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Art Exhibitions

Welcome to the Maine Jewish Museum, located in Portland’s historic East End neighborhood.

The museum is housed within the restored Etz Chaim Synagogue, a turn-of-the-century house of worship. The museum is a venue for contemporary art exhibits feature established, Jewish-connected, and Maine-connected artists and rotate every eight weeks.
Most of the art we exhibit is for sale. Your purchase helps support artists and the Maine Jewish Museum.

Our current exhibitions are listed below.

Masks optional. 

    • Father and Daughter: William Zorach and Dahlov Ipcar

      March 7 – May 3, 2024

      Maine Jewish Museum

      As a sculptor in the United States, William Zorach pioneered the art of direct carving stones. He preferred direct carving granite boulders, which he often found himself on walks. There is a spirituality to Zorach’s sculptures inspired by the stones he used and they are uniquely expressive – largely conveying love, strength and inner peace. Zorach was very thoughtful and articulate about his work.

      Many of these direct carved sculptures in stone and wood were cast in bronze. In this exhibition, guest curated by Rachel Walls, seven (7) works in bronze created between 1949 and 1956 will be shown together for the first time. These bronzes – Battle of the Ghetto, Refugees, Their Annihilation, Sacrifice, The Prayer, Samuel Answers the Lord and Head of Moses (pictured) – are deeply personal works Zorach created as he processed his own reaction to the Holocaust in Europe and World War II.

    • Father and Daughter: Dahlov Ipcar

      March 7 – May 3, 2024

      Maine Jewish Museum

      Dahlov (Zorach) Ipcar is considered her parents’ greatest creative experiment. Ipcar was born at a hospital in Windsor, Vermont to the famed sculptor, painter and educator William Zorach and his wife, the painter and textile artist Marguerite (Thompson) Zorach in 1917, while they were living at Echo Farm in Plainfield, New Hampshire.

      Ipcar describes her childhood as unusual, “I grew up in a home full of modern art, of Fauvism and Cubism, in a creative atmosphere, where everything in our home was exciting and different from other people’s homes. From the beginning, art seemed like a natural part of life.”

      In the late 1930s after marrying Adolph Ipcar, a longtime friend and summer neighbor in Maine, in New York City, the newlywed Ipcars moved to Maine permanently where they lived on Robinhood Farm, part of the Zorach’s property on Georgetown Island, Maine. Over twenty works from Ipcar’s personal collection, the majority of which were created in her studio and later hung in her residence on Robinhood Farm will be shown in this exhibition.

    • The Steve and Judy Halpert Photography Collection: Part II

      March 7 – May 3, 2024

      Maine Jewish Museum

      Steve and Judy Halpert have been supporters of photography and film for years and have been acquiring photographs since the early 1960s. The Steve and Judy Photography Collection, Part II exhibits the work of more than 20 artists including Berenice Abbott, Eugene Atget, Edward Curtis, Jim Daniels, Barbara Goodbody, Michael Kolster, Judy Glickman Lauder, Verner Reed, Todd Webb, and many others.