What exactly is Jewish art? Even experts can’t agree

Peggy Nathan, former owner of a San Francisco art gallery, paraphrases the late Supreme Court Justice Stewart Potter when it comes to the definition of Jewish art. She knows it when she sees it.

Or when she doesn't.

Nathan, who was well-known for showcasing Jewish art, recalls confronting that issue head-on about 20 years ago. She met a man who was adamant that she display his work. He wouldn't take "no" for an answer.

"I really didn't think there was a niche for neon velvet pictures of davening rabbis," Nathan laughed. "But since I was an art dealer who had a Magen David on her business card, and since he was Jewish, he figured I should sell his work."

Nathan, who closed Nathan Gallery in 1981, said the majority of the artwork she sold could be called "classical Judaica."

"I sold a lot of menorahs, ketubots and Israeli landscape scenes," Nathan said. "That's the kind of Jewish art that seems to sell. Over the past two decades, I think people have really turned to memorabilia to explore their roots."

But what constitutes Jewish art, and what sells, is, like most things in the Jewish community, open for debate.

"I was raised in the lefty activist movement," said Lagunitas artist Elly Simmons, who is exhibiting her work in the East Bay's Jewish Arts Renaissance. "As a Jew, and as an artist, that really influences my perspective."

Simmons, who said she's made her share of ketubot and other Judaica items, feels that there's an occasional "tightness of definition" when it comes to Jewish art.

With its legacy of political activism, she asserts, the Bay Area is fertile ground for buyers searching for more than just memorabilia.

"Classical Jewish art is important, but it doesn't represent the compendium that Jewish life is," Simmons said. "The art that really nourishes my Jewish soul has a social message behind it. Artists like Ben Shahn."

That affinity stands whether the artists are Jewish or not. "A lot of the work coming out of the '30s and '40s, like the 'Rosy the Riveter' campaign, really had a powerful message behind it," she said.

Likewise, Simmons noted that she's been included in Latin American art exhibits, ironic for someone of Polish Jewish extraction.

"But then again, it really forces people to stretch the definition of Jewish art. I was included in the Latin American retrospectives because my work contained a lot of vibrant colors and a strong sense of community. And those were qualities the exhibitors were looking for," Simmons said.

"I don't think the cross-pollination of Jewish art is so unusual. It reflects the influences of the artist. For example, I was just as driven to support the farmworkers' strike and Caesar Chavez, as I was to support the state of Israel."

When discussing Jewish art, inevitably there will be talk of menorahs, social issues and...Carl Jung -- at least according to George Krevsky, the owner of San Francisco's Krevsky Gallery.

"There is something Jungian, something in the collective conscious of the Jewish people, that comes through in their work," Krevsky said. "It's the sum total of 6,000 years of history that forms a continuum from the biblical times to an artist working in a small studio in San Leandro.

"I largely sell artwork that appeals to clients on both a historical level and an aesthetic level. People are looking for narratives of Jewish life, whether it deals with Eastern Europe or the Lower East Side."

Krevsky, who often shows work by prominent Jewish and Israeli artists, said Jewish art should "translate into the universal world. Jewish art is not about sticking a Star of David in the middle of a landscape."

What sells at his gallery, he said, is Jewish by content, not intent.

Marc Chagall "lived in a shtetl," Krevsky pointed out. "A lot of his work contained elements of his upbringing. His Judaism still came through powerfully, but it was Jewish without explicitly saying so."

Berkeley artist Anthony Dubovsky weighs in on the issue by explaining art's visceral nature.

"All art, Jewish art included, is palpable. It has a physicality that affects the viewer. The question really isn't 'Is it Jewish art?' but 'Do I or don't I like this work?'"

Dubovsky also noted that the Torah indirectly offers lessons on Jewish art.

"The Torah rarely tells the whole story. There are many parts that have to be filled in. And yet, we're responsible for the parts we don't know," he said.

"Art, Jewish or otherwise, is similar. It forces us to fill in narratives and ask questions. I want to see art with no strings attached and judge it based on how it makes me feel.

"If it speaks to me as a Jew, then mazel tov."