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LATEST NEWS AND EVENTS |
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| 15 August 2011 |
BEN URI, THE ART MUSEUM for EVERYONE IS EXPANDING
In the commercial world it is often excellent practice to expand and grow market share in a recession when some
competitors cut back.
We are following this strategy.
Ben Uri as you know engages our growing audiences locally, Nationally and Internationally and is now expanding and
preparing the ground for a sustainable Museum and Gallery in the heart of Central London.
To sustain these advances and others across our Social Health, Scholarship, Collection and Social Media strategies
we have at last secured through the generosity of supporters a new HQ in Old Street, EC1.
These new offices will house a growing volunteer team across Business Development, Fund Raising, Curatorial, Collection
Research and Acquisitions, Marketing including Social Media and our new Web Site (to be launched hopefully before
the end of the year) and our extensive Art Research Library which we hope to open to the public early next year.
The exhibition gallery along with Administration, Operations and Education remain in Boundary Road, St John's Wood
for the time being.
We have two full time Executive Management opportunities for the right dynamic individuals to stamp their 'footprint' on the Museum's exciting future.
Head of Business and Income Generation:
- Administration, Finance and Gallery Manager
- Head of Business and Income Generation
As ever it has been a very busy year to date.
We have moved the 1200 strong collection from secure museum storage in the centre of London to the tranquillity and
security of rural England. For over a month we had a ten man team working in Wiltshire where we executed a complete
condition report on every work, identified some 170 works that required restoration and or reframing and have had each
work professionally photographed so the whole collection has now been digitised for future academic reference on our
soon to be launched new web site.
Thanks to the generosity of our friends in the commercial gallery world who donated over 150 frames we are mid way
through the process of reframing these works within a full restoration project. We plan to have the collection completely
framed, presented and restored to museum standards by the end of this financial year. This will be an extraordinary
achievement. Whilst we have re-invested all the first year and a half's savings in storage costs in this important
process generating increased costs this financial year we will accrue significant savings year 2 onwards which will be
reinvested in programming.
This autumn is very exciting.
Exhibitions:
Sunday 12th from 2:30-4pm - Josef Herman RA - The tumultuous early years 1938-1944 revealed.
Illustrated talk by curator Sarah MacDougall.
RSVP info@benuri.org.uk
Opening 20 September from 6:30-8:30 'Josef Herman: Warsaw, Brussels, Glasgow, London, 1938-1944' until January 15th.
New York ~ October 27th sees 'The Land of Light and Promise, 50 Years Painting Jerusalem and Beyond, Ludwig Blum 1891-1974'
opens at MoBia.
Education:
5 years of hard work and significant investment have been richly rewarded as our distinctive and growing set of learning
programmes for teachers and students have been selected to be part of the 'London Grid for Learning' and the 'National
Education Network'. This means our learning modules based on the now renowned Ben Uri Collection are now readily available
'off the virtual computer shelf' to 25,000 schools ~ over 8 million pupils ~ from Inverness to Plymouth.
This academic year we expect to enjoy meaningful learning engagements (rather than one few hour museum visit) with
well in excess of 100,000 students which we intend to significantly grow incrementally year on year. We target 250,000
student teaching engagements per annum across the United Kingdom before 2015.
Much more to tell across so many different areas but for another occasion.
Please keep the evening of September 20th free from 630-830 to join us for the opening of a remarkable survey of
Herman's barely known formative and traumatic years whilst he fled the Nazi's from Warsaw through Brussels, Glasgow
and London before he found solace and some tranquillity in South Wales where he eventually enjoyed deserved
recognition.
Please pass any of the attached CV's to who ever you might think is ready for the challenge, demands and
incredible satisfaction in playing a leading role in mapping out our quite extraordinary journey to the heart
of Centre of London.
Warmest regards and thanks
David and all the Board
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| 20 June 2011 |
OBITUARY
Professor Mordechai (Moti) Omer in memoriam
Born Haifa 1941- Died Tel Aviv 2011
Director and Chief Curator, Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
The Board and staff of Ben Uri are deeply saddened to announce the untimely passing of International Advisory Board member and our loyal supportive friend Moti Omer.
Moti died on Friday morning 10 June after a six month courageous fight against cancer.
He was a unique character and force for good throughout his life of service to the museum and cultural life in Israel. He was a scholar of great distinction, a considered and imaginative curator, a highly efficient Chief Executive and a successful ambassador not just for his museum but for the reputation of Israeli Art and Artists.
His scholarship was renowned in academic circles but ever modest his range of expertise outside Israeli art was seldom brought to the fore. His books on British master 'Turner' and curatorship of the seminal exhibition 'J.M.W. Turner and the Romantic Vision of the Holy Land and the Bible' in Boston in 1996 ~ his articles in the Burlington Magazine, Studio International, Cambridge Criticisms are examples of his breadth of interest and knowledge.
