The artless Jew : medieval and modern affirmations and denials of the visual / by Kalman P. Bland.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bland, Kalman P., 1942-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jewish art.

Jewish aesthetics.

Jews--Intellectual life.

Jews.

Judaism and art--History of doctrines.

Judaism and art.

Ten commandments--Images.

Ten commandments.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (248 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, 2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Conventional wisdom holds that Judaism is indifferent or even suspiciously hostile to the visual arts due to the Second Commandment's prohibition on creating "graven images," the dictates of monotheism, and historical happenstance. This intellectual history of medieval and modern Jewish attitudes toward art and representation overturns the modern assumption of Jewish iconophobia that denies to Jewish culture a visual dimension. Kalman Bland synthesizes evidence from medieval Jewish philosophy, mysticism, poetry, biblical commentaries, travelogues, and law, concluding that premodern Jewish intellectuals held a positive, liberal understanding of the Second Commandment and did, in fact, articulate a certain Jewish aesthetic. He draws on this insight to consider modern ideas of Jewish art, revealing how they are inextricably linked to diverse notions about modern Jewish identity that are themselves entwined with arguments over Zionism, integration, and anti-Semitism. Through its use of the past to illuminate the present and its analysis of how the present informs our readings of the past, this book establishes a new assessment of Jewish aesthetic theory rooted in historical analysis. Authoritative and original in its identification of authentic Jewish traditions of painting, sculpture, and architecture, this volume will ripple the waters of several disciplines, including Jewish studies, art history, medieval and modern history, and philosophy.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

One. Modern Denials and Affirmations of Jewish Art: Germanophone Origins and Themes

Two. Anglo-American Variations

Three. The Premodern Consensus

Four. The Well-Tempered Medieval Sensorium

Five. Medieval Beauty and Cultural Relativism

Six. Twelfth-Century Pilgrims, Golden Calves, and Religious Polemics

Seven. The Power and Regulation of Images in Late Medieval Jewish Society

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

Includes bibliographical references (p. [201]-228 and index.

ISBN:

9786612767005

9781400800759

1400800757

9781282767003

1282767003

9781400823574

1400823579

OCLC:

51478992