Between the Worlds: A New Genre in Contemporary Jewish Art

• In Event: Performing Identity

Abstract

The proposal will expose cohorts (Manheim, 1952) of select artists belonging to the American "Hippie generation". They were influenced by the 1960s/70s spiritual revivals of the counterculture. As their spiritual awareness evolved, they turned to Orthodox Judaism, and then immigrated to Israel, where they continued to develop their artistic careers.
For almost fifty years, they operated "under the radar," on the periphery of the local art scene, because Israeli historiography neglected them.
There has been a lack of artistic movements or institutional agents in the Israeli scene that recognizes and assists immigrants’ transition into the art world. Additionally, this artistic group did not strive to identify itself consciously as a unique artistic genre, a fact which is compounded with their ambivalent identification in the Ultra-Orthodox hierarchy in Israel as a "Newly-Observant." These artists find themselves in ethnic enclaves, as spiritual and Mystical artists. They are connected to the subcultural divide within the Israelis Orthodox community, yet are still influenced by their background in the American counterculture.
This study challenges the art history discipline to widen its focus on contemporary Orthodox groups and to map their unique features. It requires a methodological approach that treats them as an independent interpretative community with unique access to art, both sociologically and religiously. The core concept emphasizes religious practice and ideology above art or the individual.
The proposal will focus how these artists function as cultural agents who combine spiritual expression - influenced by their unconventional past - with the spiritual Jewish theology (specifically Kabbalistic) aspects of their art. The paper will examine how this sector came to create a unique visual culture, named Visionary Jewish Art.

Author

• Noa Lea Cohn, Mofet Institution/ ArtShelterGallery