Covering nearly two centuries, "Jewish Art: A Modern History" examines the art made by Jews across Europe, America and Israel. Written by two leading scholars in the field, this is the first broadly accessible book to address the subject in both an introductory and a critical manner.
Samantha Baskind and Larry Silver provide a chronological, geographic and thematic framework, to examine Jewish artists against the background of an emerging modernity. The shifting Jewish identities are discussed, as well as the effects of the diaspora and anti-Semitism, which are woven directly into analyses of specific works of art. The authors ask "what is Jewish art?" and examine the ambiguities of the Jewish experience, both religious and cultural. Rather than providing reductive classifications of the subject, they consider the variety of ways Jewish artists have defined themselves and their works.
Looking at the work of European artists including Moritz Daniel Oppenheim and Maurycy Gottlieb, Camille Pissarro and Marc Chagall, to those in the US such as Miriam Schapiro and Eva Hesse, Barnett Newman and Archie Rand, as well as contemporary Israeli artists, "Jewish Art: A Modern History" provides a comprehensive, probing and lucid account of a complex subject. It is ideal for all general readers interested in the subject, and invaluable to students of Jewish art and history, as well as scholars in the field.
This lavishly illustrated volume, featuring numerous works published for the first time, offers a coherent discussion of the vexed question of what constitutes Jewish art today.
