Jewish art
- Art made by Jews; or Judaica — objects associated with Jewish religious figures, places, practices, or
beliefs. [Expect
a more in-depth article to appear here soon!]
The Israel Museum says "It is customary to see Israeli art as beginning with the founding of the Bezalel Art School in Jerusalem in 1906. The teachers who were brought to the school from Europe are considered the first Israeli artists."
The word "Semite" denotes a member of Semitic-speaking people: a member of a Semitic-speaking people of Southwest Asia, including the Arab and Jewish peoples, and the ancient Assyrians, Babylonians, Carthaginians, Ethiopians, and Phoenicians. This word is also loosely used in slang for a Jew, and such uses are always offensive.
Semitic culture: the customs, traditions, language, and characteristics of Semitic people
"Semitism" can be the customs, manners, and ideas characteristic of the Semites, especially those of the Jews. It often stands for policies favorable to Jews, or any predisposition in favor of Jews.
Anti-Semitism is the strong dislike or cruel and unfair treatment of Jewish people. There is a history of anti-semitic propaganda, for instance. Anti-Semitic art — ant-Semitica — can have all the potential xenophobic ugliness found in hate art of all sorts. Typical of its ilk are stereotypical ways in which Jewish people are portrayed, generally as hook-nosed power-grabbers who are the causes of all manner of problems. "There are two
Examples:
Foundation Stone from the Third Wall of Jerusalem,
41-70 C.E., carved
limestone, 22 x 40 x 20
inches (55.9 x 101.6 x 50.8 cm), The Jewish Museum, NY.
Rome, 3rd - 4th century C.E.,
Burial Plaque, carved
and painted marble,
The Jewish Museum, NY. See Roman
art.
Italian, Torah Ark: Urbino Ark, c. 1500, refurbished 1624, carved and painted wood, 94 1/8 x 109 13/16 x 34 inches (239 x 279 x 86.4cm), The Jewish Museum, NY.
Dutch, Rotterdam, Ketubah, 1648, on parchment,
Israel Museum, Jerusalem. See Dutch
art and ketubah.
Studio of Isidoro Baratta (Italian), Marriage Contract (Ketubah), 1751, pen, ink,
gouache, and gold
paint on parchment, 21
x 13 5/8 inches (53.3 x 34.5 cm), The Jewish Museum, NY.
Netherlands, Pair of Torah Finials (Rimmonim), early 19th century,
hollow-formed, filigreed, and cast silver, each: height 13 1/2 inches (34.3 cm), North Carolina Art Museum, Raleigh.
Moritz Daniel Oppenheim (German, 1800-1882),
Return of the Jewish Volunteer from the Wars
of Liberation to his Family Still Living in Accordance with Old
Customs, Germany, 1833-34, oil
on canvas, The Jewish Museum,
NY.
Middle East, possibly Yemen, Bridal Belt, 19th century, filigreed and partially gilt silver, length 29 1/8 inches (74.0 cm), width 1 1/2 inches (3.8 cm), North Carolina Art Museum, Raleigh.
Russian-American, Patchwork Quilt with East European and American
Imagery, 1898, velvet embroidered
with wool, silk and metallic
threads, glass
beads, silk, 80 1/4 x 64 inches (203.8 x 162.6 cm), The Jewish Museum,
NY.
Poland, Tower of Spice, 1899 (per hallmark), filigreed and partially gilt silver, height 8 15/16 inches (22.7 cm), diameter (base) 1 15/16 inches (4.9cm), length 29 1/8 inches (74.0 cm.), width 1 1/2 inches (3.8 cm), North Carolina Art Museum, Raleigh.
Middle East, possibly Iraq, Torah Case (Tik) (closed and open), 1908, die-stamped, repoussé, cast, appliqué, chased, engraved, and partially gilt silver; wood; textile; height 36 7/8 inches (93.7 cm), diameter 10 1/2 inches (26.7 cm), North Carolina Art Museum, Raleigh.
Isidor Kaufmann (Hungarian-Jewish, 1854-1921),
Young Rabbi from N., c. 1910, oil
on wood, 38.1 x 27.6 cm, Tate
Gallery, London.
