Jersey City Museum
Encyclopedia
Jersey City Museum is a former art museum that was most recently 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. 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. Due to financial difficulties, the Museum has been closed to the general public since December 2010. and is not expected to re-open.
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. The mission of the museum is to serve the community by "maintaining, preserving, and interpreting the region's cultural heritage."
Jersey City historian J. Owen Grundy
served five times as the museum's president.
Van Vorst Park
Van Vorst Park is neighborhood in Historic Downtown in Jersey City, centered around a park sharing the same name. The neighborhood is located west of Paulus Hook and Marin Boulevard, north of Grand Street, east of the Turnpike Extension, and south of The Village and Christopher Columbus Drive...
section of Downtown
Downtown Jersey City
Downtown is an area of Jersey City, New Jersey that includes the Historic Downtown and the Waterfront. Historic Downtown can be further broken down into the neighborhoods of Harsimus Cove, The Village, Van Vorst Park, Grove Street, Hamilton Park and Boyle Plaza...
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
. 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. 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. Due to financial difficulties, the Museum has been closed to the general public since December 2010. and is not expected to re-open.
History
The cream-colored brick building, a former post office warehouse circa 1929, was renovated for $6.5 million. 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. However, the Museum is months behind in its mortgage payments and is in danger of losing the building. A 10,000-piece collection remains.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. The mission of the museum is to serve the community by "maintaining, preserving, and interpreting the region's cultural heritage."
Jersey City historian J. Owen Grundy
J. Owen Grundy
J. Owen Grundy was a native of Jersey City, New Jersey and was until his death its official historian and chairman of the city's Municipal Historic Districts Commission...
served five times as the museum's president.
See also
- August WillAugust WillAugust Will was a German-American artist.He was born in Weimar, Germany and immigrated to the New York City/New Jersey area when he was a young man. Although he always signed his paintings simply with the name August Will, Will's full birth name was John M...
- Exhibitions in Hudson County
- Museum of Russian ArtMuseum of Russian ArtThe Museum of Russian Art is a museum in Jersey City, New Jersey dedicated to exhibiting Russian art, particularly Soviet Nonconformist Art...
