Warsaw, Lodz, Palestine - the art of Polish Jewish artists of 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 lectures concern the activities of the most important centres of Jewish art in Poland and Palestine at the turn of the 20th century and in the first half of the 20th century. The scope of the classes includes the artistic circles of Warsaw, Łódź and the circle connected with the School of Fine Arts "Bezalel" in Jerusalem. On the basis of the activity of these circles and the work of selected artists, trends - specific to Jewish art of the period - are discussed, manifested in the iconographic and formal layer of works - in the context of European and world art.

Classes include a lecture illustrated with a presentation and video footage. They comprise 15 hours - 7.5 online meetings. Students are required to read the indicated text (in the previous class) and answer 2 questions about it - orally or in writing - at the beginning of the lecture. All texts can be found in the MTeams.

CLASS THEMES:

1. Organisational classes - discussion of the syllabus, assessment criteria, grading scale, scope of the colloquium, distribution of papers.

2. Haskalah and the beginnings of secular Jewish art; the most important artistic circles - Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, the most important meaningful art trends.

3. Jewish art in Warsaw and Lodz in the second half of the 19th century, up to 1918.

4. Jewish art in Warsaw 1918-1939 - selected issues and artists.

5. Jewish artists in Łódź at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - the avant-garde group Jung Jidysz.

6. In the circle of Zionism, the School of Fine Arts and Crafts "Bezalel" and the search for Jewish national art.

7. Online credit colloquium.

COMPULSORY LITERATURE:

1. Gadomska I., ‘ Building the “New Jerusalem”: Jewish Artistic Patronage in Łódź’, 1880–1907, 2018.

2. Gamble A., 'Marc Chagall's White Crucifixion'.

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

4. ‘Hirszenberg Brothers: in Search of the Promised Land’, Łódź-Warszawa 2017.

5. Jung-Idisz /Yung Yidish, 1919, Łódź 2019.

6. Rajner M., Cohen R. I., ‘Invoking Samuel Hirszenberg’s artistic Legacy—encountering Exile’, Brill N.V. 2015.

7. Simferovska A. O., Jewish Painter between Reform, Judaism, and Zionism: Wachtel’s Portrait of Abraham Kohn

8.Piątkowska R., ‘A Sense of Togetherness: The Jewish Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Warsaw (1923-1939)’.

9.Tarnowska M., ‘Myths of the Orient, Zionism and Israel in the painting of Adolf Berman (1876-1943)’, 2015.

10.Tarnowska M.,’ Jewish artistic background in Poland before the World War II’, 2017.

11.Tarnowska M., ‘Palestine in the Paintings of Jewish – Polish Artists in the End of 19th and 20th century’, “Kwartalnik ŻIH”, Warszawa 2002, No 1, s. 78-87.

https://cbj.jhi.pl/documents/1038807/79/

12. The exhibition catalogue: ‘The Past World Paintings of Jewish artists, 27 August, 2004 - 4 September, 2004’, Rynek Sztuki Gallery, 69 Wschodnia Str., Lodz.

As well as articles in English indicated by the lecturer to be studied by the students for improve their knowledge.

NOTE!

All positions in the core literature can be found in the MTEAM.

ADDITIONAL LITERATURE:

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

2. 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.

3. Piątkowska R., ‘A shared space. Jewish students at the Warsaw Academy

of Fine Arts (1923–1939)’.

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

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

6. Jewish Life Cycle Customs:

- http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/tradition - “Tradition”

- http://www.jewfaq.org/tocevents.htm - Life Cycle - Birth and the First Month of Life, Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah, and Confirmation, Marriage, Divorce, Life, Death, and Mourning, Olam Ha-Ba: The Afterlife

- http://www.shiva.com/learning-center/commemorate/jewish-holidays - Shabbat, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, Simchat Torah, Hanukkah, Purim, Passover, Shavuot, Tish’a B’Av.

1 The lecture participant has a basic knowledge of the importance of the history of Jewish art among the humanities and is aware of its thematic and methodological specificity.

2. The student has a structured basic knowledge of the environment of Jewish artists in Poland at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries until 1939, in particular: the main stylistic and semantic trends in the context of the then socio-political transformations of the Jewish community.

3. Knows and understands the basic methods of interpreting Jewish art objects and the terminology appropriate to it. Understands the impact of historical and cultural conditions on art and its layer of meaning.

4. Is aware of the complexity of issues related to Jewish art and the need to study it.

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

6. Student is able to construct a logical written and oral statement in English on Jewish art at level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

The student workload comprises 45 [90] hours [1 hour x 2 for foreign language classes] = 3 ECTS: 15 [30] hours monographic lecture + 30 [60] hours: 20 [40] hours - reading and analysis of primary literature and preparation of a short presentation on a selected article; 10[20] hours preparation for a credit colloquium.

REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPLETING THE COURSE:

- attendance in class - max 30 pts / one absence allowed, further absences "cost" minus 4 pts each

- answers to 5 mini tests containing 2 questions each on a given article - max 5 X 2 points = 10 points

- a colloquium - max 60 points, 36 points pass.

- SEMESTER GRADE - MAX 100 PTS [60 PTS PASS].

- attendance in class - max 30 pts

- answers to 5 mini-tests from the lecture text - max 10 points

- passing the colloquium - max 60 pts, minimum 36 pts.

- Grading scale: 60-75 = 3,0 / 76-79 = 3,5 / 80-90 = 4,0 / 91-94 = 4,5 / 95-100 = 5,0

n.a.