Must-Visit:Vistas of Old Jersey City at Rutgers
A recent trip to the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers was a fun trip back in time to 19th Century Jersey City. The exhibit “Picturing Jersey City; Nineteenth-Century Views by August Will” is a treasure trove of visual history by one man on a mission.
That man, August Will, emigrated from Europe in 1854 and after settling in Jersey City dedicated his career to artistic renderings of his adopted hometown to serve as a historical map. Using multiple artistic mediums available at the time, he depicted the rapidly changing landscape of the City as it transformed into a major manufacturing and transportation hub on the East Coast. His work captures the space and time in JC where burgeoning industry and the natural world met. The time capsule is made even more interesting by the artist returning to the exact same locations to note the changes over time. To that, it’s equally fascinating to check out some of these addresses and look them up in real time!
These works are part of the more than 350 pieces that were acquired by the Jersey City Museum when they closed in 2010. We hear that the JC Museum has plans to reopen soon and that is exciting!
We also think the Zimmerli is an exciting museum that’s only 40 minutes away from us. It is one of the largest and most distinguished university-based art museums in the nation. The museum’s collection includes more than 60,000 works, ranging from ancient to contemporary art, with particular emphasis on nineteenth-century French art; Russian art from icons to avant-garde material; Soviet nonconformist art from the Dodge collection; and American art with notable holdings of prints.
Zimmerli Art Museum, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick
https://zimmerli.rutgers.edu/art/exhibitions