Exhibitions
BEAUTY AND RITUAL: JUDAICA FROM THE JEWISH MUSEUM, NEW YORK
Frist Art Museum / 919 Broadway October 30, 2026 - February 7, 2027
Drawn from the world-renowned collection of the Jewish Museum in New York City, this exhibition presents more than 130 Jewish ceremonial objects (Judaica) from antiquity to the present, including books, silver, and textiles. From Central Asia to North Africa and Western Europe, the works represent many parts of the world and display a diversity of Jewish cultures.
Exploring the artistic, cultural, and ritualistic significance of these objects, the exhibition illuminates how Jewish communities and artists have creatively adapted traditional forms of Judaica by utilizing a rich array of materials, styles, and techniques. The works are organized thematically in three sections: “The Art of the Synagogue: Adorning the Torah,” “A Day of Rest: The Radiance of the Sabath,” and “Beyond the Synagogue and the Home: The Light of the Hanukkah Menorah.” The Frist Art Museum’s presentation of this exhibition will coincide with Hanukkah, the eight-day festival of lights.
Beauty and Ritual provides a lens into the objects’ stories of precious ownership and often precarious survival against all odds, escaping near destruction and being salvaged under extraordinary circumstances. The exhibition invites people of all backgrounds and cultures to engage with the remarkable stories of exceptional pieces of Judaica.
Beauty and Ritual: Judaica from The Jewish Museum, New York has been organized by The Jewish Museum, New York.
image: Torah crown, Rhodes (?), Greece, 1859/60 (date of inscription). Silver: chased and pierced; 6 1/2 × 8 3/4 × 8 3/4 in. The Jewish Museum, New York, Purchase: Gift of Kurt Thalberg in honor of Elizabeth Cats, 1992-94. Image courtesy of The Jewish Museum, New York
About Frist Art Museum:
Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Frist Art Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit art exhibition center dedicated to presenting and originating high-quality exhibitions with related educational programs and community outreach activities. Located at 919 Broadway in downtown Nashville, TN, the Frist Art Museum offers the finest visual art from local, regional, national, and international sources in exhibitions that inspire people through art to look at their world in new ways. Housed in Nashville’s former main post office building – the city’s treasured art deco structure that was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 – the Frist Art Museum is a 124,400-square-foot facility with more than 45,000 square feet of combined exhibition and public space. On site, there is a gift shop, Café Cheeserie, and the award-winning, interactive Martin ArtQuest gallery, where guests can create their own works of art. Information on accessibility can be found at FristArtMuseum.org/accessibility. Gallery admission is free for guests ages 18 and younger and for members, and $20 for adults. For current hours and additional information, visit FristArtMuseum.org or call 615-244-3340.
Press Contact: Buddy Kite, bkite@fristartmuseum.org, 615-744-3351
