The Jewish Museum to Open Extra Days Jan 22 & 29

Due to a high level of public interest, The Jewish Museum, normally closed on Wednesdays, will be open on January 22 and 29 from 11am to 5:45pm to allow visitors additional time to see Chagall: Love, War, and Exile and threeASFOUR: MER KA BA. Both exhibitions are on view through February 2, 2014. The Jewish Museum is located at Fifth Avenue and 92nd Street in Manhattan.

Chagall: Love, War, and Exile, for the first time in the U.S., explores a significant but neglected period in the artist's career, from the rise of fascism in the 1930s through 1948, years spent in Paris and then in exile in New York. Marc Chagall, one of the foremost modernists of the 20th century, created his unique style by drawing on elements from richly colored folk art motifs, the Russian Christian icon tradition, Cubism, and Surrealism. Beginning with the evocative paintings from his years in France, Chagall: Love, War, and Exile illuminates an artist deeply responsive to the suffering inflicted by war and to his own personal losses and concerns. Although he never abandoned a poetic sensibility, his art of the 1930s and 1940s reflects the political reality of the time. Most unexpected is the recurring appearance of the figure of the crucified Jesus as a metaphor for war, Jewish suffering and persecution. By the mid-1940s, Chagall returns to joyful, colorful compositions expressing the power of love. The exhibition includes 31 paintings and 22 works on paper, as well as selected letters, poems, photos, and ephemera.

threeASFOUR: MER KA BA presents the adventurous fashion collective threeASFOUR's latest project,a multimedia installation fusing avant-garde couture, architecture, and video projections. Blending ancient symbols with new technologies to evoke a timeless desire for cross-cultural unity, MER KA BA includes examples from threeASFOUR's spring-summer 2014 collection, featuring 3D-printed textiles made in collaboration with the architect Bradley Rothenberg. The clothing line and its environment are inspired by sacred geometry and tile patterns found in synagogues, churches, and mosques around the world. threeASFOUR: MER KA BA is presented by The Jewish Museum and Art Production Fund.

Also on view is Art Spiegelman's Co-Mix: A Retrospective, the first U.S. retrospective to celebrate the career of one of the most influential living comic artists.

About The Jewish Museum

Widely admired for its exhibitions and collections that inspire people of all backgrounds, The Jewish Museum is one of the world's preeminent institutions devoted to exploring art and Jewish culture from ancient to contemporary. Located at Fifth Avenue and 92nd Street, The Jewish Museum organizes a diverse schedule of internationally acclaimed and award-winning temporary exhibitions as well as dynamic and engaging programs for families, adults, and school groups. The Museum was established in 1904, when Judge Mayer Sulzberger donated 26 ceremonial art objects to The Jewish Theological Seminary of America as the core of a museum collection. Today, the Museum maintains a collection of 25,000 objects - paintings, sculpture, works on paper, photographs, archaeological artifacts, ritual objects, and broadcast media.

The Jewish Museum is located at 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, New York City. Regular museum hours are Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, 11am to 5:45pm; Thursday, 11am to 8pm; and Friday, 11am to 4pm. Admission is $15.00 for adults, $12.00 for senior citizens, $7.50 for students, free for visitors 18 and under and Jewish Museum members. Admission is Pay What You Wish on Thursdays from 5pm to 8pm and free on Saturdays. For information on The Jewish Museum, the public may call 212.423.3200 or visit the website at TheJewishMuseum.org.

Image: Installation view of Chagall: Love, War, and Exile.© 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. Photo by David Heald.