THE MUSEUM OF ART AND HISTORY OF JUDAISM IN PARIS REOPENS AND UNVEILS NEW EXHIBITIONS
As Paris begins to reopen, the Museum of Art and History of Judaism (known as “The mahJ”), located in the exquisite 17th-century Hôtel de Saint-Aignan in the historic Marais neighborhood, reopened its doors yesterday, presenting a lineup of new exhibitions following its closure due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Postponed from its previously planned April 2020 opening, Chagall, Modigliani, Soutine… Paris pour École, 1905-1940, will now be on display from June 17 to October 31, 2021. The exhibition will showcase 130 works by Jewish artists who came to Paris in the early 20th century, as part of “the School of Paris.” The artists, including Chagall, Soutine and Modigliani, came to Paris from across the world to create their art in a free and modern context, without the constraints present in their home countries.
Echoing the School of Paris exhibition, the mahJ will unveil a new exhibition dedicated to Hersh Fenster, author of Undzere farpaynikte kinstler (Our Martyred Artists), published in Paris in 1951. Written in Yiddish, the book retraces the lives and works of 84 Jewish artists living in France who died between 1940 and 1945. The exhibition, Hersh Fenster and the Lost Shtetl of Montparnasse, will be on display from May 19 through October 10, 2021.
Also upon its opening, the mahJ will present From Workshop to Museum: ORT and the Transmission of Jewish Culture, running until January 22, 2022. Founded in Russia in 1880 to help Jews through an apprenticeship of manual trades, ORT (Organisation Reconstruction Travail) is today an international educational network established in more than forty countries. In 2021, the organization celebrates the centenary of its presence in France, where every year it now trains some 5,000 students and trainees. Thanks to new findings in its archives, the mahJ traced back the role of this organization in the creation of the Museum of Jewish Art (1948-1998) in the rue des Saules, Paris, which became part of the mahJ.
In the contemporary gallery, the exhibition Maya Zack, La Mémoire en Action, running through September 12, 2021, presents three films presented for the first time in France by Israeli artist Maya Zack, haunted by questions of memory.
For more information about the Museum of Art and History of Judaism, visit this website.
ABOUT THE MAHJ:
Located in the magnificent 17th-century Hôtel de Saint-Aignan in the Marais neighborhood of Paris, the Museum of Art and History of Judaism (Musée d’art et d’histoire du Judaïsme – known as “mahJ”) is one of the leading history and art museums in Paris. Since its opening in 1998, the mahJ has been devoted to showcasing major artworks from influential Jewish artists and sharing the history of Judaism in France, as well as throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. The mahJ collection comprises more than 12,000 works from antiquity to the present day and a wealth of archival materials. The museum also provides a number of educational programs to younger generations on Jewish art and culture, and hosts a variety of events and activities for all ages throughout the year.
