Jersey City Museum: “Masters of the Collection.”

 

As part of JC Fridays, a quarterly, city-wide celebration, the Jersey City Museum featured a rare exhibit: “Masters of the Collection.”

Landscapes, mainly from the 19^th century, ranged from busy waterfront scenes to a representation of when Montgomery Street was still pastoral, dominated the exhibit. I particularly liked -- “In Nicaragua Waters” by North Bush, which had elements of photographic accuracy and impressionistic perceptions. Misty, dreamy, colors. I’m not sure what a bust of Thomas Edison, a life-size wood carving of an eagle, or a display case of an old Old Glory and some cannon balls had to do with the overall exhibition theme, but that’s just nitpicking.

The fact the Jersey City Museum was participating in JC Fridays, was showing some of its art and was clearly operating again, even in an apparently limited capacity, should be applauded. It is a welcome development.

 

 

 

 

 

 Mark Rodrick, treasurer/board of trustee for the museum, was on hand for “Masters of the Collections” exhibition and his enthusiasm for the museum was noteworthy. The landscape category within in the collection is especially significant, and he was nice enough to show me some of the back spaces that are used for storage of the collection.

 

 

The Jersey City museum has a history of haplessness – for years it was just a floor of the library – then it moved into a new, impressive space, built specifically for the purpose of showcasing its collection of art and artifacts. But lack of adequate funding, lack of civic and community support, lack of vision, lack of ambition – seemed, besides some interesting art, the only the Jersey City Museum had was lack – plagued the institution and in the last two years to do, those lacks manifested itself in even more controversy. The place was bankrupt, staff was fired, the museum building itself was recently sold to Liberty Medical, the hospital conglomerate.

 

 

 

You follow the dreary saga in the local press and all you get are the accident reports – often with details that only raise more questions – not straight answers as to why the Jersey City Museum has become another city embarrassment. Our political and civic leaders are mostly silent on the Jersey City Museum issue, much less proposing solutions.

 

Well, you won’t get any straight answers on this blog either.

 As a commendable gesture of community outreach, Liberty Medical is letting the museum continue on the ground floor (the other floors are used as office space), which means a large reception area, two galleries, and a state-of-the-art small theater. This summer, the museum opened on weekends, that despite what many consider a prohibitive entrance fee ($10) for a mere two galleries and no theater programming, was a step in the direction making the Jersey City Museum something other than a memory or merely a museum in  name only. Being open as part of JC Fridays – and waiving the entrance fee – is another step.

Might be too early to declare momentum – or even clarify a goal – but these are positive signs. The “Masters of the Collection” verified that the museum has a collection worthy of display; now if only we could figure out how to make the museum worthy of our city (or should that be the other way around?)