Samuel Hirszenberg (Polish, 1865-1908).
Max Weber (American, 1881-1961), The Talmudists, 1934, oil
on canvas, 50 x 34 1/8
inches (127 x 86.7 cm), The Jewish Museum, NY.
Albert Bloch (American, 1882-1961), March of the Clowns, 1941, oil
on canvas mounted
on Masonite, sight: 35
9/16 x 39 7/16 inches (90.3 x 100.2 cm), framed: 41 x 45 inches
(104.1 x 114.3 cm), The Jewish Museum, NY. Bloch was a member of
the artists' group called Der
Blaue Reiter.
Elie Nadelman (American, born Poland, 1882-1946),
Dancer, c. 1918-1919, cherrywood, The Jewish
Museum, NY. See Polish art, sculpture, and wood.
Marc Chagall (French, born Belarus, 1887-1985; in France 1910-14, 1923-41; U.S.A. 1941-48; France 1948-85), Standing Nude, 1904, pencil on paper, 12 x 8 1/8 inches (30.5 x 20.7 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.
Marc Chagall, I and the Village, 1911, oil on canvas, 6 feet 3 5/8 inches x 59 5/8 inches (192.1 x 151.4 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY. See Surrealism.
Marc Chagall, The Poet with the Birds, 1911, oil on canvas, 28 1/2 x 39 inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Marc Chagall, Birthday (L'Anniversaire), 1915, oil on cardboard, 31 3/4 x 39 1/4 inches (80.6 x 99.7 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY. Chagall's Study for Birthday, 1915, pencil on paper, 9 x 11 1/2 inches (22.9 x 29.2 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.
Marc Chagall, Over Vitebsk (Au dessus de Vitebsk), 1915-20 (after a painting of 1914), oil on canvas, 26 3/8 x 36 1/2 inches (67 x 92.7 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.
Marc Chagall, Homage to Gogol (design for curtain [not executed] for Gogol festival, Hermitage Theatre, St. Petersburg, 1919), 1917, gouache and pencil on paper, 15 1/2 x 19 3/4 inches (39.4 x 50.2 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.
Marc Chagall, The Red Bouquet, 1969, color lithograph, 56 x 38 cm, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran.
David Bomberg (British, 1890-1957), Jerusalem, Looking to Mount Scopus, 1925,
oil on canvas,
56.5 x 75.2 cm, Tate Gallery, London.
Jacques Lipchitz (born Chaïm Jacob) (French and American, born Russia, 1891-1973), Man with a Guitar, 1915, limestone, 38 1/4 x 10 1/2 x 7 3/4 inches (97.2 x 26.7 x 19.5 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY. See Cubism.
Jacques Lipchitz, A Standing Person, 1916, plaster, 109.2 x 27.4 x 20.2 cm, Georges
Pompidou Center, Paris.
Jacques Lipchitz, Figure, 1926-30 (cast 1937), bronze, 7 feet 1 1/4 inches x 38 5/8 inches (216.6 x 98.1 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.
Chaïm Soutine (Russian-French, 1893/4-1943), The Bellhop, 1928, oil on canvas, 98 x 80.5 cm, Georges Pompidou Center, Paris. See Expressionism.
Ben Shahn (American, born Lithuania, 1898-1969), The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti, from the series "The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti", 1931-32, tempera on canvas, 84 1/2 x 48 inches (214.6 x 121.9 cm), Whitney Museum of American Art, NY. See social realism.
Ben Shahn, for the Resettlement
Administration (RA), Lest We Forget, 1937, gouache and watercolor in bound volume, Franklin
D. Roosevelt Library, National Archives and Records Administration.
From 1935 to 1938 Ben Shahn worked for the Farm
Security Administration (FSA) as an artist and photographer.
He took over six thousand photographs
about the life of every day working people in the southern and
middle western states. See New Deal
art.
Ben Shahn, for the Resettlement
Administration (RA), Years of Dust, 1937, photolithograph,
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National Archives and Records
Administration.
