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What's On at the Magnes
Exhibitions and Public Programs that foster community, learning, and deeper understanding.
The Magnes Collection
The material culture of Jewish life throughout history and across the globe.
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New Exhibition
SEPTEMBER 2, 2026 – MAY 13, 2027
Nancy Lee Katz: A Private Pantheon
Nancy Lee Katz: A Private Pantheon explores the artist’s decades-long effort to photograph artists, writers, musicians, and thinkers she admired, including Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Sondheim, Maya Lin, Roy Lichtenstein, and Seiji Ozawa. Created in the intimate environments of personal studios and workplaces, these 133 portraits look behind public accolades to reveal a quiet, private presence. Unfolding in two parts (fall and spring), the exhibition presents, for the first time, the entirety of Katz’s Pantheon.
Nancy Lee Katz (1947–2018), Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 1994, Gelatin silver print, Gift of Michael S. Sachs, 2024.1.51.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Ari’el Stachel’s “Other”
Oct 29 @ 5:30 pm
Don’t miss the chance to see Ari’el Stachel in his one-man, Off-Broadway play, Other, a acclaimed dramedy about the anxious art of belonging.
NEWS
25 years, 133 cultural icons: A private portrait series makes its public debut
A new exhibition at UC Berkeley’s Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life marks the first public presentation of photographer Nancy Lee Katz’s 133-piece “Pantheon” series, which portrays influential American cultural figures.
Latest News
News about the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life. Learn about exhibitions, programs, events, and collection highlights.
Inspiring Future Generations
The Magnes has been humming with energy as we reopen for the new year with a remarkable photography exhibition, Nancy Lee Katz: A Private Pantheon. Katz’s portrait of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stands in the center of the gallery, blown up to...
Hidden for decades, a photographer’s tribute to her idols opens at Magnes
By Niva Ashkenazi for J. The Jewish News of Northern California For 25 years, Nancy Lee Katz worked on a secret project. The New York photographer sent hundreds of personal letters to cultural figures she admired: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, painter Roy...
25 years, 133 cultural icons: A private portrait series makes its public debut
A new exhibition at UC Berkeley's Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life marks the first public presentation of photographer Nancy Lee Katz’s 133-piece “Pantheon” series, which portrays influential American cultural figures. By Anne Brice In a time when influencers...
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