Jewish Artists and the Bible in Twentieth-Century America

Baskind (Encyclopedia of Jewish American Artists) presents an illuminating analysis of the largely ignored biblically-themed work of five Jewish artists, well-known on the 20th century American art scene for their oeuvre: Jack Levine, George Segal, Audrey Flack, Larry Rivers, and R.B. Kitaj. The use of biblical themes was likely to be seen as devotional, or outside "American art's master narrative," and therefore incompatible with traditional avant-garde and a risk to a modern artist's reputation. Baskin therefore explores why each Jewish artist profiled nevertheless chose to portray biblical subject matter, touching on cultural or political factors and the working-out of personal conflicts, among other motivations. Given that Judaism is a religio-cultural heritage, even the self-conscious "Jewishness" of it does not render biblical imagery conventionally religious in the way that devotional art is conceived of in Christianity, by contrast. Baskind convincingly argues, however, that what makes modern biblical art relevant, rich, and authentic in the context of 20th century art is something essential it shares with the Jewish literary genre of midrash: the use of ancient texts to seek and convey contemporary meaning. (Feb.)