“The Jewish Museum presents The Hare with Amber Eyes, an exhibition that tells the story of the Ephrussi family—celebrated in the 2010 memoir and The New York Times bestseller of the same name by Edmund de Waal—and showcases the breadth and depth of their history and illustrious collections. The exhibition, on view at the Jewish Museum from November 19, 2021, through May 15, 2022, explores the family’s rise to prominence and splendor in the first half of the nineteenth century, followed by a focus on the prolific collector and historian of art, Charles Ephrussi, to the inter-war years, and finally World War II, when the family lost its fortune and collection to Nazi looting.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro, working closely with de Waal and the Jewish Museum, created an interpretive installation using art and artifacts, loaned variously by the family and by other cultural institutions. These items trace the turbulent history of the Ephrussi’s movements through place and time. The domestic setting of the Jewish Museum evokes the architecturally distinguished homes the Ephrussi family inhabited over the course of generations. Their stories are brought to life through audio excerpts from The Hare with Amber Eyes read by Edmund de Waal and encountered by visitors at specific locations throughout the exhibition, giving context to the wide range of objects on display.” — The Jewish Museum

Installation views of The Hare with Amber Eyes, the Jewish Museum, NY, November 19, 2021-May 15, 2022. Photos by Iwan Baan.

The Hare with Amber Eyes is organized by the Jewish Museum, New York; Stephen Brown, Curator, with Shira Backer, Leon Levy Associate Curator; and Elizabeth Diller in collaboration with Edmund de Waal. Interpretation and design by Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Title image: Recumbent hare with raised forepaw, signed Masatoshi. Ivory, eyes inlaid in amber colored buffalo horn. Osaka, Japan, ca. 1880. de Waal family collection.

Images courtesy the Jewish Museum.