Jewish Art 3600-SZ(Z)-OG

The program of lectures has been designed to provide the audience with the broadest possible background on Jewish art, its character, distinctiveness, and significance for the Jewish community from ancient times until today. The course will cover all of the “history of Israel,” both in the land of Israel and in the European diaspora.
Over the centuries the internal dynamics and development of Jewish art were influenced by the principles of Judaism, although forms were often influenced by the art that developed in the lands where Jews lived. To understand the distinctness of Jewish art it is important to get to know the art of ancient Israel, including the Temple in Jerusalem – as the most important source and model for Jewish iconography, religious symbolism and the spatial layout of synagogues.
In the Middle Ages, Jewish art gained a new face in European countries, dividing into the art of Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews. Important for the Middle Ages are the preserved synagogues in Spain (Cordoba), Germany (Worms, Spira, Mainz), Prague and Cracow. Synagogue architecture, illuminated manuscripts and printed books, as well as objects related to synagogue and household ritual will be discussed. A separate section will be devoted to the art of the Jews in Eastern Europe (from the 15th to the 18th centuries), with an emphasis on the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
The 18th century ushered in new ideas which impacted the development of modern secular culture and Jewish art, and altered synagogue architecture. New Jewish national movements (integration, Zionism, Yiddishism) were all reflected in art. Artists took part in the creation of a new Jewish iconosphere – a symbolic image of the nation, its history, culture, and place in European and world culture. The 19th century saw the emergence of Jewish painters and sculptors, including Josef Israels, Max Liebiermann, Mark Antokolski, and Maurycy Gottlieb. The national style and iconography drew on motifs from Jewish symbolism (including religious symbols) and folk culture. For the Jewish artists beginning their careers at the end of the 19th century, entering the arena of culture and art meant having to take a stance on anti-Semitism, the failure of assimilation, and Jewish nationalism. An important experience, particularly for the artists from East-Central Europe, was the wave of pogroms that swept through the Russian empire in 1903-1906. The paintings of Hirszenberg, Wachtel, Maimon and Lilien spoke in a loud voice in the ideological discussion about the future of the Jews and of their national life in Eastern Europe.
Large cities – Warsaw Berlin, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, New York, and London – saw the emergence of a Jewish public sphere, popular culture, press, theater, and exhibitions of modern Jewish art (like the one organized in Warsaw in 1911). In Paris, a circle of artists formed around the magazine Machmadim, (including Chagall, Szwarc, Tchaikov); similar circles sprung up in Warsaw (I. L. Peretz and Ber Kratka), Moscow and St. Petersburg (An-ski, Yudovin, El-Lissitzky).
The turn of the century saw the birth of modern Israeli art in Palestine, closely influenced by European-Jewish art. The founding of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem in 1906 was key factor in this development.
The Russian revolution and the wave of pogroms during World War I shook the world of Eastern European Jewry, as expressively portrayed in the art of Ryback, Maniewicz and others. After the October Revolution in Russia Jewish art went through a brief period of dynamic development (Lissitzky, Tchaikov, the Kultur-lige). But already at the beginning of the 20th century the Jewish avant-garde moved to Berlin, Warsaw (Khaliastre) and Paris (Chagall).
Jewish artists whose work did not display an overt national affiliation were also an integral part of Jewish heritage, like the Dadaists or those who became part of the École de Paris.
During the interwar period, New York and Berlin became important centers of Jewish art. Important art groups also sprung up in Warsaw, Lwow, Vilna and Krakow, from Yung-Yiddish to Yung-Vilne, exhibitions were organized and art associations founded (like the Jewish Society for the Promotion of Fine Arts). New museums opened in Vilna and Lwow, aside from the already existing Mathias Bersohn Museum in Warsaw.
During this time a new iconography (Ze’ev Raban) and new cities (Tel Aviv) took shape in Palestine.
World War II brought the destruction of European Jewry along with their cultural heritage. Jewish artists found themselves in ghettos, internment camps in France, concentration camps, and in all these places they sought to continue their artistic work.
After the war, Jewish art developed in the shadow of the Holocaust. The Holocaust and memory became important themes in the work of artists in Poland, France, the United States and Israel.
Modern Israeli art is avant-garde, often critical of the Israeli state, exploring roots in the diaspora.

