Following current developments in contemporary art history, historians
of Jewish art increasingly redefine themselves as studying Jewish visual
culture and also distance themselves from any single definition of ‘Jewish’.
Focusing instead on the range and flexibility of both individual and collective
Jewish self-identification, the trend today is to consider artistic creativity,
messages, and reception in multiple intracultural settings.



Reflecting this trend, the volume
presents a round-table discussion and selected papers from Constructing and
Deconstructing Jewish Art, an international symposium held at Bar-Ilan
University in 2015. Accordingly, Steven Fine questions the role of ideologies
and the limits of semantic analysis in contemporary readings of ancient Jewish
art. Sergey Kravtsov traces the transmission of legends about the Jewish past
through cultures and artistic practices. Larry Silver proposes that in modern
societies, all artists of Jewish origin are marked by their Jewishness and
develop a minority self-consciousness. Ben Schachter notes how criticism of religious
art has neglected the material and artistic process and focused only on
spirituality and theology. Kathrin Pieren discusses the role of public displays
in negotiating the relationship between art and identities. The volume also
includes two articles on the effects of displacement on the art of
twentieth-century Jewish artists of Russian origin; description of a forgotten
masterpiece by Hermann Struck; and book reviews.



Ars
Judaica is an annual publication of the Department of
Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University. It showcases the Jewish contribution to the
visual arts and architecture from antiquity to the present from a variety of
perspectives, including history, iconography, semiotics, psychology, sociology,
and folklore. As such it is a valuable resource for art historians, collectors,
curators, and all those interested in the visual arts.

Contributors: Ziva Amishai-Maisels, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Maya Balakirsky Katz, Touro College, New York, Samantha Baskind, Cleveland State University, Asher Biemann, University of Virginia, Monika Czekanowska-Gutman, University of Warsaw, Marina Dmitrieva, Leibniz-Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des Östlichen Europa, Leipzig, Steven Fine, Yeshiva University, New York, Eva Frojmovich, University of Leeds, Batsheva Goldman-Ida, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, William L. Gross, collector, Tel Aviv, Felicitas Heiman-Jelinek, independent scholar and curator, Vienna, Ahuva Klein, independent researcher, Tel Aviv, Rudolf Klein, Szent István University, Budapest, Lola Kantor Kazovsky, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Katrin Kogman-Appel, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Sergey R. Kravtsov, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Shulamit Laderman, Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, Irit Miller, University of Haifa, Kathrin Pieren, University of Southampton, Mirjam Rajner, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Ilia Rodov, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Ben Schachter, Saint Vincent College, Pennsylvania, Larry Silver, University of Pennsylvania, Daniel Sperber, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Annette Weber, Hochschule für Jüdische Studien, Heidelberg, Gil Weissblei, National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Bracha Yaniv, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan

Volumes of Ars Judaica are distributed by
the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization throughout the world, except Israel.
Orders and enquiries from Israeli customers should be directed to:

Ars Judaica

Department of Jewish Art

Bar-Ilan University

Ramat-Gan 52900

telephone 03 5318413

fax 03 6359241





















email ajudaica@mail.biu.ac.il