Past Exhibits
Lillian Goldman Reading Room
Mon-Thu: 9:30am-4:30pm
Fri: 10:00am-2:00pm by appointment only
Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute
Mon-Thu: 9:30am-4:30pm
Free Exhibit Spaces
Mon – Wed: 9:30am – 4:30pm
Thu: 9:30am – 8:00pm
Fri: 10:00am – 2:00pm
Sat: Closed
Sun: 11:00am – 5:00pm
Ruth's Bookstore
Mon – Wed: 9:30am – 4:30pm
Thu: 9:30am – 8:00pm
Fri: 10:00am – 2:00pm
Sat: Closed
Sun: 11am – 5pm
Make sure to check our holiday closures prior to visiting.
Last entry to the Center for Jewish History Exhibitions, Reading Room, and the Genealogy Institute is 1 hour before closing. The last call to page items in the Reading Room and Genealogy Institute is 3pm.
Samson Schames, a Jewish artist forced to flee Nazi Germany, found an extraordinary visual language in exile—creating vivid mosaics out of rubble gathered from the bombed streets of London. These haunting works express the devastation and uncertainty of war and survive as early examples of “detritus art”—artworks made from materials typically considered waste or scraps.
Through an exploration of Schames’ life in his native Frankfurt am Main and his exiles in London and New York, Lost and Found traces the development and resilience of an artist across time, space, and historical ruptures. Combining works from multiple institutions and private collections on both sides of the Atlantic, it is the first comprehensive presentation of Schames’ works in the US.
Art could never repair what Samson Schames lost, but in that loss, he sought and found both meaning and a language for expressing it.
This exhibit closed on
Sunday, December 21, 2025