DOI issue:
Rozprawy
DOI article:Kamczycki, Artur: "Wrestling" with art: Zionism towards Jewish aniconism
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29071#0034
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ARTUR KAMCZYCKI
created symbols that perfectly embody the ideals, dreams and expecta-
tions of our nation.”157
Art, therefore, to repeat, was to be seen as an obviously acceptable
aspect of culture and national identity, hence the urgent need for its re-
covery and many different activities of individual artists, identified with
the term “Jewish art.” However, this specific term, as many contempo-
rary art historians make it clear, did not refer to a stylistically defined
domain of artifacts, but rather to theoretical, discursive concepts. Vivian
Mann, in the preface to Jewish Texts on the Visual Arts, warns the read-
er that Jewish art as a stylistic category does not exist,158 but according
to Margaret Olin, the term is still something of an oxymoron.159 Keeping
in mind this background and the context of specific wrestling with art,
one may recall Rose Kohler, who in 1922 wrote: “We talk a great deal
about Jewish Art. We ask one another if there is such a thing. We write
about it. We interview one another upon it. We deplore that there isn’t
any; and regret that it is so poor or so uncharacteristic. We discuss it
from every point of view. We inquire into its history, if any. We claim
distinguished artists as Jews, and debate their identity, which others
deny. We boast of the strides that Jewish Art is now making, while
doubting its very existence”.160
No matter what, it was Zionism that initiated large-scale attempts
to develop a new idea of art and its ideological foundation as a new and
autonomous aspect of culture. Art, an important aspect of a new Jewish
culture understood primarily as a Zionist medium, became an crucial
element of the Zionist ideology. Thus, the study of Jewish art required
from Jewish scholars keeping some distance from the object, not only to
analyze is in a new perspective, but also to consider it as object of study
at all. Adopting the idea of art as a genuine element of the Jewish cul-
ture was an important step in developing a new status of their own one,
as well as in the integration of Jews with their European environment.
The idea of the Jewish art history was supposed to help create of a new
Jewish consciousness and promote the national pride. Both ideas were
considered in the context of Zionism in which a number of theorists and
artists of the time were deeply involved. Hence, what happened within
the framework of Zionism was not only an attempt to rethink the theory
157 O. Thon, ,JUn Beitrag zur Geschichte der Zeichnenden Kunst,” Ost und West, De-
cember 1904, p. 831, see: M. Rosenfeld, Defining Jewish..., p. 99.
158 V.B. Mann, Jewish Texts..., p. 3
159 M. Olin, The Nation..., p. 5.
160 R. Kohler, Art as Related to Judaism, Philadelphia 1922, pp. 2-3, see also: J. Gut-
mann, Is there..., p. 1.
ARTUR KAMCZYCKI
created symbols that perfectly embody the ideals, dreams and expecta-
tions of our nation.”157
Art, therefore, to repeat, was to be seen as an obviously acceptable
aspect of culture and national identity, hence the urgent need for its re-
covery and many different activities of individual artists, identified with
the term “Jewish art.” However, this specific term, as many contempo-
rary art historians make it clear, did not refer to a stylistically defined
domain of artifacts, but rather to theoretical, discursive concepts. Vivian
Mann, in the preface to Jewish Texts on the Visual Arts, warns the read-
er that Jewish art as a stylistic category does not exist,158 but according
to Margaret Olin, the term is still something of an oxymoron.159 Keeping
in mind this background and the context of specific wrestling with art,
one may recall Rose Kohler, who in 1922 wrote: “We talk a great deal
about Jewish Art. We ask one another if there is such a thing. We write
about it. We interview one another upon it. We deplore that there isn’t
any; and regret that it is so poor or so uncharacteristic. We discuss it
from every point of view. We inquire into its history, if any. We claim
distinguished artists as Jews, and debate their identity, which others
deny. We boast of the strides that Jewish Art is now making, while
doubting its very existence”.160
No matter what, it was Zionism that initiated large-scale attempts
to develop a new idea of art and its ideological foundation as a new and
autonomous aspect of culture. Art, an important aspect of a new Jewish
culture understood primarily as a Zionist medium, became an crucial
element of the Zionist ideology. Thus, the study of Jewish art required
from Jewish scholars keeping some distance from the object, not only to
analyze is in a new perspective, but also to consider it as object of study
at all. Adopting the idea of art as a genuine element of the Jewish cul-
ture was an important step in developing a new status of their own one,
as well as in the integration of Jews with their European environment.
The idea of the Jewish art history was supposed to help create of a new
Jewish consciousness and promote the national pride. Both ideas were
considered in the context of Zionism in which a number of theorists and
artists of the time were deeply involved. Hence, what happened within
the framework of Zionism was not only an attempt to rethink the theory
157 O. Thon, ,JUn Beitrag zur Geschichte der Zeichnenden Kunst,” Ost und West, De-
cember 1904, p. 831, see: M. Rosenfeld, Defining Jewish..., p. 99.
158 V.B. Mann, Jewish Texts..., p. 3
159 M. Olin, The Nation..., p. 5.
160 R. Kohler, Art as Related to Judaism, Philadelphia 1922, pp. 2-3, see also: J. Gut-
mann, Is there..., p. 1.