Examiner.com

I would like to bring five visual art exhibits of Jewish interest to your attention; one has an opening reception tonight, another features a talk tonight, and three more exhibits open on Sunday.

92nd Street Y School of the Arts Presents Galia Gur Zeev: Seder Table

Opening Reception: Thursday, March 11, 5 pm

EXHIBIT DATES: March 11 – May 3

Free and Open to the Public

The Milton J. Weill Art Gallery is open to patrons of Kaufmann Concert Hall during regularly scheduled events. For viewing at other times please call 212-415-5562 to schedule an appointment.

The Passover Seder is one of the most important festive meals in Jewish tradition. This annual gathering rearranges the family unit with each meal and demands "taking stock" of the family members in order to accommodate the inevitably growing, changing group – a routine, familiar and comforting ritual carried out from one seder meal to the next. A great deal of tension, excitement, joy and sadness come together on this occasion. The meeting around the table maps out the present and the absent and marks changing roles in the family as elders pass on and children become adults.

In her first exhibition in North America , Israeli photographer Galia Gur Zeev explores these family gatherings around the dining table in Seder Table. The exhibit consists of a wall piece depicting the diners around the table from a bird's-eye view. The table is nonexistent, and the relevant information emerges from the black background. Zeev’s photographs address a person's relationships with oneself, one's body, and one's family, portraying a universe centered on the home and the family.

Born in Israel , Zeev is a graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem . She is among the founders and directors of Limbus Gallery, Tel Aviv—an alternative exhibition space dedicated to photography. Her work has been exhibited at the Israel Museum , Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Zeev is the recipient of the Leon Constantiner Photography Award for an Israeli Artist, and the Creativity Encouragement Award from the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport.

The 92nd Street Y is located on Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street in Manhattan.

Uneasy Communion: Jews, Christians, and the Altarpieces of Medieval Spain– An Exhibit at the Museum of Biblical Art

This season we focus on the diaspora experience of the Jewish people who, throughout history, found homes all over the world that were not always welcoming but which greatly enriched Jewish culture. In addition to programs related to the Kivunim exhibit, we are delighted to partner again on a Museum of Biblical Art exhibit.

This exhibit runs from February 9–May 30 at the Museum of Biblical Art (1865 Broadway at 61st Street) and documents the cooperative relationship between Christians and Jews who, both independently and together, created art for the medieval church and the Jewish community. These free programs are co-sponsored by the JCC and held at MOBIA.

Thu, Mar 11, 6:30 PM - 11:59 PM
Dr. Benjamin Gampel, Salvaging Our Notion of Convivencia (Living Together) during the Last Century of Jewish Life in Medieval Iberia. Dr. Gampel is associate professor of Jewish history at The Jewish Theological Seminary, author of The Last Jews on Iberian Soil, and currently at work on a book-length treatment of the riots and forced conversions of 1391 on the Iberian peninsula. Free.
 

Thu, Mar 18, 6:30 PM - 11:59 PM
Dr. Vivian Mann, curator of the MOBIA exhibit, will lead a tour of it. Dr. Mann is director of the Master’s Program in Jewish Art and adjunct professor of Jewish Art and Visual Culture at The Jewish Theological Seminary, curator emerita of the Jewish Museum, and a widely published author. Free.

Thu, Apr 8, 6:30 PM - 11:59 PM
Dr. Evelyn Cohen, An Illustrated Talk on the Shared Imagery of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Illuminated Manuscripts from Medieval Spain. Dr. Cohen, a widely published author, is an art historian specializing in illuminated Hebrew manuscripts and Italian Renaissance art, who has taught at Columbia University, Brooklyn College, and JTS. Free.

Curious George Saves the Day: The Art of Margret and H.A. Rey at The Jewish Museum March 14, 2010 - August 01, 2010

Curious George, the beloved, irrepressible monkey of children’s book lore, is famous for his ability to “save the day.” Interpreting the role he played in safeguarding his own creators in times of danger as symbolic, this exhibition delves into the remarkable lives and works of Margret and H. A. Rey. The couple fled Paris in 1940 with a Curious George manuscript in their suitcase. During a tense inspection of their belongings by a border official, children’s illustrations were found and they were allowed to continue on their way, eventually reaching the United States. Featuring nearly eighty original drawings and preparatory dummies for Margret and H. A. Rey children’s books and documentation related to their escape from Nazi-occupied Europe, the exhibition will examine the parallels between the obstacles the Reys faced and the drawings that may have saved their lives.

Modern Art, Sacred Space: Motherwell, Ferber and Gottlieb at The Jewish Museum March 14, 2010 - August 01, 2010

After World War II, American Jewish populations began a mass movement from city to suburb. Without the close-knit neighborhoods of the city, the synagogue became a center not only for worship, but for education and socialization as well. Architect Percival Goodman envisioned this space as entirely modern—not based on historical building styles—with a pared-down aesthetic and, significantly, a close collaboration between architecture and contemporary art.

In a revolutionary move, Goodman charged three avant-garde artists with commissions to decorate his 1951 Congregation B’nai Israel synagogue in Millburn, New Jersey. Robert Motherwell, Adolph Gottlieb, and Herbert Ferber—each of whom went on to become a major figure in the Abstract Expressionist movement—created, respectively, a large-scale lobby mural, a velvet Torah curtain, and a monumental exterior sculptural relief.

