Jewish art - what does it mean? Selected painters and sculptors of Poland and Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries

art studies

elementary

HS1_W02

HS1_W06

HS1_U04

HS1_U05

HS1_U06

Basic knowledge of Polish and European art of the 19th-20th centuries.

The course covers issues relating to Jewish art. The fundamental question it poses is - does Jewish art exist? If it exists, in what form, what content does it contain, and what motifs does it use to express it? What is Jewish national art of the 19th and first half of the 20th century? What content does it contain, and what motifs does it use to express it? The art of Jewish artists in the face of the Holocaust. The course covers, artistic phenomena (main iconographic and stylistic motifs) in the work of selected European artists with Jewish roots, which answer these questions in the most representative way.

Classes include: during a class students are required to read and analyze short texts in English with the lecturer (questions - answers, quizzes), lectures illustrated by presentations, and short films.

All articles can be found in the JEWISH_ART_2023 team at MTeams.

Scope of classes:

1. Organisational activities - discussing the syllabus, credit conditions, methods of assessment, and grading scale. Definition of a nation and national culture. An attempt to answer the question - what is national art/culture (Polish, American, and Turkish)?

2. Lecture: Jewish art before modernity. Definition of the nation and national culture. Reading and analysis of the text: Aaron Rosen, Review Essay Filling in the Picture: The Jewish Art Question

3. Lecture: Breakthrough art - the work of artists in the Haskalah period in the context of European art. The most important representatives and their art - its aims, form, and iconography. Reading and analysis of the text: Adri K. Offenberg, Meijer de Haan's Uriel Acosta.

4. Lecture: The Eternal Wanderer Jew. The Diaspora in Jewish artists' ayes at the turn of the 20th century. Ahaswer. Reading and analysis of the text: Mirjam Rajner and Ahuva Klein, The Wanderings of Hermann Struck's Ahasver: The Rediscovery of a Forgotten Painting and Its Evocative Transformation.

5. Lecture: The Orient - a symbol of longing for the Land of Israel, and the Orient as the basis of the culture of the State of Israel. Reading and analysis of the text: Batsheva Goldman-Ida, Boris Schatz, Abel Pann and the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem.

6. Lecture: The figure of Christ in the art of Jewish artists - the evolution of meanings. Reading and text analysis: Allison Gamble, Marc Chagall's White Crucifixion.

7. Lecture: The search for a Diaspora national style. The Yung Yidish Group and others. Reading and analysis of selected texts from the reprint of the magazine "Yung Yidish", 1919-1921, issues 1-6.

COMPULSORY LITERATURE:

1. Allison Gamble, 'Marc Chagall's White Crucifixion'.

2. Batsheva Goldman-Ida, 'Boris Schatz, Abel Pann and the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem'.

3. Magazines "Yung Yidish" - 1919-1921 issues 1-6.

4. Adri K. Offenberg, 'Meijer de Haan's Uriel Acosta'.

5. Mirjam Rajner and Ahuva Klein, The Wanderings of Hermann Struck's Ahasver: The Rediscovery of a Forgotten Painting and Its Evocative Transformation.

6. Aaron Rosen, Review Essay Filling in the Picture: The Jewish Art Question. Lecture Jewish art before modernity.

7. Hirszenberg Brothers: in Search of the Promised Land, Łódź-Warszawa 2017.

8. David A. Brenner, Promoting East European Jewry: Ost und West, Ethnic Identity, and the German-Jewish Audience.

9. Articles in English indicated by the lecturer to be studied by the students for improve their knowledge.

Additional literature:

Insiders and Outsiders: Dilemmas of East European Jewry, de. Cohen R.I., Frankel J., Hoffman S., Oxford-Portland, Oregon, 2010.

Jewish artists and Central-Eastern Europe: art centers, identity, heritage from the 19th century to the Second World War: the First Congress of Jewish Art in Poland, ed. by J. Malinowski, R. Piątkowska, T. Sztyma-Knasiecka, Warszawa 2010.

Reconstructing Jewish identity in pre-and post-Holocaust literature and culture, L. Aleksandrowicz-Pędich, M. Pakier (eds.), Frankfurt am Main 2012.

N. Styrna, Artyści żydowscy w Krakowie 1873-1939, katalog wystawy / Jewish artists in Kraków 1873-1939, exhibition catalogue, Kraków 2008.

1) The lecture participant has a basic knowledge of the significance of the history of Jewish art among humanities and is aware of its subject matter and methodological specificity.

2. Student has a structured basic knowledge of types, functions, and iconography of secular Jewish art.

3. Knows and understands basic methods of interpreting works of Jewish art and terminology appropriate to it. Understand the influence of historical and cultural conditions on art and its symbolism.

4. Is aware of the complexity of issues connected with Jewish art and the need to research them.

5. Knows institutions that research the issues connected with Jewish art.

6. Can construct a logical written and oral statement in English (written form, presentation) on the iconography of Jewish art at the B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

The student workload includes 30 (15 x 2) hours of monographic lecture, 60 (30 x 2) hours of reading and analysis of selected texts, answering questions, and solving quizzes - 90 hours (45 x 2) altogether = 3 ECTS.

Verification of Learning outcomes is carried through active class participation - attending discussions, posing questions, answering questions, reading and analysing the assigned text and preparing issues for discussion / solving a short test/writing about the issues raised (7 obligatory texts).

THE SEMESTER GRADE MAX 100 POINTS CONSIST OF:

1. Class participation - each class (2 class hours) = 2 pts - max 30 pts. 1 unexcused absence is allowed. Each oversized unexcused absence = - 2 pts from the semester grade.

2. reading and analysis of the indicated text and preparation of issues for discussion / solving a short test / written statement of the issues raised in the text - 7 x 10 points = 70

NUMBER OF POINTS FOR THE COURSE = 60, MAXIMUM NUMBER OF POINTS = 100

SEMESTER GRADE SCALE:

60 - 75 POINTS - 3.0 />75 - 80 - 3.5 / >80 - 89 - 4.0 / >89- 95 - 4.5 / >95 - 100 - 5.0.

None.