauesque style, a revival of early French renaissance architecture. The house is built in limestone with mansard roofs, dripping moldings, and gables.

Fashion is one of my favorite art forms since its wearable! I have followed designers for twenty years and Isaac Mizrahi is a notable one. Isaac Mizrahi hit a fashion stride in the nineties while working with the «Supermodels» (the time when the names Christy, Linda, Claudia and Naomi needed no explanation) and a film of an introduction to the world of fashion through the designer’s point of view called «Unzipped». The film allowed the customer or admirer to understand the thought process and work that it takes to make a collection.
When the Jewish Museum announced their Isaac Mizrahi exhibit, there was no way I was going to miss it. The building itself is gorgeous and has incredible details from iron chandeliers and doors to the white carvings on the corners and ceiling. Right when walking in you see a rainbow of color swatches and threads. The exhibit is very small. I still enjoyed seeing the color block dress I remember so well. I enjoyed seeing the blown up floral dresses, the accessories section and the small movie portion. I loved seeing all the sketches but my favorite were the costumes. I had no idea that Mizrahi had designed theatrical costumes and they were stunning. The ostrich-​like pink flamingo creature was my favorite. I would have hoped that the exhibit would have captured Mizrahi’s career and life more. He was one of the first designers to ever work with Target. And I absolutely love that he wanted to share his heART with everyone regardless of money.
The museum is FREE on Saturday. The only con is that means you can’t stuff your face with delicious lox and bagels from Russ & Daughters.
The Unorthodox section on the first floor was wild and risqué. It is not to be missed. I especially loved the strange water color paintings from Canadian artist, Nick Payne and the Vampire Ladies of Michigander’s Auste.

Went for the Isaac Mizrahi exhibit which was awesome! Reasonably priced & you can download the tour to your phone instead of paying $ 5 — bring your head phones! Loved all the designs, sketches and video!

The Unilocal mobile listing still has a UES Passport checkin special from 9 months ago, so there’s that. Went for free Saturdays, accosted by a staffer to check in and fill out a form under the hanging watches in the lobby as I entered, with the huge letdown of a realization that Russ & Daughters downstairs closes that day (rather than Wednesday when the Museum itself is closed), unlike their Houston original. We found the exhibits pretty interesting, but definitely won’t be back, especially at full price. FYI Bathroom mirrors are incredibly low, and security actually does their job, asking folks to put their coats back on.

My sister and I decided to visit the museum on a Saturday. Therefore it was free. Currently they have a temporary exhibit called «Unorthodox» and honestly we could have spent even more hours there. Not only were the works of art enticing, it prompted discussion since there were no explanations. 55 artist’s works were displayed and they did not disappoint. My personal favorite was short film called Pamela by Meriem Bennani. My only warning is the film, along with a majority of the artwork contains themes that may be unsuitable for children.
The rest of the museum was ok. The interactive children’s part was closed for the Sabbath and an entire floor was blocked off. That being said, the temporary exhibit was the main attraction for us.
Photograph is allowed.

Wonderful museum! Lots of great things about Jewish culture.

Saturday was my third visit to the museum. I bring friends and family to see the temporary exhibits and the permanent collection. The permanent collection traces a long history. Everything has been set up so it is very easy to follow the historical lives of the Jewish culture.
The place is very quiet and spacious. It’s free on Saturdays. Free is a rare thing in this city!
No matter what your background the benefits of visiting this museum for the education you will receive is priceless. Their web site is excellent so visit that too. It will give you all the information you need prior to your visit. A detailed list of the holiday closures is found there. It is obvious they keep their web site up to date.
As for the physical space and operation, it looks like it would be a wonderful place to work! Or even volunteer!

The Jewish Museum was founded in 1904 as part of the Jewish Theological Seminary (which is affiliated with the Conservative Jewish movement). In 1944 it was gifted the French château-​style Warburg Mansion and has been located there since 1947. It combines a well organized long-​term display of objects which explain Judaism and Jewish culture with an active fine art special exhibition program. Special exhibitions link in different ways to Judaism, in some cases featuring Jewish artists and in others Jewish historical themes. The Jewish Museum has an active program of lectures and events as well as a full gift shop; its café is currently closed for renovation. Historically it closed on Saturdays in observance of the Jewish Sabbath, but it changed policy some years ago and the galleries (although not gift shop) are now open on Saturdays without charge. Because of security concerns there are usually NYPD officers outside the building and all visitors must pass through a metal detector to enter. The building is fully accessible; facilities are on the lower level near the (closed) café.

