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New Museum of Biblical Art
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Jesus: Behold the Man, 1980s. By Anderson Johnson. Paint on cardboard. Collection of Carl and Marian Mullis. On display at the Museum of Biblical Art which opened in May 2005 on the site formerly occupied by The Gallery at the American Bible Society in New York City. Photo: Museum of Biblical Art (USA05DJ-7.JPG) |
UNITED STATES — A new US$3m museum has opened in New York City on the site formerly occupied by The Gallery at the American Bible Society (ABS).
Described by Dr Ena Heller, head of the new institution, as “the first scholarly museum of art and the Bible in the nation”, the Museum of Biblical Art (MoBIA) is – in spite of its location – an independent organisation with its own board of directors.
ABS closed The Gallery last year. MoBIA now boasts 30 per cent more exhibition space and can put on public display for the first time the ABS collection of rare Bibles formerly accessible only to scholars.
Its mission statement declares that the new museum “fosters understanding and appreciation of art inspired by the Bible and its legacy through the centuries by highlighting the connection between art and religion in the Jewish and Christian traditions”.
“There are a number of great Jewish museums,” Dr Heller told the The Journal News, “but there is no great Christian museum and no museum exploring the relationship between the two religions. This dialogue is so important.”
Dr Heller said last year that the move to independence was prompted in part by a desire to raise the gallery’s profile and expand its educational mission. There was a perception that school groups had been reluctant to visit The Gallery because of concerns about patronising a ‘religious institution’. “There is still this hurdle of [people viewing] ‘biblical art’, especially in New York, which is such a secular city,” she said.
In addition to changing exhibitions bridging the worlds of art, religion and scholarship, the museum will hold academic conferences and public lectures in its education centre, and will offer positions to college- and graduate-level interns.
New climate controls and fire security systems will now protect the historic books and works on view.
The show inaugurating the museum on May 12 was Coming Home: Self Taught Artists, the Bible and the American South, an exhibition of art by untrained hands from the rural South of the United States, both black and white.
On show in the second gallery was a selection of 29 rare items from the ABS Scripture collection which is on long-term loan from the Society.
The newly opened museum represents phase one of a two-phase development due for completion in 2006. (WR 394/8 - 07.05) [4 photos]