In the wake of the Emancipation in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the historic barriers which had prevented Jewish artists from gaining entry to academic fine art programs were lifted, enabling aspiring Jewish painters such as Isidor Kaufmann to study at the painting at the finest institutions of Europe. The 19th century was a watershed in the history of Jewish art, and marked the emergence of a modern Jewish iconography, which reflected the nostalgia for traditional Jewish life amongst the rapidly acculturating Jewish communities of Western Europe. As European nations began to establish colonial outposts in the East, European artists, such as Friedrich Perlberg, began to romanticize the primitive cultures of the East, traveling to the Middle East and North Africa in search of artistic inspiration. Painting the sites and landscapes of the Holy Land was particularly appealing to the Orientalist painter.
 
By the early 20th century, Jewish artists from all over Europe converged in Paris, cultivating the dynamic expressionist style which characterized the Jewish artists of the Ecole de Paris such as Emmanuel Mané-Katz and Marc Chagall. In the Weimar Republic, the Jewish artist, Jakob Steinhardt, was instrumental in revitalizing the traditional art of the woodcut, creating a distinctly modern graphic aesthetic. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Jewish art dealers, such as Joseph Bernheim, Paul Rosenberg, and Paul Cassirer, were some of the most ardent supporters of the Impressionist and Expressionist painters. Wealthy Jews, such as the Rothschild family, began to collect both old and modern masters such as Eugené Boudin, Renoir, and Maurice Utrillo, in their quest to gain acceptance within the haute-bourgeois circles of Europe.
 
Paralleling the rise of Jewish art in Europe, the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem, was a catalyst for the development of Israeli art. Bezalel attracted dozens of European Jewish artists including Yosl Bergner and Reuven Rubin, who was a pioneering leader of symbolist-modern art in Israel.

From March 12-22, the selling exhibition “From Germany to Jerusalem” encompasses the historical breadth of the Jewish visual experience, and aims to enrich the cultural fabric of contemporary Jewish life by making masterpieces of Jewish art available to the public. 

Selling exhibition at Sky Gallery, 460 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231 

March 12 - 22, 2015 
Sun- Thu   10 am - 6pm
Fri 10 am - 1 pm
other times by appointment

Stein Rose Fine Art
721 Fifth Av, New York, NY 10022
+1-212-888-2571 uri@steinrosefineart.com