Type of course

general courses

Mode

Classroom and field classes
Classroom

Prerequisites (description)

The main purpose of the course is to provide students with a wide range of knowledge about the Art of Jews, its differences, specificities and importance for the Jewish community from Antiquity to the present day. Chronology and geography cover the whole "history of Israel" both in the land of Israel and in the European diaspora.

Course coordinators

Tamara Sztyma-Knasiecka

Learning outcomes

Knowledge
- has a structured detailed knowledge of the history of Hebrew art and writing [K_W08].
- can name and characterize the basic cultural phenomena of Judaism and Israel [K_W10].
- knows and understands the basic methods of analysis and interpretation of various cultural creations appropriate to selected theories and research schools in cultural studies and literary, linguistic, philosophical and religious studies and history [K_W18].
- Knows and understands the basic methods of analyzing and interpreting various cultural products appropriate to the indigenous traditions of Judaism and Israel [K_W19].

Skills
- can search, analyze, evaluate and use information using various sources [K_U01].
- can analyze the most important phenomena/currents of art (written and iconographic) of Judaism and Israel [K_U08].
- understands the most important intellectual issues, dilemmas, aesthetic preferences formulated inside the culture of Judaism and Israel [K_U10].
- is able to function correctly in the linguistic and cultural environment of Israel [K_U17].
- has the ability to present specific issues in the field of cultural problems of Judaism and Israel in Polish and in Hebrew, taking into account the intellectual tradition of Judaism and Israel [K_U21].
Social competencies
- understands the need for lifelong learning [K_K01].
- is aware of cultural difference and its religious, philosophical, moral and historical sources and its importance for understanding the modern world [K_K05].
- works to make available and promote the cultural and linguistic legacy of Israel and Judaism [K_K08].

