Jewish Museum (Manhattan)

{{See also|History of the Jews in New York City}}

The collection that seeded the museum began with a gift of Jewish ceremonial art objects from Judge Mayer Sulzberger to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America on January 20, 1904, where it was housed in the seminary's library. The collection was moved in 1931, with the Seminary, to 122nd and Broadway. The Jewish Theological Seminary received over 400 Jewish ceremonial items and created, 'The Museum of Jewish Ceremonial Objects', previously the Jacob Schiff Library.{{Cite web |title=The Jewish Museum History |url=http://thejewishmuseum.org/about#jewish-museum-history |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211122070754/https://thejewishmuseum.org/about#jewish-museum-history |archive-date=November 22, 2021 |access-date=April 4, 2016 |publisher=The Jewish Museum}} The collection was subsequently expanded by major donations from Hadji Ephraim Benguiat and Harry G. Friedman. In 1939, in light of WWII, Poland sent about 350 objects to New York city from homes and synagogues in order to preserve them.

Following the death of financier and philanthropist Felix Warburg in 1937, his widow, Frieda Schiff Warburg, donated the family’s Fifth Avenue mansion to the Jewish Theological Seminary in January 1944 for the purpose of housing the Jewish Museum’s growing collection. The museum officially opened to the public in May 1947.{{cite New York 1960|page=1110}} At the time of the opening, Frieda Warburg stated that the institution was intended not as a memorial to Jewish suffering, but as a celebration of Jewish culture, history, and tradition.

The museum initially focused on Jewish ceremonial and historical objects, reflecting the seminary’s scholarly orientation and the broader interest in preserving Jewish heritage in the aftermath of World War II. In 1959, the museum added a sculpture garden designed by Austrian-American artist Adam List, offering a new venue for modern sculpture and outdoor exhibitions. This was followed by a significant architectural expansion in 1963, intended to accommodate the museum’s growing collection and public programming, including the museum's Judaica collection.{{Cite news |last=Hunter |first=Sam |date=1965-08-08 |title=The Jewish Museum: What Is It, Why Is It, and What Next? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/08/08/archives/the-jewish-museum-what-is-it-why-is-it-and-what-next.html |access-date=2025-05-22 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} The new addition marked the beginning of a more publicly engaged phase of the museum’s institutional history.

The 1962 appointment of Alan R. Solomon, a Harvard-trained art historian, as the museum's director brought a contemporary vision to the institution. Solomon was oriented toward showing what he called "the new art" and organized major exhibitions of emerging American artists including Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, and Ellsworth Kelly.{{Cite news |last=Cotter |first=Holland |date=2022-07-21 |title=When ‘New Art’ Made New York the Culture Capital |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/21/arts/design/jewish-museum-pop-art.html |access-date=2025-05-22 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} His programming emphasized serious engagement with living artists, including mid-career retrospectives—then rare in the museum world—and explored both Jewish content and postwar modernist abstraction. In 1963, he organized Rauschenberg's first retrospective, followed by John's retrospective in 1964. Solomon's brief tenure culminated in a commission from the U.S. government to organize the country's pavilion at the 32nd Venice Biennale in 1964, where Rauschenberg's work won the grand prize.File:Ps CATALOGCOVER.jpg]]By the mid-1960s, the Jewish Museum had gained significant visibility in the contemporary art world, prompting public interest as well as debate over its institutional identity. In response to growing questions about the museum’s dual mission, The New York Times published a 1965 article discussing its curatorial direction and institutional goals. The article highlighted tensions between the museum’s role as a holder of Judaica and ceremonial objects and its increasing commitment to exhibiting modern and contemporary art—raising broader questions about how these objectives aligned with its affiliation with the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Curators Sam Hunter and Kynaston McShine continued the museum's engagement with contemporary art. McShine, who served as curator from 1965 to 1968, curated Primary Structures (1966), a landmark exhibition that introduced Minimalist sculpture to a broad audience and featured artists such as Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, and Carl Andre.{{cite news |last=Kimmelman |first=Michael |date=June 13, 1993 |title=A Museum Finds Its Time |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/13/arts/art-a-museum-finds-its-time.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906160755/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/13/arts/art-a-museum-finds-its-time.html |archive-date=September 6, 2021 |access-date=July 31, 2010 |newspaper=The New York Times |page=H33}} In 1968, Karl Katz was appointed as the museum's director. This avant-garde focus peaked with Katz's controversial 1970 exhibition Software, which explored early digital art.

