Introduction
American Jewish artists have contributed significantly to the arts of America and in many ways the world. They have infused their works with cultural history, personal histories, and new approaches. While some have delved into their Jewish heritage and reflected on their history, some have shied away from it and created something momentous and unique. Here is a list of painters, sculptors as well as photographers, and mixed-media artists and a little something about their work, which often explores issues of identity, history, and social commentary. Through a variety of materials and approaches, American Jewish artists continue to engage audiences with their viewpoints, exploring the junction of tradition and contemporary expression in the ever-changing environment of American art.
1 Max Webber
Max Weber, a Russian-born Jewish-American painter, introduced Cubism to the US and was influenced by Henri Rousseau, Henri Matisse, and Paul Cézanne. He believed that art transcends nature and has a greater goal than mere copying it. Weber studied at the Pratt Institute and later developed a deep interest in Hebrew mysticism, often depicting Jewish families and rabbis in his work. His works are held in various museums worldwide.
2. Elie Nadelman
Elie Nadelman, the sculptor, was born on 21st February in 1882. Originally from Warsaw, Poland, he moved to Paris at the age of 22 and chose sculpture as his primary medium after seeing classical works and Auguste Rodin’s masterpieces. At the start of World War I, Nadelman traveled to America, where his classical heads, like as this marble one from the Jewish Museum Collection, were extremely popular. His choice of material, cherry wood, and his decision to paint several of the works may have offended an audience used to his earlier marble heads’ restrained classicism. Despite criticism, Nadelman continued to work in this style, and his stylised genre sculptures were only recognised as his greatest after he died in 1946.
3. Vincent Glinsky
Born in Russia in 1895, Glinsky emigrated to America and received formal education at the Beaux Arts Institute. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship and traveled to Italy and France. During the Great Depression, he worked for the Works Progress Administration and became a master instructor at Columbia, New York, and Brooklyn College. His figurative work, renowned for technical perfection and classical traditions, is housed in top institutions and is prized by collectors.
4. Eleanor Sinton
She was often known as “Nell,” a postwar California artist who attended the California School of Fine Arts from 1920 to 1925, 1926 to 1928, and 1937 to 1938. She studied with Lucien Labaudt and Maurice Sterne from 1937 to 1938. In 1959, Sinton was named one of the Ten Most Distinguished Bay Area Women. She was an active part of the Bay Area art community, serving on the San Francisco City and County Art Commission from 1959 to 1963, and the San Francisco Art Institute’s Board of Trustees from 1966 to 1972.
5. Alex Katz
Alex Katz is a renowned American artist known for his large-format landscapes, flowers, and portraits of his wife Ada. His unique style features flattened forms and simplified details, with works like “Gray Day” exemplifying his distinctive style. Born in Brooklyn in 1927, Katz studied at the Cooper Union School of Art and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. He has influenced younger artists like Elizabeth Peyton and Julian Opie. His art is featured in major collections.
6. Helen Levitt
Helen Levitt, a renowned street photographer, documented local communities in New York from the 1930s to the 1990s. Her work, influenced by surrealism and silent film, often depicted underprivileged communities during periods of depression and conflict. Levitt was a pioneer in color street photography, exhibiting her work in 1974 and revisiting early locations with dye-transfer prints after receiving a Guggenheim grant in 1959. The exhibition features her color photographs, the experimental documentary “In the Street” (1953), and photographs from her 1941 visit to Mexico City.
7. Mark Rothko
Markus Rothko, born in 1903 in Latvia, moved to the United States in 1913 and studied at Yale University before studying at Parsons School of Design under painter Arshile Gorky. They shared an interest in European Surrealism, leading to Rothko’s characteristic style of floating zones of color on colored grounds. By 1968, Rothko’s health deteriorated due to excessive worry and drinking and smoking habits. Despite doctor’s advice, he limited canvases size and switched from oils to acrylic paints. Rothko committed suicide in 1970, leaving behind a successful career.
8. Philip Guston
Philip Guston is best known for his biting, comical paintings, and drawings, which range in subject matter from ordinary images to narrative political satires, particularly those on Richard Nixon. Guston’s work gained varied degrees of critical acclaim over his lifetime, adjusting as he changed direction. His pieces are already on display in major international museums, and an online show at Hauser & Wirth will launch on July 30. The artist’s works will also be featured in a touring survey, which will begin in 2021 but has been postponed owing to the epidemic and will stop at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and Tate Modern.
9. Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein, a Jewish American pop artist, was a prominent figure in the Pop Art movement, known for his cartoon-inspired works that influenced various late twentieth-century movements and social issues. Born in Manhattan, Lichtenstein studied at Parsons School of Design and Ohio State University, where he was inspired by Hoyt Sherman. He began his career in 1962 with an exhibition at the Castelli Gallery, and continued to experiment with various genres, including Abstract Expressionism, large-scale abstract interiors, ceramics, and enameled steel. His career ended in 1997 due to viral pneumonia.
10. Helen Frankenthaler
Helen Frankenthaler, born in 1928, received a strong art education at the Dalton School in New York and Bennington College in Vermont. Despite initially planning to stop, she continued her studies with painter Hans Hofmann. By her late twenties, she gained recognition and became one of New York’s most prominent artists. Her abstracts, created by staining vibrant hues into unprimed canvas, resemble landscapes. Her unique “soak-stain” technique, inspired by childhood experiments with her mother’s nail polish, allowed paint to bleed into the canvas, creating inky, ethereal shapes.
11. Sylvia Hyman
The artist is known for her hyper-realistic porcelain sculptures of common objects such as books, keys, and purses. She diligently created each component to scale using tools like as molds and an electric slab roller, achieving convincing surface details with processes such as screen printing, slips, and glazes. She creates a variety of objects, from wooden boxes to rolled-up plans, and invites visitors to study the intricate details of her sculptures. In addition to her artistic accomplishments, Hyman taught art in the New York Public School System and at Peabody College for Teachers. Her contributions to ceramics were acknowledged internationally, including her presence at the 1973 United States International Ceramics Symposium and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Museum of Women in the Arts in 1994.
References:
- https://www.artnews.com/feature/philip-guston-who-is-he-famous-paintings-1202694977/
- https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/roy-lichtenstein
- https://www.moma.org/artists/5047
- https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/helen-levitt-retrospective
- https://www.artnet.com/artists/alex-katz/
- https://www.artnet.com/artists/elie-nadelman/
- https://www.annexgalleries.com/artists/biography/819/Glinsky/Vincent
- https://www.artnews.com/feature/helen-frankenthaler-who-is-she-why-is-she-important-1234586555/
- https://www.themarksproject.org/marks/hyman-0
Feature Image courtesy: J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP PHOTO
