Yeshiva University Museum

15 West 16th Street
Since its founding in 1973, Yeshiva University Museum’s changing exhibits have celebrated the culturally diverse intellectual and artistic achievements of 3,000 years of Jewish experience. The Museum provides a window into Jewish culture around the w... more
Since its founding in 1973, Yeshiva University Museum’s changing exhibits have celebrated the culturally diverse intellectual and artistic achievements of 3,000 years of Jewish experience. The Museum provides a window into Jewish culture around the world and throughout history through its acclaimed multi-disciplinary exhibitions and award-winning publications. By educating audiences of all ages with dynamic interpretations of Jewish life, past and present, along with wide-ranging cultural offerings and programs, the Museum attracts young and old, Jewish and non-Jewish audiences. YUM shares a new state-of-the-art facility with four partners, three of whom are renowned research and archival institutions focusing on specific aspects of Jewish history and culture: YIVO, the American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardic Federation, and the Leo Baeck Institute. The Museum has four galleries, an exhibition arcade, an outdoor sculpture garden, a docent lounge, and a children’s workshop room, in addition to its own suite of offices. The Museum has access to a 250 seat, handicapped-accessible auditorium with a state-of-the- art AV projection room, various smaller meeting rooms, a lu... more

Since its founding in 1973, Yeshiva University Museum’s changing exhibits have celebrated the culturally diverse intellectual and artistic achievements of 3,000 years of Jewish experience. The Museum provides a window into Jewish culture around the world and throughout history through its acclaimed multi-disciplinary exhibitions and award-winning publications. By educating audiences of all ages with dynamic interpretations of Jewish life, past and present, along with wide-ranging cultural offerings and programs, the Museum attracts young and old, Jewish and non-Jewish audiences.

YUM shares a new state-of-the-art facility with four partners, three of whom are renowned research and archival institutions focusing on specific aspects of Jewish history and culture: YIVO, the American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardic Federation, and the Leo Baeck Institute. The Museum has four galleries, an exhibition arcade, an outdoor sculpture garden, a docent lounge, and a children’s workshop room, in addition to its own suite of offices. The Museum has access to a 250 seat, handicapped-accessible auditorium with a state-of-the- art AV projection room, various smaller meeting rooms, a lunchroom and a kosher café.

Yeshiva University Museum presents exhibitions with an interdisciplinary focus that reflect the diversity of the Museum’s collection of more than 8,000 artifacts. “Our primary focus is the interpretation of Jewish history from a multi-disciplinary perspective, and we produce two types of exhibitions, usually shown concurrently,” explains director Sylvia A. Herskowitz. “One exhibit examines a Jewish community or historic event; the other features emerging or established contemporary artists working on Jewish themes.” Occasionally, the Museum presents traveling exhibitions.

As a resource for scholarly research, Yeshiva University Museum’s exhibitions provide unique opportunities for artists, historians, collectors, and ethnographers to examine, compare, and research objects, ideas, and techniques. Its contemporary art shows offer the public the opportunity to survey art being created by living Jewish artists throughout the world.

Yeshiva University Museum’s programs are designed to expand the intellectual and creative imagination of its diverse audiences. They include family craft workshops, lectures, films, concerts, and multilingual exhibition tours in English, Hebrew, Spanish, Russian, and Yiddish.


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Chelsea Description

Yeshiva University Museum is located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Once a mixed, low-income neighborhood on the West Side, Chelsea has become a focal point for artists and galleries. It has a wide reputation as Manhattan's gay mecca, and while that has historically been true, rising acceptance of the gay lifestyle—and soaring rents—has led to a dissipation of the community in the neighborhood. These days, Chelsea is, very simply, a bastion of affluence more than any other social status, with the conversion of many apartment buildings to condos and co-ops and the on-rush of multimillion-dollar brownstones and lofts. In the ever-northward shift of Manhattan's masses, the high prices of Greenwich Village and Christopher Street area (which has boasted a large LGBT community since the 1960s) led many to head north to Chelsea in the late 1980s. In that migration, many have already moved on from Chelsea to the northern climes of Hell's Kitchen and Washington Heights, or east to Brooklyn. While Eighth Avenue between 14th and 23rd Streets formerly had one of New York’s highest concentrations of gay-operated restaurants, stores, cafes, the population transfer changed the demographics once again—you'll find much higher concentrations in Hell's Kitchen nowadays. The Chelsea art scene blossomed thanks to the conversion of garages and warehouses between Tenth and Twelfth Avenues, and likely will become a victim of its own success. What SoHo and the 57th Street area lost in stature has been Chelsea’s gain, and almost all the well-established flagship galleries make Chelsea their base. How did it all begin? In 1987, the Dia Center for the Arts—later known as Dia: Chelsea—became one of the pioneers in the area, establishing its main exhibition facility on West 22nd Street. Ironically, after opening its flagship museum Dia: Beacon upstate, it was left without a Manhattan presence. Plans to move down to Greenwich Village and abut the new High Line elevated park were scuttled, and the Whitney instead grabbed the valuable tract that once appealed to Dia. Of course, the High Line further increased property values, thus begetting additional high-rises between Tenth Avenue and West Street, which in turn brought in starchitects like Frank Gehry and Jean Nouvel, whose creations can be seen soaring from the earth along West Street. You can learn more about these in our new architecture of Manhattan walking tour. While the ethnic diversity of Chelsea was once truly enviable, the neighborhood still remains one of only a few places where housing ranges from high-rise public housing projects to single-family brownstones to new glass condominiums—even on the same block! Some of Manhattan’s most affordable rent-stabilized apartments can be found between Seventh and Ninth Avenues. The historic district has some fine examples of nineteenth-century city dwellings, and small gardens and flowering trees abound. If you think the grounds of General Theological Seminary (440 West 21st Street) look familiar, that's because it is frequently functions as a set for the TV show Law & Order! Even seminaries have to make money, and thus G.T.S. (as it's known) demolished its former entrance on Ninth Avenue to make way for (what else?) luxury condominiums. At its Tenth Avenue entrance, G.T.S. created one of Manhattan's most charming niche hotels, the Desmond Tutu Center, named after the great South African archbishop. Speaking of hotels, Chelsea has no shortage of great places to stay and to eat. On Tenth Avenue you'll find the renowned tapas of Tia Pol and its offshoot El Quinto Pino just two blocks away. There's the upscale Cookshop nearby, and further south on Tenth Avenue you'll find the Iron Chef's Morimoto at the great Chelsea Market, also home to Buddakan on the Ninth Avenue side.

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Info

15 West 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
(212) 294-8330
Website

Editorial Rating

Admission And Tickets

Free admission to this exhibition is made possible by the generous support of the Leon Levy Foundation and the Leon Charney Legacy Fund of the Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies.

This Week's Hours

Sunday: 11:00 am. - 5:00 pm
Monday and Wednesday: 11:00 am – 8:00pm
Tuesday and Thursday: 11:00 am – 5:00pm
Friday: 11:00am - 3:00pm

Nearby Subway

  • to 14th St/Union Sq
  • to 6th Ave -- 0.2

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