In 1971, the museum, citing financial reasons, made a decision to discontinue "all exhibitions not related to the museum's commitment to the Jewish community".{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=1971-01-05 |title=Museum Turns to All‐Jewish Shows |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1971/01/05/archives/museum-turns-to-alljewish-shows.html |access-date=2025-05-22 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} The decision has resulted in Katz's resignation that year. Subsequently, the museum redirected its focus toward Jewish identity and cultural heritage under Joy Ungerleider-Mayerson, who was appointed director in 1972, aligning its programming with broader trends in identity-based museum practice while maintaining its influence in shaping debates around contemporary art and culture.{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Roberta |date=June 11, 1993 |title=Jewish Museum as Sum of Its Past |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/11/arts/review-art-jewish-museum-as-sum-of-its-past.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322134912/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/11/arts/review-art-jewish-museum-as-sum-of-its-past.html |archive-date=March 22, 2019 |access-date=July 31, 2010 |newspaper=The New York Times}} During her tenure, the museum shifted its focus toward Jewish themes and Israeli artists. One of her initial responsibilities as director involved securing a collection of 600 ancient artifacts from Israel, and a notable exhibition held under her leadership in 1975 was titled Jewish Experience in the Art of the 20th Century.File:Andy Warhol at the Jewish Museum, gtfy.00025.jpg at the Jewish Museum in 1980]]In 1980, the museum presented Andy Warhol's Ten Portraits of Jews of the 20th Century, a series of 40-inch square silk-screened canvases produced earlier that year. The project, initiated by art dealer Ronald Feldman in response to a request from an Israeli dealer for a portrait of Golda Meir, featured notable Jewish figures such as Sigmund Freud, George Gershwin, and Meir herself.{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Ken |date=March 28, 2008 |title=Funny, You Don't Look Like a Subject for Warhol |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/arts/design/28warh.html |access-date=May 17, 2025 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} The series was highly controversial and widely criticized by art critics at the time; reviewers described it as exploitative and superficial, with The Philadelphia Inquirer labeling it "Jewploitation" and The Village Voice and The New York Times offering similarly harsh assessments. Warhol himself acknowledged minimal engagement with the subjects beyond an aesthetic interest in their faces. Despite the initial controversy, the series was subsequently exhibited in a range of Jewish cultural and synagogues across the United States, often meeting with positive reception.

From 1990 through 1993, director Joan Rosenbaum led the project to renovate and expand the building and carry out the museum's first major capital campaign, of $60 million. The project, designed by architect Kevin Roche, doubled the size of the museum, providing it with a seven-story addition. In 1992, the Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center teamed up to create The New York Jewish Film Festival, which presents narrative features, short films and documentaries.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

In 1997, curator Norman Kleeblatt organized Too Jewish? Challenging Traditional Identities, which examined Jewish identity through the lens of postwar American culture, consumerism, and gender.{{Cite web |last=McKenna |first=Kristine |date=1997-02-02 |title='Too Jewish?' Hardly. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-02-02-ca-24510-story.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} Featuring works by 23 artists, many of whom were third- or fourth-generation American Jews, the show combined painting, installation, video, and popular media to explore the intersection of stereotypes, assimilation, and self-representation. Although controversial for its provocative content—including matzoh-inspired sculptures, reimagined Jewish American Princess stereotype, and gender-bending imagery—the exhibition was noted for expanding the discourse on Jewish identity within the broader framework of identity politics in American art.{{Cite web |last=Ockman |first=Carol |date=1996-09-01 |title=“Too Jewish? Challenging Traditional Identities” |url=https://www.artforum.com/events/too-jewish-challenging-traditional-identities-194053/ |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=Artforum |language=en-US}}

Today, the museum also provides educational programs for adults and families, organizing concerts, films, symposiums and lectures related to its exhibitions. Joan Rosenbaum was the museum's director from 1981 until her retirement in 2010. In 2006, the museum broke with its longstanding policy of being closed for Sabbath observance by offering free of charge public admission on Saturdays.{{Cite web |url=https://thejewishmuseum.org/press/press-release/free-saturdays-release |title=The David Berg Foundation Underwrites Free Saturdays at the Jewish Museum |access-date=December 6, 2020 |archive-date=September 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906151833/https://thejewishmuseum.org/press/press-release/free-saturdays-release |url-status=live }} In 2011 the museum named Claudia Gould as its new director.

