Exhibit reflects a meeting of many minds

A few years ago, Shoshana Pakciarz came to Nancy Netzer with a problem. Pakciarz wanted to bring an exhibition to town from the Jewish Museum in New York. But the New Center for Arts and Culture, which Pakciarz and others were hoping to develop on a plot of reclaimed Big Dig land, was still just an idea. Netzer, the director of Boston College's McMullen Museum of Art, loved the notion of hosting the show, ''The Power of Conversation: Jewish Women and Their Salons," at a Catholic university. Her problem: It was too expensive.

Their solution can now be seen on the Chestnut Hill campus. With the museum's space and some of the New Center's money, Gertrude Stein and a host of other writers, musicians, and painters from 18th-century Vienna to 1940s Hollywood -- or at least their images and stories -- have been brought together for the exhibition, which runs through Dec. 4.

For both institutions, the show is, Netzer says, meant to bridge cultures.

The leaders of the New Center, who are still developing plans for a four-story complex on a plot of land between Rowes Wharf and the financial district, see the exhibit as a way to spread word of the project.

''It's important to work our way into the community and to reinforce the basis of our ideas," says Ronald Druker, the Boston real-estate developer who is chairing the organization's board of directors. ''Even if, at this point, we may be without a home, we can give proof to the concept."

The exhibition fulfills Netzer's desire to showcase a mix of cultures in the museum's programming. In addition, she notes, the show coincides with the inauguration of Boston College's Jewish Studies program.

''The Power of Conversation" is heavy on content, short on bells and whistles. It details the lives of 14 women who led salons, informal settings for writers, musicians, and other artists to gather and socialize, share works, and -- in some cases -- meet their future spouses. (Alma Schindler first spotted eventual husband Gustav Mahler at a Vienna gathering hosted by Berta Zuckerkandel.) For many of the women, salons offered an important intellectual forum, a way for them to make a difference, in societies in which they could otherwise wield little power.

The salon hostesses had a range of artistic interests, from painting to music and film. To re-create the sense of community found in the meetings, the curators display photographs of the hosts and their guests as well as objects related to them, including letters and music books. A short film details the story of Salka Viertel, whose salon in Los Angeles became a Hollywood hangout in the 1920s through '40s, a hot spot for John Huston, Fritz Lang, and Dorothy Parker.

There are also paintings, a period dress, and sculptures by Auguste Rodin. And the show features an audio tour narrated by actress Isabella Rossellini and featuring other actors portraying such figures as Oscar Wilde. One of the show's most exciting finds, says Netzer, is a series of pencil drawings done by Wilhelm Hensel. The artist's wife, Fanny -- sister of composer Felix Mendelssohn -- hosted a renowned salon in 19th-century Berlin.

''They're absolutely staggeringly good and not very well known," Netzer said of the drawings. ''My colleagues have said, 'Whoa, this is a great discovery.' "

Pakciarz recently stepped down from her position as New Center executive director to free up time to spend with her husband, who recently retired. The Center is searching for her replacement as it moves forward. It plans to raise $90 million for the project, about $60 million of which would be used on a building that would feature galleries, classrooms, and a 350-seat theater. Architect Daniel Libeskind has created the designs for the structure.

Druker and the center's organizers, many of whom are leaders of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies and the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston, are looking to add to the half-dozen members on the organization's board. They've been slowed, he said, by the death this spring of New Center board cochairman Edwin N. Sidman. Though Druker wasn't ready to share names of potential board members, he said the board would reach outside Boston and the Jewish community.

The McMullen show is not the first sponsored by the Center. Two years ago, ''Words on Fire" ran throughout Boston in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the Nazi book burnings in Berlin. The eight-week multidisciplinary festival featured readings, exhibits, and cyberart. Its finale, at the Boston Public Library, featured writers such as John Updike and Alice Hoffman reading from works by authors whose books were believed to be burned in Berlin. In similar fashion, the New Center will now cosponsor a series of contemporary salons on a range of topics in the Boston area through November.

The new exhibition and relationship with BC should make it clear that the New Center intends to reach outside the Jewish community, says developer Robert Beal, one of the organization's board members.

''While sponsored by the Jewish community, this is going to be multicultural," he said.

Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com.