His curatorial career was extraordinary including Museum of Modern Art in NY(1968-1971), Victoria and Albert Museum in London (1976), The Bavarian State Painting Collections, Munich (1979), The Ashmolean in Oxford (1981), The Haim Attar Museum of Art, Ein Hod, The Haifa Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Israeli Art, The Israel Museum all through the 1980's. He was appointed Israel's Commissioner at the Biennial of Young Artists in 1983 in Paris and again at Sao Paulo in 1987 and 1989.
In 1974 he founded the Tel Aviv University Art Gallery and in 1995 he was in addition appointed Director of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art which he led with great distinction.
Under his leadership the Tel Aviv Museum of Art has established an international reputation for excellence and diversity of programming. The Museum is a cultural hub in Tel Aviv and a no fail destination stop for visitors to the city from home and abroad. His vision and decade of planning for a new wing for Israeli Art to be showcased is only months away and the Herta and Paul Amir Wing will open this October.
In 2003 Moti generously and willingly agreed to join Ben Uri's fledgling International Advisory Board and has been a source of constant advice and engagement since. No matter how busy Moti always returned calls and found time to meet and or visit when in the UK for BFAMI or other occasions. It was a privilege to work so closely with him and curator Dr Batsheva Goldman Ida on their 2009 exhibition 'Fragmented Mirror' Reconstructing the Exhibition of Jewish Artists, Berlin 1907'.
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art; its extraordinary collection of Israeli and International art, its seamless blending with remarkable exhibitions of local, national and international artists of fame and promise, its dedication to scholarship, its engagement with young artists, curators and students alike and its new physical future are his lasting legacy.
We pay tribute to his immeasurable contribution to Museum and cultural life in Israel and thank him for his friendship, guidance and contribution to Ben Uri.
We wish his family Long Life and send our condolences to all our friends and his extended family at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
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| 7 February 2011 |
Heart & Art meet on 14th February: Join us for a special supper, art exhibition and auction in aid of ILAN's Handicapped Artists and Day Centres in Israel and Ben Uri's Art as Therapy Programme at the Western Marble Arch Synagogue in the presence of H.E. Mr Ron Proser, Israel's Ambassador to the UK. RSVP to Anna Canby-Monky: anna@benuri.org.uk. Minimum donation £25. Monday 14 February, 7-9.30pm. |
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| 24 January 2011 |
Dr Dalia Manor will give a lecture, 'European Landscape Tradition and Israeli Art: The case of Ludwig Blum' on Wednesday 12th January at 5:30pm in Room B104, Brunel Gallery building, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Russell Square, WC1H OXG. For tickets please email: anna@benuri.org.uk |
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| 10 January 2011 |
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| 20 December 2010 |
The 2011 Ben Uri Art Diary is now available priced £15. Drop into the gallery, email info@benuri.org.uk or call 020 7604 3991 to get yours.
You can download our highlights of the year here (pdf document). |
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| 5 December 2010 |
Join us on Wednesday 8th December at 6.30pm for the formal accession of "Interrogation" by George Grosz.
Also, view the remarkable exhibition of art by Maria Fidelis Girls Convent School in Camden, Wanstead High School and Acland Burghley Secondary School in Tufnell Park. Pupils were visited by holocaust survivor, Eva Kugler and artist Heather Libson. During the project pupils created self portraits which explored their responses to Ben Uri’s National ‘Art in the Open’ Holocaust learning programme.
rsvp@benuri.org.uk |
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| 4 October 2010 |
Ben Uri appeals for missing Ludwig Blum paintings ahead of its major retrospective exhibition opening January 2011. Find out more. |
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| 1 October 2010 |
New art events for everyone announced!
Cross Purposes tour, Gaugin at Tate Modern and more... Click here.
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| 27 September 2010 |
Forced Journeys exhibition inspires Commemorative Stamps
Three artworks from Forced Journeys will grace a set of commemorative stamps for the Isle of Man. Read more.
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| 16 Sept 2010 |
Cross Purposes extended until 28 November 2010. Find out about the exhibition. |
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| 26 August 2010 |
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| 20 August 2010 |
International honour for Suzanne Lewis
The Chairmen and Board of Ben Uri are very proud to announce Suzanne Lewis, our Director of Operations, has accepted an invitation to join the HBI Academic Advisory Committee in Boston, USA.
HBI is a research institute based at Brandeis University in Massachusetts with the mission of developing fresh ways of thinking about Jews and gender worldwide.
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| 10 August 2010 |
Renowned Holocaust art and Chagall scholar, Ziva Amishai-Maisels, Professor Emeritus of Art History at Hebrew University Jerusalem, has joined Ben Uri's International Advisory Board. |
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| 30 July 2010 |
Free daytime lecture by BU curator, Rachel Dickson, on 100 years of Jewish artists announced - Wednesday 15th September, 1pm at Museum of London. |
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| 4 July 2010 |
The Rt Rev Lord Harries of Pentregath talks about Cross Purposes and the controversy on Thought for the Day, BBC Radio 4 on Friday 2 July.