In 2020, the museum commissioned conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner to create a public work in the form of a large banner hung on the museum's facade. Facing 5th Avenue, it was titled All the stars in the sky have the same face, with text in English, Hebrew and Arabic.{{Cite web |last=Passy |first=Charles |date=December 3, 2020 |title=Museum Facades Are New York City's Latest Canvas for Art |url=https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/fine-art/museum-facades-are-new-york-citys-latest-canvas-for-art-11607024313 |access-date=May 17, 2025 |website=WSJ |language=en-US}}

In 2022, Yale University historian Michael Casper criticized the museum's exhibition on Jonas Mekas for its lack of treatment of Mekas's role in editing two pro-Nazi newspapers during World War II.{{Cite web |title=World War II Revisionism at the Jewish Museum |url=https://jewishcurrents.org/world-war-ii-revisionism-at-the-jewish-museum |access-date=February 4, 2023 |website=Jewish Currents |language=en}} Cultural historian Jeffrey Shandler told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, "It would be problematic anywhere, in any museum. But I think it is doubly so in a Jewish museum. It really raises questions about their understanding of their mission."{{Cite web |last=Elia-Shalev |first=Asaf |date=May 12, 2022 |title=Historian accuses NY's Jewish Museum of sanitizing filmmaker's World War II record in new exhibit |url=https://www.jta.org/2022/05/12/global/historian-accuses-nys-jewish-museum-of-sanitizing-filmmakers-world-war-ii-record-in-new-exhibit |access-date=February 4, 2023 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}

The Russ & Daughters Cafe at the museum closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City.{{cite web |last=Cramer |first=Philissa |date=April 12, 2022 |title=It's official: Russ & Daughters' kosher outpost at the Jewish Museum won't return |url=https://www.jta.org/2022/04/12/ny/its-official-russ-daughters-kosher-outpost-at-the-jewish-museum-wont-return |access-date=November 11, 2024 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}} In November 2024, the restaurateur David Teyf opened a restaurant named Lox in the museum.{{cite web |last=Keys |first=Lisa |date=November 7, 2024 |title=At last, a new restaurant opens at the Jewish Museum in the space vacated by Russ & Daughters |url=https://www.jta.org/2024/11/07/ny/at-last-a-new-restaurant-opens-at-the-jewish-museum-in-the-space-vacated-by-russ-daughters |access-date=November 11, 2024 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}{{cite web |last=McDowell |first=Michael |date=November 8, 2024 |title=New Restaurant Now Open At Jewish Museum: Report |url=https://patch.com/new-york/upper-east-side-nyc/new-restaurant-now-open-jewish-museum-report |access-date=November 11, 2024 |website=Upper East Side, NY Patch}}

{{main|Felix M. Warburg House}}

File:Jewish Museum building line drawing - b&w - 600 ppi.jpg, 1908]]

The Felix M. Warburg House was constructed in François I (or châteauesque) style, 1906–1908 for Felix and Frieda Warburg, designed by C.P.H. Gilbert. François I style was originally found in New York City in the late 19th century through the works of Richard Morris Hunt.{{Cite web |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1116.pdf |title=Landmarks Preservation Commission |date=November 24, 1981 |website=NYC.Gov |access-date=March 1, 2016 |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225071254/http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/1116.pdf |url-status=live }} Hunt was a renowned architect throughout the Northeast, particularly in New England and was one of the first American architects to study at the elite Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France.{{Cite web |url=http://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu/people/P000278 |title=Hunt, Richard Morris |last=Roth |first=Leland |date=2009 |website=North Carolina Architects and Builders |access-date=April 4, 2016 |archive-date=November 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121171316/https://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu//people/P000278 |url-status=live }} C.P.H. Gilbert was an apprentice of Hunt and emulated Hunt's classic Châteauesque style for the Warburg house while also adding some Gothic features. The original house is built in limestone with mansard roofs, dripping moldings, and gables.{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/11/realestate/streetscapes-the-felix-warburg-mansion-a-window-to-the-past-in-the-present.html |title=The Warburg Mansion |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=August 11, 1991 |work=The New York Times |access-date=February 17, 2017 |archive-date=September 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906150323/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/11/realestate/streetscapes-the-felix-warburg-mansion-a-window-to-the-past-in-the-present.html |url-status=live }} This architectural style was based on French revivalism and exuded wealth, a point which Felix Warburg wanted to make to his neighbors. It featured a green yard in front of the house, which was later converted into the museum's entrance.

