Museum of Biblical Art Established from the Foundation Laid by The Gallery at the American Bible Society

One Book…A World of Art

The first scholarly museum of art and the Bible in the nation opens on May 12, 2005 in New York City, located at Broadway and 61st Street in an expanded and redesigned facility on the site of The Gallery at the American Bible Society. The Museum of Biblical Art (MoBiA) represents a new model in American museology, one that emphasizes the original functions and meanings of objects growing out of the Christian and Jewish traditions.

The new museum will present changing exhibitions devoted to the entire range of the fine and decorative and design arts. Significantly expanding upon the exhibitions and public programming of The Gallery, the new museum will include aspects of one of the world’s most important Rare Scripture collections, on long-term loan from the American Bible Society (ABS). The Museum of Biblical Art will present scholarly symposia and public programs, publish, and maintain a college and graduate level internship program.

The leadership of the new museum, which has been established as a separate 501(c)3 organization with an independent Board of Directors, aims to create a new model for exploring the meaning of religious art and artifacts in culture.

The American Bible Society, founded in 1816 by a group of New York philanthropists, will place its Rare Scripture collection on long-term loan to the new Museum. A little-known New York City treasure, the Rare Scripture collection is renowned among biblical scholars, linguists, art historians, and printing and book art experts as a “library of one book” unequaled for its its rare translations, exquisitely bound volumes, and Classical editions. Previously, both The Gallery and the Library and Archives were separate departments of ABS, which is one of nation’s largest not-for-profit organizations.

The $3 million renovation project will provide 30% more space for exhibitions and programming, including a second gallery for ongoing exhibitions drawn from the Rare Scripture collection, and a dedicated education center. New mechanical systems for air handling, security and fire detection and suppression systems will be installed to protect the works on view and in the collections.

The current redesign initiative, Phase 1 of a 2-phased program slated for completion in 2006, is designed by the four-year-old G & L Architects of New York. Principals Randall Goya and Sara Lopergolo headed the Selldorf Architects design team that created New York’s much admired Neue Galerie. Earlier this year, New York Magazine cited G & L as one of ten “new garde” architects in the city to watch.

Pentagram, a noted design firm, will create an identity program for the Museum’s graphic and environmental design needs.

Coming Home!: Self Taught Artists, the Bible, and the American South will inaugurate the Museum, opening on May 12, 2005. Coming Home! sheds light on the different streams of Christian tradition that flow into untrained artistic expressions in the South rural white as well as African-American. As one of the most comprehensive exhibitions ever organized on the subject of Southern vernacular art, Coming Home! assembles more than 120 works by 73 artists, from the acclaimed to little-known but gifted practitioners whose work will be new to New York audiences. 

Also on view is For Glory and for Beauty: Highlights from the Collection, featuring 29 rare Scriptures drawn from one of the world’s largest collections, which has been placed on long-term loan to MoBiA by the American Bible Society. The exhibition is the first in an ongoing series designed to plumb the significance of the collection, which traces the Bible’s journey from the vellum pages of unique manuscripts laboriously produced for religious and royal elites to printed books designed to please the eyes of a much wider and heterogeneous readership.

For more information, please call 212-408-1500.

Read the Mission and Vision of the Museum of Biblical Arts »