The Jewish Museum: 92nd St and Fifth Ave

The Jewish Museum is not a religious place.  It is a place where art (paintings, furnishings, documents, object de arte) has some Jewish connection.  It could be that a piece was created by a Jewish artist or writer (like the Ezra Keats exhibit to come in September), was collected by Jewish people (like the Cone sisters described below), or relates to Judaism historically or currently or in some other way.

They currently have an amazing exhibit of about 50 works of art (on loan from the Baltimore Museum of Art) by the Masters.  The collection was gathered by two remarkable German-Jewish-American sisters.  The Cone sisters, Claribel and Etta came from a well-to-do family in textiles and after the first World War (when the family made a fortune uniforming American soldiers), they traveled to Paris and began to collect art.  Over three decades, they amassed one of the world's greatest collections, including Picasso's (see below right, Woman with Bangs), Renoir's, van Gogh's, Cezanne's, Gauguin's ((see below center, Woman of the Mango) which was a portrait that Gauguin painted of his wife and was owned by Degas before being purchased by the Cones), and over 500 Matisse's (see below left, Seated Odalisque, Left Knee Bent, Ornamental Background and Checkerboard)!

Also currently on exhibit is an amazing exhibit of Maira Kalman, artist, author, textile designer, entrepreneur, etcetera.  She may be best known for her collaboration with Rick Meyerowitz that made the cover of the New Yorker of a map called "New Yorkistan." Or perhaps you know her for her work designing fabric for Isaac Mizrahi or Kate Spade?  Or perhaps you recognize her name from her children's books or her illustrations for Stunk and White's Elements of Style?  She also was the "M" in M & Co., a company she ran with her now-deceased husband for which they designed kitschy home goods like clocks. If you like accessible, modern art, you should like this exhibit.

The museum also has a couple of floors dedicated to Jewish history.  They have quite an impressive collection, which includes coins from the time Jesus was alive; spectacular "engagement jewelry" (a tradition in Baghdad in the early 1900s was for the groom to send sweets and jewelry to his prospective bride--see brooches and ring at left); archeological architectural remnants, extravagant altar pieces, and highly decorated Jewish marriage contract documents (the oldest on display is from the early 1300s!).

I will admit that one of the most moving pieces was a video of a Holocaust Remembrance Day which plays in a loop.  Sirens blare for two minutes in Israel and everything and everyone comes to a complete halt.  I don't know what came over me, but before I knew it, I was surprised by tears in my eyes and a tightness in my chest.  Whatever your opinions or political beliefs may be, this video and the surrounding displays of yellow star badges, anti-Semitic novelty items, and drawings by artists killed during the Holocaust cannot help but raise understanding and feeling.

I was really wowed by this museum, and if you have the time to visit, I think you will be too.  Check out hours, admission, current exhibits, and events at The Jewish Museum.

Museum of Biblical Art: Broadway and 61st St

I'm not a very religious person, and I generally don't like religious art (much of the older of which seems to be mass produced for the Catholic Church by "artists" who did not know much about perspective or realism).  However, as I walked between Columbus Circle and Lincoln Center to meet a friend yesterday, I noticed the Museum of Biblical Art (MOBiA) for the first time (amazing, I have walked by here innumerable times and never gave it much thought, thinking it was a church or something).  As I was a little early to meet my friend, I thought I would take a peak and see what there was to see for blogging purposes.

The museum is not religious in the sense that they do not advocate for anything and they focus on the artistic and/or historical nature of the pieces they have on display, so I felt pretty comfortable going through and enjoying the audio tour at my own pace.  Admission is $7 for adults and free on Sundays (which is when I would recommend going since it is unlikely to be very crowded) -- check out their website for a little background on their current exhibit (they have a pretty good slide show) and their permanent collection at MOBiA.

Their current exhibition called "Passion in Venice" has a lot of images of the Man of Sorrows, and most were the typical paintings and religious artifacts that don't normally do much for me, but there were a few pieces that truly elicited a visceral response (see photo at left -- his eyes in person are really penetrating, pained and questioning).  How can images of such anguish not evoke something?  It was riveting.