Motherwell’s mural depicts the twelve tribes of Israel as well as the Diaspora, Tablets of Moses, Ark, and Jacob’s Ladder. The mural, one of the largest paintings of its time, is one of the few works in which the artist worked in a semi-representational manner; however, his abstraction of the objects is in keeping with the bold style that he established in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Gottlieb’s iconographic design for the Torah curtain, now in the collection of The Jewish Museum, is a late example in the development of his influential pictograph paintings of 1941–53. Ferber’s monumental exterior relief, entitled And the Bush Was Not Consumed, expresses a religious theme in an abstract three-dimensional form.

The exhibition marks the first time these works have been exhibited in a museum setting since they were created over sixty years ago. In addition to these major works, the exhibition will include studies, and photographs, as well as an architectural model of the Goodman-designed synagogue, to highlight the creative process of this ground-breaking collaboration.
 

THE MONAYER FAMILY: THREE VIDEOS BY DOR GUEZ AT THE JEWISH MUSEUM March 14--September 7, 2010

The Jewish Museum will present The Monayer Family: Three Videos by Dor Guez from March 14 through September 7, 2010 in the Museum’s Barbara and E. Robert Goodkind Media Center. In this series of portraits, Guez offers perspectives on ethnic identity, citizenship, and prejudice from different generations of the Monayers, a Christian Arab family in Israel . Originally from the multiethnic, multifaith city of Lod - called al-Lydd by the Palestinians - family members in the videos include: Jacob, the patriarch who recounts the expulsion of the Arab citizens of the city of Lod after the 1948 war; his son Sami, who describes growing up among Jews as an Israeli citizen while simultaneously claiming a Palestinian identity; and Jacob’s granddaughter Samira, who recounts her experience of prejudice as she is mistaken for being Jewish. Counted among 125,000 Christian Arabs in Israel, the Monayers consider themselves a minority within a minority with respect to the Muslim population. To further complicate matters, Guez is from a mixed Jewish and Christian Arab family..

When asked to define his identity, Guez responded in an online interview, “I have been dealing with this for years, and the truth is that I’m not sure I’m looking for an answer. It depends on the place, time, and context. What does it mean to label oneself? My ID says I’m Jewish. Is this my main reference? . . . I have the right to choose and the right to decide, as well as the right to re-examine what those definitions say about me.”

The title of the first video, July 13 (2008-09, 13 min., 18 sec.), refers to the date in 1948 which the Israeli army entered the city of Lod . Jacob Monayer describes the city’s occupation, the plundering of possessions and homes, and the establishment of the Lod ghetto for those who remained. The video includes footage of Jacob posing at St. George’s Church , where many Christian Arabs hid during the war in 1948, and of the artist dutifully decorating his grandparents’ Christmas tree.

The title of Subaru-Mercedes (2008-09, 8 min., 10 sec.) serves as a metaphor for Arab Christian identity, a hybrid of Arab/Eastern (Subaru) and Israeli/Western (Mercedes) cultures. While Sami Monayer attempts to articulate his multiple nationalities, his wife and children interject their opinions and interrupt his narrative from off screen. Like Sami’s sense of self, the scene is chaotic and contradictory.

In (Sa)Mira (2008-09, 13 min. 40 sec.), Guez’s cousin recalls an incident at a Jerusalem restaurant where she works part-time while pursuing a degree in psychology at Hebrew University . Samira, who possesses a European appearance and flawlessly accented Hebrew, received complaints from Jewish customers who were offended that she did not reveal that she is an Arab. Her manager asked her to refrain from signing her checks with her given name. Filmed in multiple takes, the repetition of Samira’s narrative ultimately leads her to confront racism in Israeli society.

Dor Guez is an interdisciplinary artist and curator, and a researcher of photography at Tel Aviv University. His artistic practice is centered on questions of multiculturalism and ethnic identity. Guez’ work explores an intricate, multifaceted reality, challenging the boundaries and binary oppositions between East and West, Jews and Arabs, religion and secularism, Israeliness and Palestinianism. He has staged several one-person exhibitions, participated in numerous group shows, and curated, among others, the exhibitions Forbidden Junctions and Back to the Canon: Claude Cahun's Portrait Photographs at the Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon. Recently, his work was exhibited at the XIV Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean held in Macedonia. Georgiopolis at the Petach Tikva Museum of Art was his first museum solo show.

Located on the third floor of The Jewish Museum, the Goodkind Media Center houses a digital library of radio and television programs from the Museum’s National Jewish Archive of Broadcasting (NJAB). It also features a changing exhibition space dedicated to video and new media. Using computer workstations, visitors are able to search material by keyword and by categories such as art, comedy, drama, news, music, kids, Israel , and the Holocaust. The Jewish Museum is located on 92nd Street at Fifth Avenue in Manhattan and is open Sun 11:00am - 5:45pm, Mon 11:00am - 5:45pm, Tue 11:00am - 5:45pm, Thur 11:00am - 8:00pm, Fri (11/6/09-3/13/10) 11:00am-4:00pm(EST), Sat^ 11:00am - 5:45pm, and is closed on Wednesdays. Admission: Adults: $12, Seniors/over 65: $10, Students: $ 7.50, Children under 12: Free, Jewish Museum Members: Free, Saturdays: Free.
 

For other March NY Jewish Culture events see my previous articles and the links in the right margin of this page under New York Jewish Culture Events Listings.

For more info: David Cooper