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Museum reviews and essays
The Jewish Museum’s Ambitious New Exhibit

The Jewish Museum’s Ambitious New Exhibit

A qualified improvement.

Dec 23 25December 23, 2025

Article at ideas.tikvah.org

The Jewish Museum’s Muddled Reinstallation

The Jewish Museum’s Muddled Reinstallation

Though ambitious and engaging, the New York institution’s reorganized collections galleries struggle to offer a coherent vision of Jewish history and identity.

Dec 16 25December 16, 2025

Article at wsj.com

‘Smithson’s Gamble’ by Tom D. Crouch | Book Review

‘Smithson’s Gamble’ by Tom D. Crouch | Book Review

The Smithsonian was founded after a benefactor’s unexpected gift. Its mission has been ambitious—and sometimes politically embattled.

Oct 03 25October 03, 2025

Article at wsj.com

‘Mapping the Heavens: Art, Astronomy, and Exchange Between the Islamic Lands and Europe’ Review: Earthly Connections, Cosmic Revelations

‘Mapping the Heavens: Art, Astronomy, and Exchange Between the Islamic Lands and Europe’ Review: Earthly Connections, Cosmic Revelations

An exhibition at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art charts the development of astronomical knowledge across continents before and after the Scientific Revolution.

Sep 09 25September 09, 2025

Article at wsj.com

The Global Intifada Comes to American Museums

The Global Intifada Comes to American Museums

Being an activist has become the artist’s and intellectual’s self-celebratory vocation.

Jul 17 25July 17, 2025

Article at ideas.tikvah.org

Museums and their Discontents

Museums and their Discontents

While protests at university campuses since October 7, 2023, have earned appropriate notoriety for their violence, tactics, and support for...

May 13 25May 13, 2025

Article at sapirjournal.org

‘Yiddish: A Global Culture’ Review: A Language in the Spotlight

‘Yiddish: A Global Culture’ Review: A Language in the Spotlight

The Yiddish Book Center’s permanent exhibition offers much to kvell about, including a wide-ranging collection of volumes and tributes to Yiddish theater, music and history.

Jan 11 25January 11, 2025

Article at wsj.com

At Japanese Museums, Art and Nature Merge

At Japanese Museums, Art and Nature Merge

A tour of some of the nation’s elegant institutions, including the Enoura Observatory and the Chichu Art Museum, reveals an approach that is startlingly different from the monumental or encyclopedic ones that define many Western museums.

Sep 28 24September 28, 2024

Article at wsj.com

The Messages about Jews in Christian Art

The Messages about Jews in Christian Art

And how Jews used art to send messages about themselves.

Aug 28 24August 28, 2024

Article at ideas.tikvah.org

Holocaust Museums at a Crossroads

Holocaust Museums at a Crossroads

Their narratives have long been built around the stories of survivors. But with that generation dying off they need new ways to keep their testimony vital.

Aug 03 24August 03, 2024

Article at wsj.com

Peabody Museum Review: Smearing Science

Peabody Museum Review: Smearing Science

Yale University’s museum, which recently completed a four-year reconstruction, is now bigger and free to visit—and yet, caught up in the controversies of the field, it’s evidently skeptical of the very notion of natural history.

Apr 03 24April 03, 2024

Article at wsj.com

International African American Museum Review: History in Slavery’s Former Hotbed

International African American Museum Review: History in Slavery’s Former Hotbed

The museum, which opened last year in Charleston, S.C., is a powerful and provocative survey of the past, despite certain omissions and moments of overwhelming density.

Mar 09 24March 09, 2024

Article at wsj.com

‘Africa & Byzantium’ and ‘Ethiopia at the Crossroads’ Review: Epics of Faith and Empire

‘Africa & Byzantium’ and ‘Ethiopia at the Crossroads’ Review: Epics of Faith and Empire

Shows at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Walters Art Museum encompass paintings, mosaics, sacred texts and other artifacts in their explorations of religion and history.

Jan 31 24January 31, 2024

Article at wsj.com

‘The Egyptian Book of the Dead’ Review: An Ancient Guide to the Afterlife

‘The Egyptian Book of the Dead’ Review: An Ancient Guide to the Afterlife

An exhibition at the Getty Villa Museum displays papyri and linen mummy wrappings in its examination of the elaborate narratives and incantations concerning life after death that developed in Egyptian culture.

Dec 23 23December 23, 2023

Article at wsj.com

‘Miracles and Machines’ Review: Mystery of the Clockwork Man

‘Miracles and Machines’ Review: Mystery of the Clockwork Man

A 16th-century automaton in the shape of a friar is a reminder of the craft of Renaissance inventors. But who devised it?

Dec 22 23December 22, 2023

Article at wsj.com

‘The Best-Read Army in the World’ Review: Battalions of Books

‘The Best-Read Army in the World’ Review: Battalions of Books

An exhibition at New York’s Grolier Club explores the history of literacy in the military during World War II, when millions of paperbacks were sent to American troops.

Nov 30 23November 30, 2023

Article at wsj.com

‘Acts of Faith: Religion and the American West’ Review: The Borders of Belief

‘Acts of Faith: Religion and the American West’ Review: The Borders of Belief

A wide-ranging show at the New-York Historical Society explores the ways different faiths and communities both shaped and were shaped by the nation’s westward expansion.

Nov 11 23November 11, 2023

Article at wsj.com

The Root Causes of Moral Evil - Arts & Letters - Tablet Magazine

The Root Causes of Moral Evil - Arts & Letters - Tablet Magazine

No matter how many innocents are murdered, Western intellectuals will never stop making excuses for terrorists

Nov 08 23November 08, 2023

Article at tabletmag.com

‘One Life: Frederick Douglass’ Review: Portrait Taken With a Wide-Angle Lens

‘One Life: Frederick Douglass’ Review: Portrait Taken With a Wide-Angle Lens

The abolitionist icon gets an intriguing if overly broad examination at a show in Washington.

Oct 04 23October 04, 2023

Article at wsj.com

‘Black Americans, Civil Rights, and the Roosevelts’ Review: A New Look at the New Deal Era

‘Black Americans, Civil Rights, and the Roosevelts’ Review: A New Look at the New Deal Era

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum examines the role of race in the FDR administration—and reveals shocking prejudices—in this gripping if overly revisionist exhibition

Aug 23 23August 23, 2023

Article at wsj.com

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