File:Interior of Jewish Museum.jpg

Once converted into a museum, the architect Kevin Roche, who also designed additions to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was selected to design additions to the Jewish Museum.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/11/arts/review-architecture-jewish-museum-renovation-a-celebration-of-gothic-style.html |title=Review/Architecture; Jewish Museum Renovation: A Celebration of Gothic Style |last=Muschamp |first=Herbert |date=June 11, 1993 |work=The New York Times |access-date=March 27, 2016 |archive-date=October 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002003734/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/11/arts/review-architecture-jewish-museum-renovation-a-celebration-of-gothic-style.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=live }} After $36 million, the development of 11,000 more square feet of exhibition space, and two and a half years, Roche finished his additions in June 1993.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/06/travel/travel-advisory-jewish-museum-reopens-sunday.html |title=TRAVEL ADVISORY; Jewish Museum Reopens Sunday |date=June 6, 1993 |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=March 27, 2016 |archive-date=September 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906153250/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/06/travel/travel-advisory-jewish-museum-reopens-sunday.html |url-status=live }} He intended his additions to be a continuation of the museum's Gothic revival features. This is especially clear in the Fifth Avenue facade and the auditorium. The Fifth Avenue facade, made of Indiana limestone, is carved in Gothic revival style. The auditorium is set in a retrofitted Gothic revival style ballroom and finds uses for the mansion's stained-glass dome and screen. The cafe in the basement has stained glass windows.

Although these additions that were intended as a continuation of the museum's Gothic revival features, Roche also included additions that were meant to prevent the museum from appearing outdated and modernizing the facilities. For instance, Roche ensured that the education center and the auditorium would have the appropriate technology for their purposes, such as interactive visual displays.

The museum has nearly 30,000 objects including paintings, sculptures, archaeological artifacts, Jewish ceremonial art and many other pieces important to the preservation of Jewish history and culture. Artists included in the museum's collection include James Tissot, Marc Chagall, George Segal, Eleanor Antin and Deborah Kass.Masterworks of The Jewish Museum. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004 This represents the largest collection of Jewish art, Judaica and broadcast media outside of museums in Israel.{{cite news |title=Jewish Museum Reopens Sunday |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/06/travel/travel-advisory-jewish-museum-reopens-sunday.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 6, 1993 |access-date=July 31, 2010 |archive-date=September 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906153250/https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/06/travel/travel-advisory-jewish-museum-reopens-sunday.html |url-status=live }} It has a collection exhibition called Scenes from the Collection, which displays works of art from antiquity to the present. The museum's collection includes objects from ancient to modern eras, in all media, and originated in every area of the world where Jews have had a presence.

File:Gaudstikker The Jewish Museum New York.jpg"{{cite web |title=Reclaimed: Paintings from the Collection of Jacques Goudstikker |url=http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/Goudstikker |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125223917/http://thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/Goudstikker |archive-date=January 25, 2009}}]]The Jewish Museum has a vast array of public educational programs which include talks and lectures, performances, hands on art making, group visits, specialist programming for visitors with disabilities, and resources for Pre-K-12 teachers.{{Cite web |title=Jewish Museum (Manhattan, NY) |url=https://urbanareas.net/info/places/new-york/museums-and-galleries/jewish-museum/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918174432/https://urbanareas.net/info/places/new-york/museums-and-galleries/jewish-museum/ |archive-date=September 18, 2020 |access-date=August 6, 2019 |website=UrbanAreas.net |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Programs |url=https://thejewishmuseum.org/index.php/programs |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618213811/https://thejewishmuseum.org/index.php/programs |archive-date=June 18, 2020 |access-date=August 6, 2019 |website=The Jewish Museum}} Programming for visitors with disabilities can take a unique and special form, with exclusive access to the museum one day a month for a program like the Verbal Description Tour.{{Cite web |title=The Jewish Museum |url=https://newlearningtimes.com/cms/article/4433/the-jewish-museum |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806025217/https://newlearningtimes.com/cms/article/4433/the-jewish-museum |archive-date=August 6, 2019 |access-date=August 6, 2019 |website=New Learning Times |language=en-us}}{{Cite web |title=Programs – Visitors with Disabilities |url=https://thejewishmuseum.org/index.php/programs/visitors-with-disabilities |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201022738/https://thejewishmuseum.org/index.php/programs/visitors-with-disabilities |archive-date=December 1, 2021 |access-date=August 6, 2019 |website=The Jewish Museum}} Participants are guided around sections of the empty museum by an art educator, who provides detailed, verbal descriptions of the art work, shares touch objects, and encourages discussion amongst the visitors. One participant described the ability to touch the art work as "...an honor, to be able to touch it. It felt like we were doing something so special, that other people can't do. So it actually creates an experience where you feel a connection to the art."{{Cite episode |title=The Jewish Museum |url=https://newlearningtimes.com/cms/article/4433/the-jewish-museum |series=Seen In NY |series-link=Seen in NY |network=New Learning Times |date=June 14, 2017 |number=217 |access-date=August 6, 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806025217/https://newlearningtimes.com/cms/article/4433/the-jewish-museum |archive-date=August 6, 2019}}

