Recent Acquisitions

Contemporary 21st-century Automata

Currently on view in the Guinness Gallery

See two recently acquired works by artist Walter Rossi that exemplify the creative energy and vitality of kinetic art including his work The Buddha. The Morris Museum acquired several key works from A Cache of Kinetic Art, a four-part juried exhibition series hosted by the museum from 2018 to 2022. Established and emerging artists offered contemporary interpretations of 19th-century mechanical music, automata, and the art of timekeeping.

Musically Timed

Continental Clock Makers and their Markets

Now on view through March 26, 2023

Explore how clock makers incorporated music into their works, and households added a wide range of music to their everyday lives. Musically Timed: Continental Clock Makers and their Markets traces the circulation of mechanical instruments from shop to store, home to auction, collection to museum. This exhibition features select musical clocks loaned from private collectors that are augmented by pieces from the museum’s Guinness Viewable Storage vault.

Leadership support for this exhibition is provided by Will and Mary Leland.

Art on Screen

Behind the Strings

Wednesday, January 11, 2023 | 2 PM & 7:30 PM

Filmmaker Michael Peroff will introduce this film and participate in a Q&A after each screening.

When Mao’s Cultural Revolution ended, China’s door cracked open. Four young, classical musicians seized the opportunity to flee to the West as classical music was banned. This film explores how the Shanghai Quartet began a lifetime adventure—studying with great masters, attending Juilliard, participating in a residence at Montclair State, and performing at major music festivals and best classical music venues like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and The Kennedy Center. This film showcases their lives, how they got to the top and the price they pay.

General Admission is $15.00. Member tickets are $12.00. Become a Morris Museum Member today.

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The Morris Museum has adopted a dynamic mask policy for upcoming events in the Bickford Theatre. Face masks are currently optional in the CENTER and HOUSE RIGHT sections (indicated in blue) and are required in the HOUSE LEFT section (indicated in red). Face masks are currently optional for Children’s Theatre performances. This policy is subject to change at any time. Please check back on our website or call the box office for our current policy before your scheduled performance date. For assistance, call the box office at 973-971-3706.

Studio Art—Registration is Now Open!

A more creative and artistic you for the New Year. There is still time to join one of these engaging art activities. Hands-on classes for every skill level inspire adults to take risks and bring their ideas to life in various mediums. Receive a discount on Studio Art classes when you become a Member!

Spark!Lab, Where Everyone Is an Inventor

In January, young inventors can test their skills as they devise a vehicle creation and other challenges. Spark!Lab offers any child (ages 5-12 and accompanied by an adult), a new informal approach to hands-on learning. Instead of following step-by-step instructions, young inventors will be empowered to problem-solve and overcome real-world obstacles. We offer many unique, project-specific stations, where young inventors can engage directly with engineering and design challenges.

Spark!Lab at the Morris Museum is made possible by leadership support from BASF. Generous support is also made possible by Gay H. Osborn on behalf of the Blanche and George Jones Fund, Inc.

Federico Solmi: Joie De Vivre

On View through February 26, 2023

This is the first exhibition to explore Federico Solmi's unique process—which combines traditional art practices and digital technologies—through a case study of his most ambitious video-painting to date, The Bathhouse (2020). This monumental, 20-foot-wide, five-channel, multi-sensory video installation depicts an excess of revelry by Leaders from across world history in the setting of a Roman bathhouse.

Along with new works, there will be an interactive Virtual-Reality (VR) installation, The Bacchanalian Ones (2020), composed of three VR headsets with accompanying 3D-printed character masks. The visitor is invited to enter the world of The Bathhouse as one of three characters wearing a VR headset. Manipulating hand-held controllers allows them to embody the chosen perspective through the eyes of one of these historical avatars.

Federico Solmi: Joie De Vivre is made possible through the generous support of the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation.

Additional general operating support for the exhibition is provided by Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.

We are pleased to acknowledge the Ronald Feldman Gallery where the Morris Museum first discovered the work of Federico Solmi.

Image credits (from top to bottom): Walter Rossi (b. Italy 1951), The Buddha, 2016. Collection of the Morris Museum, 2019.1.2. Gift of the artist. Exhibited at A Cache of Kinetic Art: Simply Steampunk, 2018; French Empire Gilt Ormolu Clock. Clockmaker, François Alibert, Paris, France, first half 19th century. Musical Movement, M. Bordier, Geneva, Switzerland, c. 1810. The Murtogh D. Guinness Collection, Morris Museum. 2003.18.28a-c.; Art on Screen image courtesy of the Shanghai String Quartet; Studio art image by Morris Museum; Spark!Lab image by William Hauser; Gala artwork by Morris Museum; and Federico Solmi, Joie De Vivre (IX), Oprah Winfrey and Warren Buffett, 2021, Soft pastels, white pen and ink, gouache on wood panel, 60 x 36 x 1 in. (152.5 x 91.5 x 2.5 cm).