Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
Savvy art historian hooked on Jewish art
Click image to enlarge
|
By: FRAN HELLER Contributing Writer
She is the first person to write an entire book about one of the most important Jewish American artists of the 20th century.
One of the first to lecture about Jewish art at a secular American university.
The first and only female in her family to become a bat mitzvah.
As a published author, art historian, teacher and lecturer, Samantha Baskind, Ph.D., has already racked up enough achievements and "firsts" to fill a five-page, award-studded résumé.
Even more remarkable, Baskind is only 35.
She is the author of Raphael Soyer and the Search for Modern American Art (University of North Carolina Press, 2004.) The critically acclaimed book is Baskind's first.
Baskind frames her discussion of Soyer's art in the broader socio-cultural and religious context of the immigrant artist's life. She chose Soyer as the subject of her book because there had never been one written about him. Another reason, she says, is Soyer's much-ballyhooed and arguably best known painting "Dancing Lesson," hanging in The Jewish Museum in New York. This work, Baskind maintains, has served as a paradigmatic example of Jewish American art.
The 1926 painting, a scene of Jewish family life, portrays the artist's sister Rebecca teaching Raphael's twin brother Moses how to dance. Raphael's youngest brother Isaac plays a harmonica while the parents observe the "newfangled" American dancing.
In her introduction, Baskind notes that Soyer did not want his art to be affiliated with Judaism in any way. The erudite art historian explains why. When the critics of Soyer's early years talked about Jewish art, they were talking about parochial art. That characterization did not appeal to Soyer, who wanted to be more mainstream.
The prevailing anti-Semitism could also hamper an artist's career. Soyer was not alone in his thinking, as many of his fellow immigrant artists, including Ben Shahn and Max Weber, chose acculturation and assimilation as a way to avoid anti-Semitism. Later in life, Soyer, who died in 1987, openly acknowledged his Jewish identity.
Many Jewish artists of the 20th century bridled at being labeled a "Jewish artist." The Jewish artists of today, says Baskind, are much more open and up front about their religious and ethnic identity.
Soyer painted in the style of social realists. These were urban, 1930s artists, mostly in New York City, who were very much affected by current events like the Great Depression and the rise of fascism. A motto among some social realists, says Baskind, was that "art is a social weapon."
Baskind interviewed Raphael Soyer's sister Rebecca Soyer Beagle, (the young woman dancing in "Dancing Lesson") when Rebecca was 96. Hers was a religious and Shabbat-observant household when she and Raphael were growing up.
Raphael was one of six children n four brothers and two sisters, three of whom were painters. Raphael's twin brother Moses was also a painter, as was his brother Isaac.
Raphael and his siblings grew up in an intellectual household. Their father Avroham was a Yiddish writer who taught his children about art.
Writing the book and getting it published took Baskind five years. Half of the book evolved from her doctoral dissertation. Though she now has a research assistant, she still does all her own primary research.
Baskind is starting her second year as an assistant professor of art history at Cleveland State University. Prior to her Cleveland appointment, she was a visiting assistant professor of art history and Judaic studies at the University of Miami in Florida. A tenure-track position at a research institution lured Baskind to CSU.
One of the classes Baskind is teaching this fall is Modern Jewish Art and Culture.
Among the Jewish artists included in the course are Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Jack Levine, Lee Krasner (wife of Jackson Pollock), Alex Katz, Philip Pearlstein, Jim Dine and R.B. Kitaj (the last two are from Ohio). Kitaj, an expatriate living in England, affirms his Jewish identity, notes Baskind, as did Lee Krasner, but in a more oblique way, she adds.
Writing remains Baskind's passion. In the summer when she is not teaching, Baskind writes up to 13 hours a day and into the wee hours of the night. "Writing to me is so invigorating," she says. "As my ideas come together and I construct arguments and learn about the artists, I feel invigorated."
Baskind dedicates her book to her grandfather Sanford Charles Aderson, whom she describes as her "first professor." Her grandfather's "student" admits she is driven and ambitious. The voracious reader and writer is now working on her second and third books simultaneously. The second is Jewish American Artists: A Biographical Dictionary. The third book, Re-Imaging the Book: Jewish Artists and the Bible in Twentieth Century America, will focus on biblical imagery in the art of Jewish American artists. In addition to her book projects, Baskind is writing more than 50 entries for Encyclopedia Judaica.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Baskind moved to Palo Alto, Calif., at age 10, where she lived prior to entering college. Her mother is Sephardic, and no one in the family had ever had a bar or bat mitzvah, she says. Rabbi Richard A. Block, senior rabbi at The Temple-Tifereth Israel, was the rabbi at Beth Am Congregation in California where Samantha Baskind became a bat mitzvah and was confirmed. Since her move to Cleveland, she says, the two have become fast friends.
Baskind earned her bachelor's degree in art history and English literature at the University of Pennsylvania, and both her master's and Ph.D. degrees in art history at The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
The slender, comely, raven-haired professor is single and lives in Cleveland Heights. In her "spare" time, Baskind enjoys reading mystery and suspense novels, in addition to art history; spending time with friends, and taking her two female dogs, Simcha ("Joy"), a cocker spaniel, and Penina ("Pearl" in Hebrew), a Pekinese mix, on long walks. She really likes Cleveland, she says, except for the weather.
To reach this reporter, editorial@cjn.org.
