Jersey City Museum
Jersey City Museum is an art museum located in the Van Vorst Park section of Downtown Jersey City, New Jersey. Serving a diverse community, the Museum collects, exhibits, preserves, and interprets its collections of 19th- and 20th-century paintings, works on paper, sculpture, and material culture from the region. The mission of the museum is to serve the community by "maintaining, preserving, and interpreting the region's cultural heritage." In order to stimulate community participation in the visual arts, and to reflect the cultural diversity of New Jersey, the Jersey City Museum gives special attention to the exhibition of contemporary art, and recognizes the many visual artists who make their home in New Jersey and the neighboring metropolitan area. The collection includes the large body of work of painter August Will.
History
The Jersey City Museum dates back to 1901, when it was located on the fourth floor of the Jersey City Free Public Library on Jersey Avenue. It remained under the aegis of the Library until 1987, when the Museum Association initiated efforts for the founding of a separate institution. In 1993, the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency donated the building at 350 Montgomery Street. Jersey City historian J. Owen Grundy served five times as the museum's president.[1] The museum relocated to it new location in 2001.[2]
The cream-colored brick building, a former post office warehouse circa 1929, was renovated for $6.5 million.[3] Designed by architect Charles Gifford of Meyer & Gifford of New York, the interior offered an attractive modern space enhanced by a skylight lobby. The museum holds a collection of 20,000 pieces. The museum consists of offices, a classroom, several galleries, a 152-seat theater, and a gift shop.[4] However, the Museum is months behind in its mortgage payments and is in danger of losing the building. A 10,000-piece collection remains.
Due to financial difficulties, the Museum was closed to the general public in December 2010.[5] and was not expected to re-open.[6][7] The building was purchased by the Jersey City Medical Center in February 2012, to use partially as offices, with the remaining space and theater re-opening as a museum in June.[8][9][10]
In April 2016 it was announced that the city was considering purchasing a building at Journal Square, now owned by Hudson County Community College.[11]
See also
References
- ^ [1] - New York Times, January 30, 1985, J. Owen Grundy Dead at 73; Official Jersey City Historian
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/30/nyregion/art-review-political-art-inaugurates-the-jersey-city-museum-s-new-space.html?gwh=08BBCCA553696B9561668CCA09B0C7B6
- ^ https://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/Pages/J_Pages/Jersey_City_Museum.htm
- ^ http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2010/09/jersey_city_officials_say_art.html
- ^ http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/7440901/article-Unanswered-questions-about-JC-Museum-109-year-old-institution-faces-uncertain-future-?
- ^ http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2011/07/jersey_city_museum_unlikely_to.html
- ^ http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/36813/jersey-city-art-museum-closes-amid-steep-cuts-in-the-garden-state
- ^ http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/2012/06/29/museum-board-medical-center-and-art-school-all-play-a-role-in-jersey-city-museums-reopening/
- ^ http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2012/06/jersey_city_museum_will_reopen.html
- ^ http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2012/06/jersey_city_museum_opens_doors.html
- ^ http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2016/04/jersey_city_in_talks_to_bring_an_art_museum_to_jou.html#incart_river_home
