HEBRAIC ART AND CULTURE
BY MAXIMILLIEN de LAFAYETTE
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF THE ISRAELI AND HEBRAIC ART
HOW TO DEFINE JEWISH ART? WHO IS AND WHO IS NOT A JEWISH ARTIST?
Photo: The Wedding, by Moritz Oppenheim, 1861. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
Defining what Jewish art is and who is a Jewish artist is more problematic and subjective than defining art itself. Jewish artists from all eras and various nations contributed ad infinitum to various and multiple schools, styles, genres and aspects of classical, abstract and modern art. In many instances, no Judaic or Hebraic artistic creativity was ever associated with the nature, the theme and message of their work. Add to the fact that, many non Jewish artists from all centuries mirrored and depicted memorable events from the history of Israel, the Bible and modern Jewish conflicts around the globe. For instance, the famous “Jewish Polish Village Series” which depicted destroyed wooden synagogues in Eastern Europe was done by a non-Jewish artist Frank Stella, who paid respect and homage to a bygone Jewish world. Thus, the enigmatic questions arise:
“Does the theme of a painting reflect the religious identity of an artist?”, “Does the Jewish birth of an artist, ipso facto defines the Jewishness of his or her art?”, and “How do we define the artwork of Palestinian artists, Muslims and Arab Christian artists who explored Jewish and biblical themes ?”, “ Is it the subject, the theme, the message of a painting which adheres, confers and determines the Jewish ethnicity, or simply, the birth certificate of an artist?” Hard to tell!
THE SABBATH REST by
Samuel Hirszenberg (1866-1908). Oil on canvas 1894.
In The Sabbath Rest, the entire family including an ill, elderly relative spend the Sabbath afternoon in one room. The view from the window is of an unwelcoming industrial landscape, but presumably threats of violence also kept them all inside. The family have eaten their Shabbat lunch, and there is still a bowl of fruit and some nuts on the table. Notice also the Shabbat candlesticks still on the table from the night before. These are the only objects of any value in the home, reflecting how important Shabbat was to this family. There are family photographs on the wall. The lamp is typical of Shabbat lamps found in Jewish homes since medieval times. These were in the form of a star, and were lit at the same time as the candles to welcome in Shabbat. The star shaped part of the lamp contained wicks and oil and the basin below caught any dripping fuel. It was important that the lamps were fashioned to burn for 24 hours, because it is forbidden to do any sort of work, including the lighting of lamps during Shabbat. Hirszenberg was born in Lodz, Poland and studied in Munich, Crakow, and Paris. He exhibited regularly in Paris before moving to Jerusalem in 1907. He taught at the newly established Bezalel School of Art and Craft there until his death in 1908. Hirszenberg was well-known for his large paintings showing the grim realities of the plight of the poverty-stricken Jews of his native Poland. The greatest problems were the eruptions of violence against the Jews, known as pogroms, which caused many hundreds of thousands of Jews to flee from Eastern Europe to the West.
JEWISH ART IS UNIVERSAL. ARAB-PALESTINIAN ART IS A PROPAGANDA.
Per contra, if we look at a contemporary painting done by a Palestinian artist from Israel or Palestine, we categorically and almost unquestionably sense, feel, observe and realize that this very painting is Arab-Palestinian production, because of its propaganda nature.
Continues on the next page.