Artworks reflect history

"The Fragmented Mirror" exhibition reunites works by artists such as Dutch painter Josef Israels, who taught Vincent van Gogh; German artist Lesser Ury; and Russian Leonid Pasternak, who illustrated many of the writer Leo Tolstoy's works and was also the father of author Boris Pasternak.

On display at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art are some 100 works by Jewish artists who were originally featured in an exhibition in a Berlin gallery in 1907. They reflect European art at the beginning of the Modern period, considered to have begun in the 1860s.

Jews in German society

Some of the works are realistic, others more avant-garde, still others Impressionistic. They include paintings and sculptures of Jewish subjects, such as figures from the Bible, synagogue scenes and people fleeing their homes in pogroms.

There are also portraits, cityscapes and pastoral scenes that are not related to the Jewish experience. For example, there are five paintings in the exhibition by French Impressionist Camille Pissarro, whose Jewish background was not reflected in his work.

Jewish identity in works?

According to curator Batsheva Ida, the exhibition reveals the increasing confidence of Jewish artists in the early 20th century, as they completed their move from the ghettos into European society.

"Jewish artists in Germany were optimistic because they felt they were finally being accepted into German culture," Ida said.

The original exhibition in Berlin sought to examine two questions: First, did Jews have talent? And second, was there a "Jewish art"? In other words, was there was any common denominator in the varied works of these Jewish artists?

Even now, the answer to those questions remains unclear.

"Even in 1907, the artist Josef Israels wrote to the [organizing] committee and said 'you can use my works, but there's no such thing as Jewish art,'" Ida said. "Lesser Ury, who was known for his Berlin cityscapes, said 'Yes, there is a modern Jewish art and I'm doing it.' But no one liked his Jewish art; they only liked his Berlin cityscapes. In essence, 100 years later, we still don't have an answer."

French influence

Ury survived as an artist by selling his paintings of Berlin. He also painted cafe scenes that reflect the influence of French master Edgar Degas.

However, Ury's large religious works - like one of the Prophet Moses in a moment of contemplation before ascending Mount Sinai - were less popular.

"He had to hang them facing the wall in his studio - no one bought them," said Ida.

Other artists also painted both Jewish and secular subjects and adjusted their style for each. Examples of this in the exhibition are pictures by German artist Eugene Spiro, who painted a woman on her way to the theater in Impressionist style and colors, and also created a sadder portrait of a Jewish cantor in a more conventional, realistic style.

Juggling identities

Mordechai Omer, director of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, said that in the 19th century, Jews tried to follow the prescription of German philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. "They tried to be Jews in their homes and Germans in their public space and this led to a kind of schizophrenia."

He pointed out that a self-portrait by Josef Israels in the exhibition reflected the duality of Jewish identity. "He is in between - he's a Jewish icon of [the] artist and a German icon," he said.

"This is the broken mirror, the fragmented mirror we speak about [in the exhibition title]."

One of the highlights of the exhibition is a large painting by Polish artist Mauricy Gottlieb. It shows a scene inside a synagogue on the Jewish Day of Atonement, but it's also a complex family portrait in which the artist has painted himself and his family over and over again as members of the congregation.

Ida said that Jewish artists of this period often painted themselves in many guises. "The Jews were testing out new identities," the curator reflected. "At one time Maurycy Gottlieb painted himself as a Polish nobleman, then as a wandering Jew, then as Jesus - a Jewish Jesus!"

History lingers

With history hanging over it, there's a sense of melancholy surrounding the exhibition - 25 years after the original show in Berlin, the Nazis came to power in Germany, and the fate of some of these artists and their works after that remains unknown. "We can only trace [some] of them up until World War II, where their lives ended in the death camps - that's clear.”

Still, this work from a lost world has proved very popular. The show in Tel Aviv has been extended until mid-October - and four museums are negotiating for it to travel internationally.

Author: Irris Makler
Editor: Louisa Schaefer