March 22, 2010
Also Visit NY State Arts
Two-for-One Museum Admission
Jewish Museum
Children 11 and under free
Thurs: 11 am – 8 pm
Fri: 11 am – 4 pm
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.
$35
Admission to the museum is free on Saturday.
- Landmark Status
- ADA Compliant Restrooms
- Audio Guides
- Coat Check
- Disability Access: Fully accessible; ramp at main entrance
- Gift Shops: Books, catalogs, audio and video tapes, children's items
- On-Site Food: Café Weissman serves cafeteria fare
- Public Phone
- Space Rental
- Tours
Get involved with Jewish Museum
- Donations through NYCharities.org
- Volunteer Opportunities
- Memberships
See more at NYCkidsARTS
Jewish Museum Listings
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Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey
Ongoing This two-floor exhibition features objects from the museum's collection, which documents the Jewish experience over a 4000-year period.
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Archaeology Zone: Discovering Treasures from Playgrounds to Palaces
Ongoing This interactive exhibition lets children experience what happens when archaeologists unearth artifacts and analyze them, looking for clues about life in the past.
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Modern Art, Sacred Space: Motherwell, Ferber and Gottlieb
Sun, March 14, 2010 – Sun, Aug 1, 2010 In 1951, architect Percival Goodman charged three avant-garde artists with commissions to decorate his Congregation B’nai Israel synagogue in Millburn, New Jersey. Robert Motherwell, Adolph Gottlieb, and Herbert Ferber---each of whom went on to become a major figure in the Abstract Expressionist movement.