Jewish icons : art and society in modern Europe / Richard I. Cohen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cohen, Richard I.

Contributor:

Gershwind/Bennett Endowed Fund for Judaica Collections.

Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews in art.

Jews--Identity.

Jews.

Jews--Intellectual life.

Jewish art and symbolism.

Art and society.

Physical Description:

xviii, 358 pages : illustrations ; 27 cm

Place of Publication:

Berkeley, Calif. ; London : University of California Press, [1998]

Summary:

With the help of over one hundred illustrations spanning three centuries, Richard Cohen investigates the role of visual images in European Jewish history. The interaction of Jews with the visual arts takes place, as Cohen says, in a vast gallery of prints, portraits, books, synagogue architecture, ceremonial art, modern Jewish painting and sculpture, political broadsides, monuments, medals, and memorabilia. Pointing to recent scholarship that overturns the stereotype of Jews as people of the text, unconcerned with the visual, Cohen shows how the coming of the modern period expanded the relationship of Jews to the visual realm far beyond the religious context. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the study and collecting of Jewish art became a legitimate and even passionate pursuit, and signaled the entry of Jews into the art world as painters, collectors, and dealers.

"Cohen's analysis of images of Jews advances swiftly beyond the history of stereotypes in favor a complexity of mutual perception, and his depiction of images by Jews challenges the standard assumption of the anti-visuality of Jewish culture". -- Michael P. Steinberg, Cornell University

"Richard Cohen's work draws both on his profound knowledge of modern Jewish history and his awareness of the importance of art to a full understanding of the past". -- Vivian B. Mann, Morris and Eva Feld Chair of Judaica, The Jewish Museum

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-348) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Gershwind/Bennett Endowed Fund for Judaica Collections.

Presented to the Penn Libraries from the collection of Grace Cohen Grossman.

ISBN:

0520205456

OCLC:

35829588