Two new exhibitions at The Jewish Museum, located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, incite the imagination and energy within the hearts and minds of the young and young at heart. Each attributes to the rich history and connection between Jewish people and contemporary art.

TheJewishMuseum.org, 2011

TheJewishMuseum.org, 2011

The first exhibition found on the 1st floor is entitled Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore. It contains some of 3,000 art objects that the Cone Sisters collected within their lifetime. At the time when they collected works from Modern Masters like Picasso, Matisse, Renoir, and Gaiguin, modern art was considered classless and trashy, but the Cone Sisters’ taste level connected to the emotion, form, and process of the artists of the Modern era. Collecting work for a decade before the infamous Armory show in 1913 that debuted Modern art to the United States of America, the Cone Sisters were ahead of their time. This exhibition is a great sampling of their collection which they graciously donated to the Baltimore Museum of Art upon death.

Entitled Maira Kalman: Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World), the exhibition on the 2nd floor is the first museum survey of the artist’s work. Depicting both her illustrations and designs the exhibition details by theme the variety of narration in Kalman’s work. It is a breath of contemporary fresh air with beautiful composition, wit, and color palette. Each piece indicates the unique perspective of the artist who works also as a journalist. The exhibition shows the importance of the simple yet often most overlooked aspects of our lives which often tell the most emotional and personal stories of our lives.

Maira Kalman, Self-Portrait, TheJewishMuseum.org, 2011.

The Jewish Museum is a must-see for all!