Whitney Museum of American Art Early years When was the Museum created? she created in 1918 Who was museum named for? Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Who was she? Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, the museum's namesake and founder,
How did the museum begin?
How did the Whitney Museum of American Art begin?
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, the museum's namesake and founder, was herself a well-regarded sculptor as well as a serious art collector. As a patron of the arts, she had already achieved some success as the creator of the "Whitney Studio Club", a New York-based exhibition space which she created in 1918 to promote the works of avant-garde and unrecognized American artists. Whitney favored the radical art of the American artists of the Ashcan School such as John Sloan, George Luks and Everett Shinn, as well as others such as Edward Hopper, Stuart Davis, Charles Demuth, Charles Sheeler, and Max Weber.  With the aid of her assistant, Juliana R. Force, Whitney had collected nearly 700 works of American art. In 1929, she offered to donate over 500 works of art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but the museum declined the gift. This, along with the apparent preference for European modernism at the recently opened Museum of Modern Art, led Whitney to start her own museum, exclusively for American art, in 1929.  Whitney Library archives from 1928 reveal that during this time the Studio Club utilized the gallery space of Wilhelmina Weber Furlong of the Art Students League to exhibit traveling shows featuring Modernist works. In 1931, architect Noel L. Miller converted three row houses on West 8th Street in Greenwich Village - one of which had been the location of the "Studio Club" - to be the museum's home as well as a residence for Whitney. Force became the first director of the museum, and under her guidance, the museum concentrated on displaying the works of new and contemporary American artists.  In 1954, the museum left its original location and moved to a small structure on 54th Street connected to and behind the Museum of Modern Art on 53rd Street. On April 15, 1958, a fire on the second floor of MOMA that killed one person forced the evacuation of paintings and staff on MOMA's upper floors to the Whitney. Among the paintings moved in the evacuation was A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte which had been on loan from the Art Institute of Chicago. CANNOTANSWER
she offered to donate over 500 works of art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but the museum declined the gift.
The Big Question is a five-part science documentary television series broadcast in the United Kingdom on the Five channel, beginning January 2004 and continuing into 2005. In the North American market, it has been re-released on the Discovery Science network. Each half-hour episode is hosted by a renowned authority, and examines the following provocative questions:

 Part 1 – "How Did the Universe Begin?" presented by Stephen Hawking
 Part 2 – "How Did Life Begin?" presented by Harry Kroto
 Part 3 – "Why Are We Here?" presented by Richard Dawkins
 Part 4 – "Why Am I Me?" presented by Susan Greenfield
 Part 5 – "How Will It All End?" presented by Ian Stewart

The series attracted controversy and criticism from creationists, as well as praise from other reviewers.

References

Channel 5 (British TV channel) original programming
2000s British documentary television series
2004 British television series debuts
2005 British television series endings
Documentary television series about science Henry Petzal (August 16, 1906 – March 15, 2002) was an American silversmith. He did not begin silversmithing until 1957 at the age of 50.

History 
Henry Petzal was born on August 16, 1906, in Berlin. He came to the United States as a German refugee in 1935, settling in Shrewsbury, New Jersey. For many years he worked in the textile industry.

In 1963, he started taking classes at New York City YMCA on Fiftieth Street, where he studied with Rudolph Schumacher, William Seitz. And he took classes the Craft Students League, he learned from Adda Husted Andersen. His greatest inspiration in his designs was Chinese ceramics. He designed and hand-raised every piece.

His works are held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Chicago Museum of Fine Arts, the Silversmith's Museum in London, England. The largest collection is at the Mingei Museum in San Diego, and the Mingei International Museum.

References

American silversmiths
2002 deaths
American artists
1906 births
American people of German descent
Artists from Berlin The Menachem Begin Heritage Center is the official state memorial commemorating Menachem Begin, Israel’s sixth Prime Minister. The Center is located on the Hinnom Ridge, overlooking Mount Zion and walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.

Museum

On March 28, 1998, the Knesset passed the Menachem Begin Commemoration Law as an official state memorial project to establish a Center that would preserve the achievements and legacy of Menachem Begin and serve as a Research Institute of the Struggle for the Independence of Israel and its future security and development. The Center was officially opened by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, on June 16, 2004.

The museum tells the story of the life of Menachem Begin, from his childhood in Poland, his years as the commander of the Irgun, the Leader of the Opposition in the Knesset, and as Prime Minister of the State of Israel, by means of multimedia exhibits that include historical reconstructions and reenactments, documentary videos, interactive touch screen exhibits, presentations and surround sound narration.
The library contains books on various research areas connected to the museum, and also holds books from Menachem Begin’s personal library.

Begin Prize
The Begin Center awards an annual prize to a person or organization that has done important work for the benefit of the State of Israel and/or Jewish people. Past recipients of the prize include Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut who died in the Columbia disaster; Kaare Kristiansen, a Norwegian statesman who quit the Nobel Prize Committee when the prize was awarded to Yasser Arafat; and Rabbi Avraham Elimelech Firer, founder of Ezra L'Marpeh, a society that guides people seeking medical treatment. In November 2013, it was announced that the recipient would be NGO Monitor, a watchdog organization that states it monitors organizations which claim to be safeguarding human rights while engaging in political advocacy that promotes anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment.

Archives
The onsite archives collect all historical material directly connected with the life and achievements of Menachem Begin and are part of the Israel State Archive.

Research and education
The Research Institute of the Begin Heritage Center sponsors conferences, lectures and colloquia in cooperation with universities and other research centers.

The center operates varied programs and tours for students, soldiers, and youth visiting from abroad. It also offers the “Junior Knesset” educational program, for middle school pupils, to enhance civic education and the study of Israel’s parliamentary system.

In June 2013, the center helped to organize a special ceremony marking Begin's 100th birthday in his hometown, Brest, in Belarus. The ceremony took place in front of the school that Begin attended as a child, Tahkemoni School on Kuybeshava Street.

Archaeological garden
Archaeological discoveries at the site of the museum dating back to the First Temple period are preserved in the Al Reich Archeological Garden, including ancient burial caves (the site called Ketef Hinnom), in which a silver scroll pendant containing the biblical Priestly Blessing () in ancient Hebrew script was found.

See also
List of Israeli museums
Tourism in Israel

References

External links 

Menachem Begin Heritage Museum  website

Museums established in 1998
Museums in Jerusalem
Archaeological museums in Israel
Biographical museums in Israel
1998 establishments in Israel
Heritage