I was also impressed with the way the museum gathered major art pieces from all over the country.  There were paintings, texts and artifacts from the Metropolitan, the Gardner (in Boston), the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and various universities and private collectors.  There was at least one Manet, a couple of Cezannes and other famous artists (whose names I did not recognize).

The MOBiA's own collection of Bibles, which today contains scriptures printed in more than 2,000 languages spanning six centuries, including 15 manuscripts and 42 incunables (early printed books), is one of the largest and finest of its kind in the United States (see right).  The current display of bibles ranging from as old as the mid 1300s was really interesting.  I particularly liked the mini pocket bibles.

Anyway, if you are in the neighborhood, you might consider adding this to any visit to Lincoln Center (see my prior post a Lincoln Center 1 or Lincoln Center Tours) or the American Folk Art Museum annex (please see my next blog post and my blog about the Folk Art Museum).

Guggenheim Museum: 5th Ave and 89th St

 

The NYC Guggenheim Museum's permanent collection is not really to my taste, but I was starting to feel a little embarrassed that after over 8 years of living in NYC I had never been there.  So this morning I made the trek to the beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright-designed museum at 10 am when it opened to check out what I had been missing (see the museum website for hours, admission, etc.: http://www.guggenheim.org/?gclid=CNSjgPrVlacCFdtx5QodsnCBdA).  I would strongly recommend that folks either visit this museum on weekdays or right as the museum opens--it gets crowded fast.

While the building architecture is really stunning to look at (it has been in innumerable movies) (see above right and below), the acoustics are horrible and the exhibition space is rather limited due to the central spiraling ramp.  The Guggenheim collection is so much larger than the display space that the exhibitions are frequently rotated and routinely the spiraling ramp is closed off for installations so visitors have to take the back stairs or the elevators.  I would have been very annoyed if that had been the case after I paid my $18 entrance fee.  Luckily everything was opened about a week ago and the museum's unique features were at their best.

Included in the regular entrance fee (and if $18 per person is too rich for your blood, check out the "pay what you want" evening visiting times), is a self-directed audio tour.  The installation is set up to go from bottom to top, but if you want to avoid the crowds (and relieve yourself from the "climb"), you may want to consider taking the elevator up to the top floor (7th) and viewing the art on the way down.  Not all the artwork have audio descriptions, but those that do have clear headphone illustrated signage and a corresponding number so I found going from top to bottom was more pleasant and easy enough to follow along on the audio tour.

I would also highly recommend going on the guided tour (offered 3 times a day starting by the information booth in the lobby).  Basically the docent has pre-selected 2-3 pieces to take the group to and leads a discussion about the works.  Not being a big fan of modern/cubist/non-objective art, I thought this might be a little tiresome, but I found it very informative and really interesting.  We discussed Paul Cezanne's "Man with Crossed Arms" (ca 1899)--noticing the beginnings of cubist perspectives, Frantisek Kupka's "Planes by Colors, Large Nude" (ca 1909-10)--noting the use of colors to illustrate feelings or auras, and Fernand Leger's "Nude Model in the Studio" (ca 1912-13) (see right, yeah, neither the docent nor any of us on the tour saw a nude in this either).  The docent also noted that today, February 19th, was the birthday of Constantin Brancusi, as we passed the sculpture of "Muse on Oak Base" (ca 1912).

The museum has a great collection of works by Kandinsky (on Level 3 by the cafe), and currently has a collection of videos sponsored by Deutsche Bank under the name "Found in Translation."  I liked the Kandinsky collection on display, but did not think much of the video art.  If you want to see the current exhibit online, you can check out http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/show-list/on-view-ny/?search=1.  From there, you may be able to decide if the then-current exhibition is one in which you would be interested.

Finally, I would like to note that the museum is not really designed for visitor comfort.  There is a severe shortage of benches and with few windows, there is little room for taking a respite from the crowds.  Museum fatigue can set in pretty quickly so I would recommend wearing comfortable shoes, taking advantage of the free coat check, bringing a snack or two to munch on in the cafe (don't be surprised if every stool in the cafe is taken), and maybe even taking a break in the windowless reading room that has furniture made by Richard Meier.  Overall, I think the collection is magnificent for what it is, but I don't think I'll be visiting again, unless it is in the evening at a discount.