Events

Masatoshi (sign.) Recumbent hare with raised forepaw, c. 1880 Ivory, buffalo horn de Waal Family Collection

 

Time & Location

November 19, 2021 – May 15, 2022
The Jewish Museum (New York, NY)

 

About

The Jewish Museum will present The Hare with Amber Eyes, an exhibition that tells the story of the Ephrussi family—celebrated in the 2010 memoir and The New York Times bestseller of the same name by Edmund de Waal—and showcases the breadth and depth of their illustrious collection. The exhibition explores the family’s rise to prominence and splendor in the first half of the nineteenth century, followed by a focus on the prolific collector and historian of art, Charles Ephrussi, to the inter-war years, and finally World War II, when the family lost its fortune and collection to Nazi looting.

At the exhibition’s centerpiece are the extraordinary collection of Japanese netsuke, miniature carved sculptures from the Edo Period (17th-19th centuries), originally collected by Charles Ephrussi in the late 1880s. The netsuke were hidden by a maid from German officials in her mattress during World War II and later returned to the family after the war. The collection of netsuke has since been handed down to subsequent generations, serving as a connection between the past and the present. The most recent member of the family to inherit the collection, author and ceramicist Edmund de Waal, drew from them the inspiration for his memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes, continuing the family’s storied legacy of artistic and cultural pursuits.

 

Visit the Jewish Museum website to learn more and schedule your visit. Please note all visitors need to reserve timed tickets. 

 

This event is supported through the Exhibitions Abroad Support Program.

 

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