Wenn man den Central Park besucht, sollte man auch die Museum Mile an der 1109 Fifth Avenue auf Höhe der 92^nd Street im Osten des Parks ansteuern. Hier befindet sich auch das Jewish Museum mit einer beträchtlichen Sammlung jüdischer Kunst und Kultur.
Das Jewish Museum befindet sich im Viertel Carnegie Hill an der Upper East Side und ist in einem ehemaligen Herrenhaus von Felix Warburg untergebracht. Das Herrenhaus wirkt von außen sehr imposant und ist ein angemessenes Gebäude für ein Museum.
Das Museum verfügt über eine Sammlung von 26.000 Objekten und ist die größte und umfangreichste Sammlung jüdischer Kunst und Kultur auf der Welt. Die Kunstobjekte stehen mit dem Judentum mittelbar bzw. unmittelbar in Verbindung und reichen vom Altertum bis zur Moderne. Allerdings findet man hier auch Kunstwerke von James Tissot, Marc Chagall, George Segal, Eleanor Antin und Deborah Kass.
Neben der Dauerausstellung «Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey» werden auch immer wieder interessante Sonderausstellungen gezeigt. Die umfangreiche Sammlung ist hauptsächlich durch Geschenke und Spenden entstanden. Die Witwe des 1937 verstorbenen Philanthropisten Felix Warburg, hat das Herrenhaus der Familie als dauerhaften Sitz des Museums gestiftet.
Als besonderen Service bietet das «The Jewish Museum» Bildungsangebote für Erwachsene und Familien an. Konzerte, Filme, Symposien und Vorträge zu den Ausstellungen runden das Angebot ab.
Der Eintritt war am Samstag kostenlos und wir wurden am Eingang einem gründlichen Security Check unterzogen. Insgesamt ein interessanter Museumsbesuch.

Very good. But not enough about thé création of Israël and how zionists stole Palestine Land

Living in NYC for 20+ years and I had never been here???
I came here with a dear Dominican that shares my love of Art and all things transitory. He showed me the expos entitled «Using Walls, Floors, and Ceilings» and «Strong Language» by the artist Mel Bochner who is a founding figure of the Conceptual Art movement of the 1960s.
The series focuses on the artist’s career-​long fascination with the cerebral and visual associations of words. In his spectacular recent paintings, Bochner juxtaposes the vernacular and the proper, the formal and the vulgar, and the high versus the low, using terms often appropriated from Roget’s Thesaurus.
Pretty powerful stuff! I will definitely be back especially since I crashed a «tour».

Great place to come and enjoy a beautiful museum. It is free on every Saturdays, which makes the deal even better. There are 4 floors, and the 1^st and 2^nd floor always have special exhibits and the 3^rd and 4^th have historical and cultural artifacts. I thoroughly enjoyed it on my Museum Mile adventure.

Smallish museum that gets overlooked — but definitely visit if you’ve seen all the other major museums in NYC and enjoy history, since most NYC museums are related to art as opposed to culture. This museum has very convenient free hours (all day Saturday and Thurs 5 – 8 pm).
The first 2 floors were modern art, of which I’m not too appreciative (I saw «Other Primary Structures», «Strong Language», «Using Floors and Walls»). But on the upper floors, you get to see the permanent exhibition which has more artifacts related to Jewish heritage and history. The exhibits are very informative and interesting even if you’re not Jewish. I’ll definitely be back to visit again.
Extra plus: this is housed in a former mansion from the 1890’s so you can still see the beautiful moldings and doors and imagine what it used to be like.

I’m not Jewish, and even I found this museum incredibly fascinating. I’m a big history geek. And this place was full of that. I came here for the Art Spiegelman exhibit over the winter. I also happened to be there to see a mini documentary on Spiegelman. (The Art of Spiegelman) His MAUS had a profound effect on me. Well put together, and nicely done w/​artifacts.
For the money, I would definitely go back, even w/​o a Spiegelman exhibit.

I came here with the girl to check out the Chagall exhibit for what was some sort of celebration of the artist that night… to be honest I’m not actually sure, it was really just a trick by the girlfriend to lure me here with food and booze. Outside of the exhibit hall there was a healthy sampling of brews from Belgium and France and they were fantastic, particularly the La Trappe Dubbel. First time I actually enjoyed visiting the museum… oh and yeah there was some art in there or something. Mostly nonsensical stuff made by some self loathing artist who either died of loneliness or overdose.
Security note, this place is ridiculous. We had to wait in line for people to get screened. Bags are searched and you must pass through a magnetometer. Coat check is free but lets be honest, show security is exactly that.

