Why Were There So Few JEWISH WOMEN ARTISTS in the 19th Century?

• In Event: Spotlighting Forgotten Women

Abstract

I propose a paper to answer this. Originally, I was puzzled by the lack of Jewish women artists in the 19th century; when increasing leisure/wealth among Jews led to more opportunities in art, comparably few Jewish women pursued them. In compiling a list of 1000 American women studying art in Paris 1870-1920, I identified few Jews. Likewise few American Jews contributed substantially until the 19th century: silversmith Myer Myers, painter Henry Mosler, sculptor Moses Ezekiel. All men. In Europe, Jewish artists included Oppenheim, Pissarro, Hirszenberg, and the early 20th century Modligliani, Soutine, Chagall. All men.

Why? Julie Weiner writes that Jewish women had to overcome “all manner of obstacles” to work as artists. In Great Britain, where there were major traditions in sea/landscape painting, portraiture, and historical canvases, there were few women artists. And fewer Jews.

Perhaps the second commandment’s prohibition against “graven images” deterred would-be artists. But this prohibition, chiefly against idol-worship, was widespread; newly-emancipated Jewish artists were unsure of its interpretation and may explain the lack of Jewish women artists.

In the 1897 translation (by Louise Mannheimer) of The Jewish Woman, Nahida Remy says: “The activity of Jewish women in painting and the plastic art” is limited (210) and finds Marta Aronson the most accomplished of all painters, with “frequently exhibited studies of old people”(211) the best.

Art was an expensive proposition in the 19th century which only women with wealth/support could manage. Greater wealth led to advanced art study, benefiting the few who had real talent. This resulted in a number of Jewish women artists in 19th century England until WWI began (art study became more democratic afterwards), including:
Mary Raphael (1861-1942)
Lily Solomon Delissa Joseph (1863-1940)
Helena Hartog Darmesteter (1850-1940)
Amy Julia Drucker (1873-1951)
Flora Lion (1878-1958)
Clare Birnberg (1892-1984) the only woman in the “Jewish section” of the Whitechapel Art Gallery’s 1906 show.

These examples, which I will illustrate with a PowerPoint, indicate many Jewish women actively working as artists in England. Between 1881 and 1900 the UK’s Jewish population jumped from 60,000 to 250,000, with another 700,000 coming between 1900-1938. Many women with artistic talent, like Birnberg, were among them. Why they are, for the most part, forgotten is another story.
SOURCES:
Baskind, Samantha. https://smarthistory.org/an-introduction-to-jewish-art-in-the-united-states-before-1900/
Ben-Uri Gallery. buru.org.uk
Dine, Renana. https://the.lehrhaus.com/commentary/a-religion-without-visual-art-the-rav-and
Jewish Year Book, 5663. Greenberg and Company, London, 1902.
This book lists Julia Goodman, Anne Marks, and Gertrude Marks in addition to
Lily Joseph and Mary Raphael.
Remy, Nahida. The Jewish Woman, trans. By Louise Mannheimer. Cincinnati, 1897
Wiener, Julie. jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/artists-in-britain-1700-1940

Author

• Jane S. Gabin, National Coalition of Independent Scholars