One of the first to lecture about Jewish art at a secular American university.
The first and only female in her family to become a bat mitzvah.
As a published author, art historian, teacher and lecturer, Samantha Baskind, Ph.D., has already racked up enough achievements and "firsts" to fill a five-page, award-studded résumé.
Even more remarkable, Baskind is only 35.
She is the author of Raphael Soyer and the Search for Modern American Art (University of North Carolina Press, 2004.) The critically acclaimed book is Baskind's first.
Baskind frames her discussion of Soyer's art in the broader socio-cultural and religious context of the immigrant artist's life. She chose Soyer as the subject of her book because there had never been one written about him. Another reason, she says, is Soyer's much-ballyhooed and arguably best known painting "Dancing Lesson," hanging in The Jewish Museum in New York. This work, Baskind maintains, has served as a paradigmatic example of Jewish American art.
The 1926 painting, a scene of Jewish family life, portrays the artist's sister Rebecca teaching Raphael's twin brother Moses how to dance. Raphael's youngest brother Isaac plays a harmonica while the parents observe the "newfangled" American dancing.
In her introduction, Baskind notes that Soyer did not want his art to be affiliated with Judaism in any way. The erudite art historian explains why. When the critics of Soyer's early years talked about Jewish art, they were talking about parochial art. That characterization did not appeal to Soyer, who wanted to be more mainstream.
The prevailing anti-Semitism could also hamper an artist's career. Soyer was not alone in his thinking, as many of his fellow immigrant artists, including Ben Shahn and Max Weber, chose acculturation and assimilation as a way to avoid anti-Semitism. Later in life, Soyer, who died in 1987, openly acknowledged his Jewish identity.
Many Jewish artists of the 20th century bridled at being labeled a "Jewish artist." The Jewish artists of today, says Baskind, are much more open and up front about their religious and ethnic identity.
Soyer painted in the style of social realists. These were urban, 1930s artists, mostly in New York City, who were very much affected by current events like the Great Depression and the rise of fascism. A motto among some social realists, says Baskind, was that "art is a social weapon."
Baskind interviewed Raphael Soyer's sister Rebecca Soyer Beagle, (the young woman dancing in "Dancing Lesson") when Rebecca was 96. Hers was a religious and Shabbat-observant household when she and Raphael were growing up.
Raphael was one of six children n four brothers and two sisters, three of whom were painters. Raphael's twin brother Moses was also a painter, as was his brother Isaac.
Raphael and his siblings grew up in an intellectual household. Their father Avroham was a Yiddish writer who taught his children about art.
Writing the book and getting it published took Baskind five years. Half of the book evolved from her doctoral dissertation. Though she now has a research assistant, she still does all her own primary research.
Baskind is starting her second year as an assistant professor of art history at Cleveland State University. Prior to her Cleveland appointment, she was a visiting assistant professor of art history and Judaic studies at the University of Miami in Florida. A tenure-track position at a research institution lured Baskind to CSU.
One of the classes Baskind is teaching this fall is Modern Jewish Art and Culture.
Among the Jewish artists included in the course are Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Jack Levine, Lee Krasner (wife of Jackson Pollock), Alex Katz, Philip Pearlstein, Jim Dine and R.B. Kitaj (the last two are from Ohio). Kitaj, an expatriate living in England, affirms his Jewish identity, notes Baskind, as did Lee Krasner, but in a more oblique way, she adds.
Writing remains Baskind's passion. In the summer when she is not teaching, Baskind writes up to 13 hours a day and into the wee hours of the night. "Writing to me is so invigorating," she says. "As my ideas come together and I construct arguments and learn about the artists, I feel invigorated."
Baskind dedicates her book to her grandfather Sanford Charles Aderson, whom she describes as her "first professor." Her grandfather's "student" admits she is driven and ambitious. The voracious reader and writer is now working on her second and third books simultaneously. The second is Jewish American Artists: A Biographical Dictionary. The third book, Re-Imaging the Book: Jewish Artists and the Bible in Twentieth Century America, will focus on biblical imagery in the art of Jewish American artists. In addition to her book projects, Baskind is writing more than 50 entries for Encyclopedia Judaica.
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Baskind moved to Palo Alto, Calif., at age 10, where she lived prior to entering college. Her mother is Sephardic, and no one in the family had ever had a bar or bat mitzvah, she says. Rabbi Richard A. Block, senior rabbi at The Temple-Tifereth Israel, was the rabbi at Beth Am Congregation in California where Samantha Baskind became a bat mitzvah and was confirmed. Since her move to Cleveland, she says, the two have become fast friends.
Baskind earned her bachelor's degree in art history and English literature at the University of Pennsylvania, and both her master's and Ph.D. degrees in art history at The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
The slender, comely, raven-haired professor is single and lives in Cleveland Heights. In her "spare" time, Baskind enjoys reading mystery and suspense novels, in addition to art history; spending time with friends, and taking her two female dogs, Simcha ("Joy"), a cocker spaniel, and Penina ("Pearl" in Hebrew), a Pekinese mix, on long walks. She really likes Cleveland, she says, except for the weather.
To reach this reporter, editorial@cjn.org.
 |
||
| Portrait of the artist with a small bear |
Article Rating
Reader Comments
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of clevelandjewishnews.com.
You must register with a valid email to post comments. Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments. Registration is free.
Registered users sign in here: |
Become a Registered User |
