[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 40 (Friday, March 26, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E462]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E462]]
      THE JEWISH MUSEUM CELEBRATES 100 YEARS OF CULTURAL EDUCATION

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                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 25, 2004

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to The Jewish Museum 
on the occasion of its centennial celebration. The Museum, located in 
the heart of New York City's Museum Mile, is the foremost American 
institution devoted to the exploration of Jewish art and culture. For 
one hundred years this museum has been a source of inspiration and 
education to New Yorkers and visitors from around the world.
  The Jewish Museum--the first institution of its kind in the United 
States--began in 1904, when Judge Mayer Sulzberger donated 26 Jewish 
ceremonial art objects to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. 
Since then, the Museum's collection has grown to encompass more than 
28,000 artifacts, including paintings, sculpture, photographs, 
archaeological finds, ceremonial objects, audiovisual materials and 
broadcast media. The museum sponsors a variety of special exhibitions, 
such as the recent Entertaining America: Jews, Movies and Broadcasting. 
Its permanent collection, Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey, 
has received international acclaim.
  Piecing together an accurate representation of Jewish cultural 
history is a daunting task. In the last four thousand years, Jews have 
created communities in nearly every part of the world--and each of 
these communities has made a unique contribution to the Jewish 
experience. Through its exhibitions and collection, the Jewish Museum 
presents a narrative that spans millennia. That the Museum manages to 
tell this story in such a compelling and informative way is testament 
to the vision of the Museum's stewards, from Judge Sulzberger one 
hundred years ago to the institution's current Director, Ms. Joan 
Rosenbaum.
  In addition to presenting the cultural history of the Jewish people, 
the Museum also sponsors groundbreaking exhibitions that greatly 
influence both the art world and our community as a whole. In 1966, the 
Museum's Primary Structures show defined the Minimalist art movement 
and introduced to a wide audience the works of Dan Flavin, Donald Judd 
and other major exemplars of the style. In 1970, the Museum reaffirmed 
its position on the leading edge of the art community when it presented 
Software, a pioneering exhibition of interactive, information 
technology-related art. Additionally, the Museum was among the first to 
exhibit the works of Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg; other 
prominent artists, such as Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky, and Camille 
Pissarro have also been featured by the Museum. The upcoming Modigliani 
show is expected to draw crowds to the first major exhibition of his 
work in New York since 1951.
  The Jewish Museum strikes a perfect balance between beliefs that, in 
our world, too often compete with one another. Indeed, while the Museum 
celebrates Jewish culture and encourages the appreciation of the past, 
it also promotes tolerance for alternative points of view and seeks to 
nurture emerging trends. America, at its best, is likewise a harmony of 
different people and ideas; in fact, it is precisely this quality that 
makes our nation the greatest in the world.
  Mr. Speaker, I request that my colleagues join me in paying tribute 
to The Jewish Museum, whose century of incomparable, pathbreaking 
achievements are truly worthy of celebration.

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