Read the full transcript
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| 1 July 2010 |
Cross Purposes receives wave of support and Ben Uri wins the poll of the week: 63% of respondents in favour of a Jewish Museum of Art staging an exhibition of images of the crucifixion. Thank you!
Cue a follow up article in the Jewish Chronicle
Click here to read all letters of support for the exhibition.
Come and visit and see what all the fuss is about! |
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| 30 June 2010 |
Should a Jewish Museum of Art stage an exhibition of images of the crucifixion? Vote now on the homepage of the JC website and let us know what you think.
http://www.thejc.com/
Story reaches the Evening Standard.
Letters to the Editor of Jewish Chronicle:
"Sir,
A report in your columns on 24 June has moved me to write in defence of the Ben Uri Gallery which makes a unique contribution to the cultural life of this country. As a non-Jew, I am amazed at the excitement generated among some Jews by the exhibition 'Cross Purposes' at the Ben UriI Gallery. The 20th century works in the exhibition were not conceived as devotional objects, nor have they been viewed as such over the past 100 years. The Crucifixion as a theme for painting has long been absorbed into the wider canon of artistic iconography; to see it in any other terms is the worst kind of obscurantism
Yours faithfully
David Wyatt CBE"
(Reproduced with permission)
"The Ben Uri Gallery should be commended rather than castigated for its courageous and challenging crucifix exhibition. Its purpose is to make visitors reflect and ask difficult questions. As a teacher of Jewish-Christian and Jewish-Muslim relations I also emphasise to my students the value of asking each other difficult questions. Judaism is a religion of questions and Ben Uri is fulfilling a task that Jews have undertaken from biblical times to the present day. It should not be prevented from doing so.
Dr Edward Kessler
Woolf Institute, Cambridge"
(Reproduced with permission) |
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| 27 June 2010 |
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| 27 June 2010 |
300 people attending the opening of Cross Purposes at Boundary Road and heard Sir Norman Rosenthal talk about this:
"extraordinary exhibition.... Allowing
us to understand how this most sacred of religious images has evolved over the past hundred years to become a widely used motif for all sorts of purposes in contemporary culture.... Intelligently, sensitively and
courageously curated...."
The exhibition was reviewed in the Jewish Chronicle on 24 June.
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| June 2010 |
Forced Journeys tours to Birkenhead
Following a successful stay at Sayle Gallery, Isle of Man, Forced Journeys opened at the Williamson Art Gallery and Museum, Birkenhead on 17 June. Read more. |
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| June 2010 |
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| 15 February 2010 |
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| 11 February 2010 |
SPECIAL EVENT BOOK NOW:
Private View of paintings by Robert Lenkiewicz from a private collection.
Thursday, 11th March, 5.00 - 8.00pm
Gallery 27 Cork Street, London, W1S 3NG
Please join us for this special event and an opportunity to see major paintings from this very controversial artist. Free to Registered Friends, Guests £10. Email info@benuri.org.uk |
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| 7 January 2010 |
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| December 2009 |
BU ACQUIRES LOST 1945 MASTERPIECE
OF CHAGALL'S WARTIME OEUVRE
To be unveiled on 8th January at Osborne Samuel. Click to find out more.... |
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| October 2009 |
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| September 2009 |
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| September 2009 |
ARTISTS PEER GROUP - 6 September
Join us on the final day of the Pop Up Studios Exhibition for a tour of the work led by the 4 award winning artists. Free but please RSVP to info@benuri.org.uk. Sunday 6th Sept, 2-4pm.
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August 2009 |
EPSTEIN DAY Weds 19 August.
Join us for a coach tour of Epstein's London sculptures and an evening reception at the Fleming Collection. Click for more info. |
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July 2009 |
We are recruiting!
Visit our recruitment page to find out about exciting opportunities to join our management team and help move BU to Central London |
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July 2009 |
16th July: Artists’ Peer Group
7-8pm: Lydia Goldblatt, fine art photographer, in conversation with The Reverend Graeme Napier, Westminster Abbey, discussing her recent series ‘And The Word Was God’
8-9pm: Artist to Artist critique: Grace O’Connor and Julie Major discuss their work. |
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June 2009 |
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May 2009 |
Announcing the Pauline & Daniel Auerbach
ARTISTS WITHOUT STUDIOS PRIZE
A residency and exhibition opportunity for young artists at Ben Uri |
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May 2009 |
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Ben Uri to present and chair
international seminar dedicated to Provenance Research for
Museums at MoMA, New York, 4 Feb 2009 |
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“Chain Reaction” An exceptional auction to benefit the British Friends of the Art Museums of Israel at Phillips de Pury & Company London.
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BEN URI ACQUIRES CELEBRATED WORK BY FRANK AUERBACH...
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Ben
Uri Gallery Acquires a Masterpiece ...
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IJAYA
Finalists Exhibition ...
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