Assessment criteria

Presence control (minimum 60%)
Written exam

Bibliography

Magdalena Maciudzińska-Kamczycka, Żydzi i judaizm w zwierciadle sztuki antycznej, Toruń 2014
Fragmenty Biblii: Księga Wyjścia 24-31 (Przybytek), Pierwsza Księga Królewska, 5-8 (Świątynia Salomona)
Joseph Gutmann, The Dura Europos Synagogue Paintings and Their Influence on Later Christian and Jewish Art. Artibus et Historiae, 1988, 9 (17): 25–29
Jewish texts on the visual arts, red. Vivian B. Mann, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000
Katrin Koggman Appel, Hebrew Manuscript Painting in the Late Medieval Spain: Signs of a Culture in Transition, The Art Bulletin, vol. 84, nr. 2 (June 2002)
Maria i Kazimierz Piechotkowie, Bramy nieba: bożnice drewniane na ziemiach dawnej Rzeczypospolitej, Warszawa 2016
Maria i Kazimierz Piechotkowie, Bramy nieba: bożnice murowane na ziemiach dawnej Rzeczypospolitej, Warszawa 2017
Maria i Kazimierz Piechotkowie, Krajobraz z menorą: Żydzi w miastach i miasteczkach dawnej Rzeczpospolitej, Wrocław 2008
Ewa Małkowska-Bieniek, Opowieść o Przymierzu i czasach ostatecznych. Próba analizy ikonograficznej malowideł sklepienia synagogi w Gwoźdźcu, Biuletyn Instytutu Historii Sztuki, 2013, 75/2
Tamar Shadmi, From Functional Solution to Decorative Concept Stages in the Development of Inscribing Liturgical Texts on Synagogue Walls, Ars Judaica 2010
Monika Krajewska, Czas kamieni, Warszawa 1982
Andrzej Trzciński, Symbole i obrazy, Lublin 1997
Judaica w zbiorach Muzeum Narodowego w Warszawie, oprac. Ewa Martyna, MNW Warszawa 1993
Tamara Sztyma-Knasiecka, Dylematy asymilacji w twórczości artystów żydowskich z Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej na przełomie XIX i XX wieku, w: Czerpiąc z korzenia szlachetnej oliwki. Dzień Judaizmu w Poznaniu, 2004-2007, ed. J. Stranz, Adam Mickiewicz University Editorial Office, Poznań 2007
Tumarkin Goodman, S. (red.), The Emergence of Jewish Artists in Nineteenth-Century Europe, katalog wystawy, The Jewish Museum, New York 2001 (fragment)
Art and Its Uses. The Visual Image and Modern Jewish Society, ed. Ezra Mendelsohn, Richard I. Cohen, Oxford University Pres, London-Oxford 1990
Jerzy Malinowski, Malarstwo i rzeźba Żydów Polskich w XIX i XX wieku, Warszawa 2000
Jewish Artists and Central-Eastern Europe, red. Jerzy Malinowski, Renata Piątkowska, Tamara Sztyma-Knasiecka, Warszawa 2010
Artur Kamczycki, Syjonizm i sztuka. Ikonografia Teodora Herzla, Wydawnictwo Poznańskiego Towarzystwa Przyjaciół Nauk, Poznań – Gniezno 2014
Martin Buber, Address on Jewish art [w:] Gilya Gerda Schmidt, The First Buber: Youthful Zonist Writings of Martin Buber, 1999
Martin Buber, Lesser Ury oraz Address on Jewish art [w:] Gilya Gerda Schmidt, The First Buber: Youthful Zonist Writings of Martin Buber, 1999
R. Cohen, Jewish Icons. Arts and Society in Modern Europe, University of California Press, Berkely, 1998 (fragment)
R. Piątkowska, Skarby naszej przeszłości. Muzea żydowskie w Polsce, M. Adamczyk-Garbowska, A. Markowski, A. Trzciński, M. Wodziński (red.), „Studia Judaica” 2013, t. 16, nr 2(32), s. 3-45
Polak, Żyd, artysta : tożsamość a awangarda, katalog wystawy, red. Jarosław Suchan; współpr. nauk. Karolina Szymaniak. Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi, 2010
Malinowski J., Grupa “Jung-Idysz” i żydowskie środowisko “Nowej sztuki” w Polsce 1918 – 1923, Warszawa 1987
Jerzy Malinowski, Barbara Brus-Malinowska, W kręgu École de Paris. Malarze żydowscy z Polski, Warszawa 2007
Artur Tanikowski, Malarze żydowscy w Polsce, cz. 1 i 2, Edipresse, Warszawa 2006
Baigell M., , Żydowscy artyści w Nowym Jorku w czasach Zagłady, tlum. Piotr Paziński, „Mirdrasz”, X 2003, s. 32-39
Eleonora Jedlińska, Sztuka po Holocauście, Łódź 2001
Małgorzata Stolarska, Sztuka pod znakiem zapytania. Problem tożsamości jako paradygmat w badaniach nad pojęciem sztuki żydowskiej i próbach jej legitymizacji przez krytykę artystyczną i historię sztuki późnego XX wieku i XXI wieku, w: „Dzieje krytyki artystycznej i myśli o sztuce”, Materiały z konferencji naukowej, Toruń, 13-15 VI 2007, red. Małgorzata Geron, Jerzy Malinowski, Toruń 2009
Harold Rosenber, Is There a Jewish Art?, “Commentary Magazine”, lipiec 1966
Sztuka polska wobec Holokaustu, katalog wystawy, Żydowski Instytut Historyczny 2013

Additional information

Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes:

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 3600-SZ(Z)-OG in USOSweb