Programming at the Jewish Museum caters for many different constituents, from live musical performances to events specifically curated for children, and families.{{Cite web |title=Check Out What's Happening at The Jewish Museum This Spring |url=https://www.renoirhouse.com/blog/jewish-museum-this-spring |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414203504/https://www.renoirhouse.com/blog/jewish-museum-this-spring |archive-date=April 14, 2021 |access-date=August 6, 2019 |website=renoirhouse.com |language=en}} Events can be co-sponsored or in conjunction with other museums, particularly those located nearby on Fifth Avenue's Museum Mile.{{Cite web |last=Kressel |first=Hannah |date=June 26, 2019 |title=Interning at the Jewish Museum in Manhattan |url=http://blogs.brandeis.edu/wowblog/2019/06/26/interning-at-the-jewish-museum-in-manhattan/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224233805/http://blogs.brandeis.edu/wowblog/2019/06/26/interning-at-the-jewish-museum-in-manhattan/ |archive-date=February 24, 2021 |access-date=August 6, 2019 |language=en-US}} Part of the goal of family programming is to help foster a younger audience for the museum, with Sunday being "family day", with a variety of activities on offer including gallery tours, free art workshops and parent-children storybook readings. Activities are designed to cross cultures, and explore subjects that can appeal to any race or religion, such as archaeological digs or an examination of color and impressionistic landscapes.{{Cite journal |last=Markovitz |first=Jennifer B. |date=December 2008 |title=A Multi-Cultural Destination Sharing Jewish Art and Traditions With a Diverse Audience |url=https://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3470&context=dissertations |url-status=live |journal=Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses |pages=20–22pp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180531161418/http://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3470&context=dissertations |archive-date=May 31, 2018 |access-date=August 6, 2019}}

Under Joan Rosenbaum's leadership the museum's collection grew to 26,000 objects, its endowment to more than $92 million and its annual operating budget to $15 million from $1 million in 1981.Robin Pogrebin (November 30, 2010), [http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/director-of-jewish-museum-to-step-down/ Director of Jewish Museum to Step Down] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616180303/http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/director-of-jewish-museum-to-step-down/|date=June 16, 2013}} New York Times. Rosenbaum chose to emphasize the Jewish side of the museum's identity, creating the permanent exhibition "Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey," while also mounting shows of modern Jewish artists such as Chaïm Soutine and contemporary artists such as Maira Kalman.Kate Taylor (August 23, 2011), [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/arts/jewish-museum-chooses-claudia-gould-as-director.html Jewish Museum Picks Director From Art World] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111191854/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/arts/jewish-museum-chooses-claudia-gould-as-director.html|date=November 11, 2020}} New York Times. In 2013, the museum's board chose Claudia Gould, former director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, as its new director.