Marc Chagall’s story was touching and beautiful — I never knew he was such a romantic.
It was a day of museums for S and I — this museum was a bit annoying, since this place was too small for people to linger around.
This was the only museum that I found where people sat there for hours on end, not looking at the art, but just chilling there… literally doing nothing, but taking up valuable space.
People here were the least well mannered — cutting in the coat check lines and pushing.
I couldn’t enjoy Marc’s work as much due to the chaos of other museum goers.
I did a quick tour and got out of the overcrowded place as fast as I could.
I also felt the museum should have coordinated this exhibit a lot better and also put certain descriptions at the beginning of the work line rather at the end of the work.

Stopped by on pay-​what-​you wish Thursday night (Saturdays too, my Tribespeople) to check out the soon-​to-​close Chagall exhibit. Before finding the right floor, we trekked through some of the permanent exhibit. If you whiz by you might think you’re in a Judaica-​strewn family room of your elderly aunt from Long Island. But stop for a closer look, and you’ll go through the fascinating history of the Jews of BC – Saul, David, Solomon, and all. I’d love to return sometime for a couple hours’ browsing.
Chagall was why we came, though, and Chagall we got. It was a very well curated and contained exhibit that you can do justice in 30 – 45 minutes. I didn’t have an audio guide or podcast, which some people did, but there was some context added to the painting captions by a European tour guide who shepherded a large group of Euros through the rooms (sometimes hogging up art ogling space for several minutes at a time).
Exhibits were very well kept and the staff were all very nice, to a tee.

The museum is free on Saturdays. Get there earlier, by the time I left at 2pm there was a line to enter. Security screening mandatory. Free coat check. Chagall exhibit was fabulous, amazing, gorgeous and crowded. Get there early!
The café is closed on Saturday so I walked to Café Sabarsky. Gift shop closed as well, didn’t miss it.
Enjoyed the visit very much as did my mother.

This review is primarily for the Chagall exhibit (only until Feb 2, 2014 — get there before its gone!) I’m a big Chagall fan, so I was expecting to like it. But I was blown away — this was one of the best exhibits I’ve seen in a long time, perhaps ever, Chagall fan or not.
Chagall brings to mind, airy, light, bright and whimsical paintings of flowers, lovers, and goats with violins. This was Chagall like I’ve never seen him before. The focus is on Chagall’s paintings made during WWII. Many of these paintings are dark, even scary, depicting what was going on in Chagall’s home village in Russia during the pogroms and deportations. The typical Chagall-​style paintings of lovers in this exhibit are all from the period after his wife Bella died — you see paintings of his wife in a wedding gown on one side of the canvas and his new lover, Virgina, on the other side, with the painter in the middle with two faces. They’re extraordinary!
There’s also an entire room of paintings of Jesus on the cross, in a variety of styles — Chagall painting himself as the crucified Jesus, Jesus wearing a Jewish prayer shawl and teffilin with a sign above him that reads «I am a Jew», Jesus painted with a halo and typical Christian savior iconography. Chagall saw the image of Jesus on the cross as a powerful symbol of Jewish suffering in Europe. And these images are provocative, powerful, and challenging.
You can download a free audio tour for the Chagall exhibit for your smartphone, which I recommend doing. If you don’t have a smartphone, you can rent an audio tour at the museum. But the signs accompanying the paintings are informative enough that you will get a good sense of everything.
There’s a good student discount ($ 7.50 with student ID.) Also, they are free on all Saturdays, in honor of Shabbat. And it’s pay-​what-​you-​will Thursdays from 5:00 — 8:00 PM. We went on Thursday at around 4:00 PM, and it was the perfect time to go. Other reviewers found the Chagall exhibit crowded, but at that time of day (even during a peak December tourist time), the museum wasn’t crowded at all.
************************
The permanent exhibition is lovely as well, and I recommend it for anyone with Jewish heritage or an interest in Jewish history and culture. One thing that I really appreciated about the permanent exhibition was its positive focus, on the resilience of Jewish people and variety of Jewish experiences, as well as Jewish art, religion, law, language, and identity. So many museums with a Jewish focus are Holocaust museums – which are extremely valuable and important! But the positive is important as well, and that’s what this museum emphasizes. There is a small room about the Shoah (Holocaust), off to the side — so it is presented not as the core defining feature of what it means to be Jewish, but as one of many events in a long and varied history.

