Press Releases

Feb 5, 2008
@60.art.israel.world
The Magnes presents @60.art.israel.world, a survey of recent work by over 20 contemporary Israeli artists, including Barry Frydlender, Ori Gersht, Sigalit Landau, Adi Nes, Michal Rovner, and Yehudit Sasportas. On loan from important private Bay Area collections, the paintings, photographs, and media art in the exhibition demonstrate the progressive and international scope of Israeli art today.

Sep 10, 2007
They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of Jewish Life In Poland Before The Holocaust
They Called Me Mayer July is the result of a 40-year collaboration between Yiddish anthropologist, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, and her father, Mayer Kirshenblatt. Mayer grew up in Apt, Poland, and immigrated to Toronto in 1934. Through conversations and interviews with his daughter, Mayer recreated in remarkable detail a Jewish life in a small Polish city before the Holocaust. In 1990, at the age of 74, Mayer taught himself to paint and has since been illustrating the stories of his hometown.

Sep 10, 2007
REVISIONS Shahrokh Yadegari: Through Music
Continuing a centuries-old dialogue between Jewish and Islamic musical traditions, guest curator Lawrence Rinder stages a multichannel sound installation incorporating a new musical composition by Shahrokh Yadegari. Extending the work of Rinder's grandfather, Cantor Reuben R. Rinder (1887-1966), the composition blends singing in Hebrew, Farsi and English with classical Persian and electronic music. The piece incorporates such diverse elements as the melody from one of Cantor Rinder's scores, text from the ancient Jewish priestly benediction, and two poems by the Sufi philosopher Rumi.

Mar 5, 2007
Studio Man Ray: Photographs by Ira Nowinski
The studio on rue Ferou in Paris was the home that Man Ray shared with his wife Juliet for twenty-five years. The couple lived and worked there from 1951 until the artist's death in 1976. Juliet preserved the studio as homage to her late husband. Studio Man Ray includes a series of photographs taken in Man Ray's Paris studio in 1983 and 1985 by San Francisco photographer Ira Nowinski, capturing the web of work, art, and life created by Man Ray and preserved by Juliet.

Feb 5, 2007
REVISIONS Amy Berk: Recoverings
San Francisco-based artist Amy Berk uses textiles in the Magnes collection as inspiration for her installation that explores the connections between feminism, Jewish culture, minimalism, and the 1960s. Berk uses linens left to her by her grandmother who lived in New York City, home to many of the Minimalists.

Oct 17, 2006
Journeys East: Patterns of Collecting
Art and artifacts from North Africa, India, and the former Ottoman Empire have formed a significant part of the Magnes’s encyclopedic collection and are now featured in the new exhibition Journeys East: Patterns of Collecting opening November 20, 2006.

Oct 17, 2006
Through the Eye of the Needle: Fabric Art of Esther Nisenthal Krinitz
In 1977, at the age of 50, Esther Nisenthal Krinitz began creating works of fabric art to tell her story of survival during the Holocaust in Poland.

Jun 23, 2006
REVISIONS Jonathon Keats: The First Intergalactic Art Exposition
Judah L. Magnes Museum to Premiere World's First Exhibition of Extraterrestrial Abstract Art

Jun 19, 2006
Harold Way -- Relocation Plan Announced
JUDAH L. MAGNES MUSEUM ANNOUNCES RELOCATION PLANS:A HISTORIC LOCATION FOR A HISTORIC INSTITUTION

May 8, 2006
My America: Art from The Jewish Museum Collection, 1900-1955
Judah L. Magnes Museum Presents the West Coast Premier of My America: Art from The Jewish Museum Collection, 1900-1955, from Jun 5 through September 21, 2006

Feb 1, 2006
If Not Now, When? 150 Years of California Jewish Activism
If Not Now, When? 150 Years of California Jewish Activism, an exhibition created in conjunction with The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, opens on February 12, 2006, at the Magnes.

Feb 1, 2006
Modernism in Israel: Works on Paper
Modernism in Israel: Works on Paper opens on February 21, 2006, at the Magnes. The exhibition includes prints, watercolors, ink drawings, and illustrated books dating from the 1940s-1950s.

Jul 25, 2005
REVISIONS: Larry Abramson: Searching for the Ideal City

Jul 25, 2005
Houses and Housings: Jewish Portability in Jewish Faith and Culture

Jul 25, 2005
The Danube Exodus: The Rippling Currents of the River

Jul 25, 2005
CASE STUDY: Emanu-El Sisterhood for Personal Service

Apr 5, 2005
Acting Out: Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore

Mar 1, 2005
REVISIONS Naomie Kremer, Shtetl

Jan 24, 2005
New Executive Director
The Board Welcomes Terry Pink Alexander

Jan 3, 2005
The People and the Book

Oct 19, 2004
Surviving Suprematism: Lazar Khidekel

Aug 31, 2004
REVISIONS Ann Chamberlain

Jul 15, 2004
Sephardic Horizons

Apr 29, 2004
A Voice Silenced


Oct. 27, 2003
Brought to Light: The Storied Collections of the Judah L. Magnes Museum