In 2015 Kelly Taxter was named one of the top 25 female curators in the world by Artnet.{{Cite web |date=March 17, 2015 |title=25 Women Curators On the Rise – artnet News |url=https://news.artnet.com/people/25-women-curators-on-the-rise-276386 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316135053/https://news.artnet.com/people/25-women-curators-on-the-rise-276386 |archive-date=March 16, 2016 |access-date=September 12, 2015}}

In 2012 Claudia Gould hired Jens Hoffmann Deputy Director, Exhibitions and Public Programs. In December 2017, the Jewish Museum suspended Jens Hoffmann following multiple allegations of sexual harassment by staff members. Several institutions, including the Honolulu Biennial, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, the Kadist Art Foundation, and the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art, subsequently cut ties or suspended their collaborations with him. After reviewing the allegations, the Jewish Museum terminated Hoffmann on December 17, 2017. Hoffmann denied acting in a knowingly inappropriate or harassing manner.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}}

{{unreferenced section|date=April 2022}}

• Man Ray, Self-Portrait with Camera, 1930
• Andy Warhol, Ten Portraits of Jews of the 20th Century, 1980
• Eva Hesse, Untitled, 1963–64
• Richard Avedon, Jacob Israel Avedon portraits, 1969–73
• Adolph Gottlieb, Return of the Mariner, 1946
• Deborah Kass, Double Red Yentl, Split, from My Elvis series, 1993
• Jan Pogorzelski, Hanukkah menorah, 1893
• James Tissot, Adam and Eve Driven From Paradise, c. 1896–1902
• Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage, 1907
• Reuven Rubin, Goldfish Vendor, 1928
• Marc Chagall, Old Man with Beard, c. 1931
• Johann Adam Boller Hanukkah menorah, Frankfurt am Main (Germany), 1706–32
• Torah Ark from Adath Yeshurun Synagogue, Abraham Shulkin, 1899

{{more citations needed|section|date=April 2022}}

Some of the museum's important exhibitions have included:

• Primary Structures (1966)
• The Circle of Montparnasse: Jewish Artists in Paris, 1905–1945 (1985)
• The Dreyfus Affair: Art, Truth, and Justice (1987)
• Painting a Place in America: Jewish Artists in New York, 1900–1945 (1991)
• Too Jewish?: Challenging Traditional Identities (1996)
• Assignment: Rescue, The Story of Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Committee (1997)
• An Expressionist in Paris: The Paintings of Chaïm Soutine (1998)
• Voice, Image, Gesture: Selections from The Jewish Museum's Collection, 1945–2000 (2001)
• Mirroring Evil: Nazi Imagery/Recent Art (2002)
• New York: Capital of Photography (2002)
• Modigliani Beyond the Myth (2004)[http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/site/pages/onlinex.php?id=22 Modigliani: Beyond the Myth Exhibition press release, The Jewish Museum, New York 2004] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070307024110/http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/site/pages/onlinex.php?id=22 |date=March 7, 2007 }} Retrieved March 7, 2011
• Eva Hesse: Sculpture (2006)
• Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning, and American Art, 1940–1976 (2008)
• Shifting the Gaze: Painting and Feminism (2010–2011)
• Harry Houdini: Art and Magic (2010–2011)
• Maira Kalman: Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World) (2011)
• Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone sisters of Baltimore (2011)
• The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936–1951 (2012)
• The Snowy Day and the Art of Ezra Jack Keats (2012)
• Kehinde Wiley / The World Stage: Israel (2012)
• Édouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890–1940 (2012)
• "Crossing Borders: Manuscripts from the Bodleian Library" (September 14, 2012 – February 3, 2013)
• "Sharon Lockhart Noa Eshkol" (November 2, 2012 – March 24, 2013)
• Revolution of the Eye: Modern Art and the Birth of American Television (May 1 to September 27, 2015)
• "Pierre Chareau: Modern Architecture and Design" (November 4, 2016 – March 24, 2017){{cite news |last=Smith |first=Roberta |date=November 3, 2016 |title=The Virtual Splendor of Paris's Glass House |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/arts/design/pierre-chareaus-legacy-beyond-the-house-of-glass.html |newspaper=New York Times |location=New York |access-date=November 3, 2016 |archive-date=March 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322130613/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/arts/design/pierre-chareaus-legacy-beyond-the-house-of-glass.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share |url-status=live }}
• "Chagall, Lissitzky, Malevich: The Russian Avant-Garde in Vitebsk, 1918–1922" (September 14, 2018 – January 6, 2019){{Cite web |url=https://thejewishmuseum.org/index.php/exhibitions/chagall-lissitzky-malevich-the-russian-avant-garde-in-vitebsk-1918-1922 |title=Chagall, Lissitzky, Malevich: The Russian Avant-Garde in Vitebsk, 1918–1922 |publisher=The Jewish Museum |access-date=March 5, 2019 |archive-date=February 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217054533/https://thejewishmuseum.org/index.php/exhibitions/chagall-lissitzky-malevich-the-russian-avant-garde-in-vitebsk-1918-1922 |url-status=live }}
• [https://thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/the-sassoons "The Sassoons"] Exhibit from March 3 to August 13, 2023. [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/arts/design/sassoons-jewish-museum-art-exhibition.html?searchResultPosition=1 Review] in The New York Times. [https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-sassoons-review-a-jewish-family-in-an-imperial-world-2cfdc04c Review] in The Wall Street Journal.

