Books, Arts & Manners: Detour Here!

The Museum of Soviet Unofficial Art was probably well advised to announce its opening with a press conference at Freedom House, for otherwise the occasion might have gone wholly unnoticed. So far as I know, few if any New York-based art writers covered the actual event, probably because, unlike your intrepid reporter, they feared venturing into the terra incognita of Jersey City (a 15-minute train ride from Times Square), where the museum is located.

Apart from a couple of gallery shows, New Yorkers have had small opportunity to sample the work of dissident artists from the Soviet Union, so that, as the Guides Michelin would put it, the new museum is “well worth a detour.” It occupies a yet-to-be-renovated 1850s red brick building which has recently been accorded Landmark status and which also serves as headquarters for the Committee for the Absorption of Soviet Emigrés.

RB

About the Author

Ruth Berenson

Featured Tags

The Museum of Soviet Unofficial Art was probably well advised to announce its opening with a press conference at Freedom House, for otherwise the occasion might have gone wholly unnoticed. So far as I know, few if any New York-based art writers covered the actual event, probably because, unlike your intrepid reporter, they feared venturing into the terra incognita of Jersey City (a 15-minute train ride from Times Square), where the museum is located.

Apart from a couple of gallery shows, New Yorkers have had small opportunity to sample the work of dissident artists from the Soviet Union, so that, as the Guides Michelin would put it, the new museum is “well worth a detour.” It occupies a yet-to-be-renovated 1850s red brick building which has recently been accorded Landmark status and which also serves as headquarters for the Committee for the Absorption of Soviet Emigrés.