2008 Woodie Awards
In Defense of Cultural Jews
The Power of Conversion
Menachem Wecker
Issue date: 3/29/05 Section: Arts & Culture
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The Power of Conversation: Jewish Women and their Salons
March 04, 2005 - July 10, 2005
The Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street
Phone: 212.423.3200
http://jewishmuseum.org
Special $5 rate for college students and faculty with valid IDs
Strictly speaking, the Jewish Museum's "Jewish Women and Their Salons: The Power of Conversation" is a curatorial disaster and gem all tied up in one. It could be more aptly called "The Power of Conversion," for it hungers more for tales of assimilation than for ones of proud assertion of Jewish identity. But an ambitious design problem-accounting for and exploring the overrepresentation of Jewish women in salon leadership positions-in which the museum only achieves part of its promised platform is still, oftentimes, well worth seeing simply for the power of the images and research. "Jewish Women" draws together a beautiful assortment of paintings, photographs and posters. It contains Stettheimers's work alongside Picasso's handsome portrait of Gertrude Stein, and Klimt's, Degas', Oppenheim's and Beerbohm's work covers the walls that even find room to squeeze in Beardsley, Duchamp (!) and Wilde somehow.
If the exhibit bore a sign over the entrance, "Orthodox, Jewish Identity Seekers Need Not Apply: Art Lovers Welcome" it would complete the set perfectly.
I suggest the sign not so much to be cute as to attend to a profound point that many students here at Yeshiva University forget. So often I hear the term "cultural Jew" thrown about throughout the YU conversational landscape as a derogatory term, as if there could possibly be any such thing as an uncultured Jew, or cultureless Jew. Judaism carries an intensely rich cultural history that though it boasts an overrepresentation of textual artifacts also includes music, drama and fine arts. To the viewer who approaches the Jewish Museum exhibit qua tzitzis checker-inspecting the artists' personal observance levels for leniencies-the exhibit will prove a waste of time. Instead, it demands an open vocabulary that allows for different avenues of connecting to a Jewish tradition, avenues that may prove heretofore unknown to and unexplored by the YU student body at large.
March 04, 2005 - July 10, 2005
The Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street
Phone: 212.423.3200
http://jewishmuseum.org
Special $5 rate for college students and faculty with valid IDs
Strictly speaking, the Jewish Museum's "Jewish Women and Their Salons: The Power of Conversation" is a curatorial disaster and gem all tied up in one. It could be more aptly called "The Power of Conversion," for it hungers more for tales of assimilation than for ones of proud assertion of Jewish identity. But an ambitious design problem-accounting for and exploring the overrepresentation of Jewish women in salon leadership positions-in which the museum only achieves part of its promised platform is still, oftentimes, well worth seeing simply for the power of the images and research. "Jewish Women" draws together a beautiful assortment of paintings, photographs and posters. It contains Stettheimers's work alongside Picasso's handsome portrait of Gertrude Stein, and Klimt's, Degas', Oppenheim's and Beerbohm's work covers the walls that even find room to squeeze in Beardsley, Duchamp (!) and Wilde somehow.
If the exhibit bore a sign over the entrance, "Orthodox, Jewish Identity Seekers Need Not Apply: Art Lovers Welcome" it would complete the set perfectly.
I suggest the sign not so much to be cute as to attend to a profound point that many students here at Yeshiva University forget. So often I hear the term "cultural Jew" thrown about throughout the YU conversational landscape as a derogatory term, as if there could possibly be any such thing as an uncultured Jew, or cultureless Jew. Judaism carries an intensely rich cultural history that though it boasts an overrepresentation of textual artifacts also includes music, drama and fine arts. To the viewer who approaches the Jewish Museum exhibit qua tzitzis checker-inspecting the artists' personal observance levels for leniencies-the exhibit will prove a waste of time. Instead, it demands an open vocabulary that allows for different avenues of connecting to a Jewish tradition, avenues that may prove heretofore unknown to and unexplored by the YU student body at large.
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