{{gallery

|height=170

|mode=packed

|File:Female Figurine.jpg|Female Figurine, Israel,[http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/onlinecollection/object_collection.php?objectid=16079&lefttxt=female%20figuirine The Jewish Museum]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} 800 -700 B.C.

|File:Female votive head.jpg|Female Votive Head Cyprus (?),{{cite web |url=http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/onlinecollection/object_collection.php?objectid=295&lefttxt=female%20votive%20head |title=Female Votive Head |publisher=The Jewish Museum |access-date=September 27, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090721054307/http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/onlinecollection/object_collection.php?objectid%3D295 |archive-date=July 21, 2009}} early 5th century B.C.

|File:Marriage Contract Vercelli (Italy), 1776.jpg|Marriage contract, from Vercelli (Italy),[http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/onlinecollection/object_collection.php?objectid=18871&lefttxt=marriage%20contract%20italy The Jewish Museum]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} 1776

|File:Seder plate.jpg|Seder Plate, Tiered Seder Set, Eastern Galicia or Western Ukraine,[http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/onlinecollection/object_collection.php?objectid=5622&lefttxt=seder%20plate%20tiered The Jewish Museum]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} 18th–19th century

|File:Thomas Sully - Sally Etting - Google Art Project.jpg|Thomas Sully, Portrait of Sally Etting,{{Cite web |url=http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/onlinecollection/object_collection.php?objectid=10068&themeid=1185 |publisher=The Jewish Museum |title=Thomas Sully, Sally Etting, Paintings |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130120153330/http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/onlinecollection/object_collection.php?objectid=10068&themeid=1185 |archive-date=January 20, 2013 |url-status=dead}} 1808

|File:The return of the volunteer.jpg|Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, The Return of the Volunteer from the Wars of Liberation to His Family Still Living in Accordance with Old Customs,[http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/onlinecollection/object_collection.php?objectid=1533&lefttxt=the%20return%20of%20volunteer The Jewish Museum]{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} 1833–34

|File:Solomon Alexander Hart - The Feast of the Rejoicing of the Law at the Synagogue in Leghorn, Italy - Google Art Project.jpg|Solomon Alexander Hart, Simchat Torah at the Synagogue of Livorno, c. 1850

|File:Torah ark.jpg|Torah ark from Adath Yeshurun Synagogue, Abraham Shulkin,[http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/onlinecollection/object_collection.php?objectid=19085&lefttxt=torah%20ark%20adath The Jewish Museum]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} 1899

|File:Tri 44742 1994-726.jpg|New Year Greeting, Germany,[http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/onlinecollection/object_collection.php?objectid=4771&lefttxt=new%20year%20greeting The Jewish Museum]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} early 20th century

|File:Edouard Vuillard - Lucy Hessel Reading (Lucy Hessel lisant) - Google Art Project.jpg|Edouard Vuillard, Lucy Hessel Reading, 1915 [https://thejewishmuseum.org/collection/33141-lucy-hessel-reading-lucy-hessel-lisant]|File:Alfred Stieglitz - The Steerage - Google Art Project.jpg|Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage, 1907 (printed in 1915)[https://thejewishmuseum.org/collection/27467-the-steerage]}}

• Jews in New York City
• List of museums and cultural institutions in New York City

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Art dealer Leo Castelli first saw Jasper Johns's work during this exhibition, precipitating the artist's commercial success. {{harvnb|Lubow|2020}}

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• {{Official website|https://thejewishmuseum.org/}}
• [https://thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions#current "Current Exhibitions"] at the Jewish Museum website
• [https://thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions#past "Past Exhibitions"] at the Jewish Museum website
• [https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-jewish-museum-new-york?hl=en Jewish Museum (Manhattan)] within Google Arts & Culture

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