Exhibitions at the Magnes
In Plain Sight: Jewish Arts and Lives in the Muslim World Exhibition (2024)
The exhibitions of the Magnes rely on the collection’s extensive, and ever-growing, holdings of art, books, manuscripts, and material culture. By combining museum practice, research, and instruction, they present to the public the results of engaging collaborative projects led by UC Berkeley faculty, students, visiting scholars, artists, and curators. Exhibitions are presented in conjunction with programs connecting academic life and the public interest.
Upcoming
Nancy Lee Katz: A Private Pantheon
Sept 2, 2026 – May 13, 2027
Nancy Lee Katz: A Private Pantheon explores the artist’s decades-long effort to photograph artists, writers, musicians, and thinkers she admired. Between 1986 and 2010, Nancy Lee Katz photographed nearly 200 cultural figures creating a photographic “temple.” Made in studios, workplaces, and other intimate settings, these portraits reveal the interplay between public achievement and private presence. Presented in two parts over the course of a year, the exhibition offers a rare opportunity to experience the breadth of Katz’s enduring vision.
Nancy Lee Katz (1947–2018), Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 1994, Gelatin silver print, Gift of Michael S. Sachs, 2024.1.51.
Current Exhibitions
An Archive of Archives: Roman Vishniac’s Exhibition History | New York, 1971-72
Sep 2, 2027 - May 13, 2027
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Since its founding in 1962, the Magnes has a history of presenting exhibitions that break new ground in Jewish Studies research, build upon the collaboration between curators and UC Berkeley faculty and students, expand Judaica connoisseurship, introduce under-recognized Jewish artists of the 20th century, and take risks with experimental projects by contemporary artists. Many of its exhibitions draw on selections from its extensive collections, or commissioned works that use the collections as inspiration.
Submit an Exhibition Proposal
Magnes exhibitions are almost always drawn from the 60,000 objects of global Jewish culture in the museum’s holdings, with loans occasionally brought in to bolster the stories told with collection items. If you believe that your exhibition concept fits into our exhibition program, please fill out the Temporary Exhibition Proposal form.
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