Jewish Art in America : An Introduction

Serving as a study of Jewish art in America, this title presents the history of the Jewish experience in American art as seen through the works of many different artists. Its focus is the examination of Jewish subject matter employed by artists, their responses to their religious and ethnic heritage as well as to significant events of the time.

In this first book-length study of Jewish art in America, Matthew Baigell explores works from the early settlers of America to the present. It concentrates on exploring and examining Jewish subject matter employed by artists as they illustrated aspects of their religious and ethnic heritage and as they responded to major events over the decades, including the Great Migration, the Great Depression, the Holocaust, and the founding of the State of Israel, as well as the dispersal of Jewish artists around the country and the rise of feminism and spiritualism in the late-twentieth century. Subjects include genre scenes of ''the Jewish street,'' religious and spiritual themes derived from the Bible and the Kabbalah, and images that record the artists'' participation in and witnessing of major events in their lifetimes. The author also considers the often asked questions: Is there a Jewish art? and, Is there a single Jewish Experience?