Portrait of the artist as a young %@&*!, the Art Spiegelman exhibit is phenomenal. Yes, you may have to read over some old Jewish ladies heads, but well worth seeing the early sketches and works of this innovative and thoughtful artist/​cartoonist of Maus, many New Yorker covers and to my recent knowledge, Garbage Pail Kids!
The Jewish Museum, located in the UES is housed in a converted old mansion. Security is tight, so leave the concealed weapons at home. Admission is free on Saturday’s, but I’d say the usual $ 14 is money well spent. * The gift shop is closed on Saturday’s, just a FYI.
We went for the Spiegelman exhibit (
), stayed for the Chagal exhibit (
) and checked out the permanent traditional Jewish exhibit that spans the era of Judaism world wide. The two guest exhibits were wonderful. I mean Spiegelman is a legend as well as Chagal. Go. Space is of the essence, so it does get crowded so if you can come at an off time, I’d suggest it. The permanent Jewish installation is interesting; a lot of art and artifacts from the different ages and regions of Jewish residence world wide. It’s a good idea to save that for the last part of your tour, since you can breeze through it.
Overeall, the Jewish Museum is well worth the 2 – 4 hours of exploration, Jewish or not.

I was a little disappointed how crowded the Chagall exhibit was. There were some spaces that were way too tight with too many people in them. Or the descriptions were all placed close together, so lots of people would crowd around one area.
The crowd here is primarily… Jewish. Lots of families and older Jewish men and women here. It made me feel like I was back home!
They clearly attract some really great exhibits. Definitely worth checking out.

I came in to see the recent Chagall exhibit, and was not disappointed. The progressive walk through his career and stages of his life and paintings was well worth the visit.
The space however leaves more to be desired. It was borderline cramped and claustrophobic, especially with heavy crowds looking on for minutes at a time at each painting. The building is a converted mansion, so the space limitations are evident. To add insult to injury, neighboring rooms were booked up for some private event and were noisy and distracting. Add kids running around from art distracted parents, and you get the picture

When’s a good time to visit? Sunday you say? Try Shabbat — Saturday — when there’s no admission charge, no school and camp day trippers. Just a few, primarily Israeli, tourists who know how to get a bargain. They just happened to be here today. On any day, the value of the experience would far exceed the cost of admission. Significanceand benefactor level of exhibits is mostly greater than the Jewish Museums visited in, say, London, Amsterdam, Montréal, or Philadelphia.
Be looking for Marc Chagall exhibit in Autumn through early 2014.

Pretty good museum — Free on Saturdays
The top fourth and third floors are the most interesting. There are a lot of historical objects related to Jewish religious and everyday life. I saw circumcision kits, Torah arks, old Torahs, Torah pointers, Kiddush cups, Shabbat candlesticks, all kinds of menorahs, a wedding sofa, baby amulets, ancient funerary stones, and tools for making matzah etc. Prepare to spend more than an hour looking at the intricate details on many of the items.
The second floor houses a temporary exhibition where I saw some marriage contracts, divorce contracts, clocks, hidden books etc. This exhibit was pretty quick to get through.
The museum itself is housed in a beautiful building.

Housed in a former mansion, and a bit away from the Met lies the Jewish Museum, which along with the permanent collection covering Jewish history and culture, has a current trend of having notable modern and contemporary art exhibits.
We went for the Kihende Wiley show, an urban gay black man who is known for painting realistic portraits of black men
in art historical backdrops, like riding Napoleons horse, or in a decorative motif
you might find in a Medieval manuscript.
He is currently doing a series in different countries, where he paints the handsome young black men that he finds representative of that country. On display here was the one from Isreal.
We then hopped upstairs and became immersed in all the Jewish religious paraphernalia. There are two floors detailing Jewish history and culture.
Downstairs was some fluffy turn of the century French pre impressionist exhibit, which was a hit with all the polite Jewish ladies, but not my deal.
This museum rocks for it’s permanent collection and the variety of temporary ones.

Gorgeous building, well-​curated special exhibits, great programming, kids’ space, kosher restaurant. .. and free on Saturdays.
But you knew that.
Let me tell you about the Cooper Shop (the one within the museum building). It’s comprehensive, with ritual items, jewelry, books, toys, cards, CDs, and knickknacks. I was impressed with the range of design: free-​form Chanukah menorahs just down the aisle from challah covers so elegant you could give one as a wedding gift. The prices seem very reasonable. (There’s a satellite shop in the West Side JCC.)
The Celebrations Shop next door specializes in higher-​end ritual objects, framed art, and customizable ketubbot (marriage contracts); I’ve found that the staff can be a bit snobby, and it feels more like a gallery than a store.