The Artless Jew

Medieval and Modern Affirmations and Denials of the Visual
Erscheinungsjahr 2001
ISBN: 978-0-691-08985-0
Verlag: Princeton University Press

Buch, Englisch, 248 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 377 g

Conventional wisdom holds that Judaism is indifferent or even suspiciously hostile to the visual arts due to the Second Commandment's prohibition on creating "graven images," the dictates of monotheism, and historical happenstance. This intellectual history of medieval and modern Jewish attitudes toward art and representation overturns the modern assumption of Jewish iconophobia that denies to Jewish culture a visual dimension.Kalman Bland synthesizes evidence from medieval Jewish philosophy, mysticism, poetry, biblical commentaries, travelogues, and law, concluding that premodern Jewish intellectuals held a positive, liberal understanding of the Second Commandment and did, in fact, articulate a certain Jewish aesthetic. He draws on this insight to consider modern ideas of Jewish art, revealing how they are inextricably linked to diverse notions about modern Jewish identity that are themselves entwined with arguments over Zionism, integration, and anti-Semitism.Through its use of the past to illuminate the present and its analysis of how the present informs our readings of the past, this book establishes a new assessment of Jewish aesthetic theory rooted in historical analysis. Authoritative and original in its identification of authentic Jewish traditions of painting, sculpture, and architecture, this volume will ripple the waters of several disciplines, including Jewish studies, art history, medieval and modern history, and philosophy.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bland, Kalman P.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Jüdische Studien Jüdische Studien
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunststile

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 3

One Modern Denials and Affirmations of Jewish Art: Germanophone Origins and Themes 13

Two Anglo-American Variations 37

Three The Premodern Consensus 59

Four The Well-Tempered Medieval Sensorium 71

Five Medieval Beauty and Cultural Relativism 92

Six Twelfth-Century Pilgrims, Golden Calves, and Religious Polemics 109

Seven The Power and Regulation of Images in Late Medieval Jewish Society 141

Notes 155

Bibliograpby 201

Index 229