Two remarkable exhibits, quite different, are currently on view at the New York Jewish Museum. "MODIGLIANI unmasked" includes early drawings of the Italian born artist Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920). The exhibition highlights the work of the artist, of Italian-Sephardic background, at the beginning of his arrival in Paris in 1906, coincident with the wave of anti-Semitism. The work on view includes about 150 drawings from the collection of Dr. Paul Alexandre, Modigliani's patron and personal friends
"Veiled Meaning" includes over 100 articles of clothing from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, belonging to The Israel Museum’s collection of Jewish costumes. The multiplicity of styles in costumes on display is a visible expression of the diversity of Jewish communities. As mentioned in the catalog "This exhibition invites viewers to consider the language of clothing in all its complexity. Though this language can disclose information about gender, age, background, and custom, some important meanings remain vague and fluid. Clothing may accentuate or conceal; it may be transitory, but it may also be ageless and universal. These garments, dating primarily to the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, are drawn from the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the repository of the most comprehensive collection of Jewish costume in the world. Its holdings provide a unique testimony to bygone communities, to forms of dress and craft that no longer exist, and to a sense of beauty that still has the power to enthrall."