Ben Shahn, Scorn, 1952, tempera
paint on paper, 39 x 25 1/4 inches,
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO.
Ben Shahn, We Kindle These Lights (Hanukkah), 1961,
gouache, ink
and gold leaf
on paper, 19 3/4 x 25 1/4 inches
(50.2 x 64.1 cm), The Jewish Museum, NY.
Raphael Soyer (American, born in Russia, 1899-1987), Entering the Studio, c. 1935, oil on canvas, Columbia Museum of Art, SC. See studio.
Raphael Soyer, Self-Portrait, 1950, oil on canvas, 24 1/2 x 20 1/8 inches, National Academy of Design, NY. See self-portrait.
Mark Rothko (American, 1903-1970), Number 10, 1950, oil on canvas, 7 feet 6 3/8 inches x 57 1/8 inches (229.6 x 145.1 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY. See Abstract Expressionism.
Mark Rothko, Number 73, 1952, oil on canvas, 55 3/8 x 30 3/8 inches, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA.
Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1968, synthetic polymer paint on paper, 17 7/8 x 23 7/8 inches (45.4 x 60.8 cm), Museum of Modern Art, NY.
Isaac Soyer (American, 1907-1981), Employment Agency, 1937, oil on canvas, 34 1/4 x 45 inches (87 x 114.3 cm), Whitney Museum of American Art, NY. See social realism.
George Segal (American, 1924-2000). See Pop Art and sculpture.
Louis Goldman (American, born Germany, 1925-1996).
Nancy Spero (American, born 1926), Masha Bruskina, 1995, synthetic polymer on canvas, 122 1/4 x 146 1/2 inches (310.5 x 372.1 cm), The Jewish Museum, NY.
Yaacov Agam (Israeli, 1928-).
Magdalena Abakanowicz (Polish, 1930-), Hand-LikeTree: Cecyna, 1994, cast bronze, height 12 feet, Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ.
Robert Arneson (American, 1930-1992)
R. B. Kitaj (American, 1932-), Study for the Jewish School (Joe Singer as a Boy), 1980, pastel and charcoal on paper; sheet: 30 3/4 x 23 inches (78.1 x 58.4 cm), The Jewish Museum, NY.
Moshe Zabari (Israeli, 1935-), Torah Crown, New York, 1959, raised
and forged silver, pearls, The Jewish Museum, NY. "This
unusual Torah ornament combines both the traditional
finials (rimmonim) and crown
into a single hybrid work fabricated of silver and pearls. When carried in procession, the pearls
shake and the silver arcs quiver to create movement and sound,
like a kinetic sculpture."
Haim Steinbach (Israeli, 1944-)
Ross Bleckner (American, born 1949), Double Portrait (Gay Flag), 1993, oil on canvas
with collage,
108 1/8 x 72 1/4 inches (274.6 x 183.5 cm), The Jewish Museum, NY.
David Reeb (Israeli, 1952-).
Deborah Kass (American, 1952-), Double Red Yentl, Split (My Elvis), 1993, screenprint and synthetic polymer on canvas; overall: 72 1/4 x 72 inches (183.5 x 182.9 cm); right panel: 72 x 36 1/8 inches (182.9 x 91.8 cm); left panel: 72 1/4 x 36 inches (183.5 x 91.4 cm), Jewish Museum, NY. See feminist art.
Nan Goldin (American, 1953-), Self-portrait in Blue Bathroom, London, 1980, silver dye bleach print, The Jewish Museum, NY. See feminist art and photography.
Nan Goldin, Nan one month after being battered, 1984,
photograph on paper,
69.5 x 101.5 cm, Tate Gallery, London.
Nan Goldin, Self-Portrait on the train, Germany,
1992, photograph on paper, 69.5 x 101.5 cm, Tate Gallery, London.
Michael David (American, 1954-).
Joel Otterson (American, 1959-).
Tova Beck-Friedman (American, born in Israel), Excerpts of a Lost Forest: Homage to Ashera, 1992, ferro-cement, vinyl concrete, black pigment, five elements, each about 96 inches high, Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ.
Also see Roman, Byzantine, ethnic, and Islamic art.
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