Chagall to Kitaj: Jewish Experience in 20th Century Art (review)

160 SHOFAR Fall 1992 Vol. 11, No. 1 tions known by the comprehensive designation of Talmudic literature" (see Theological Studies, 36/2 [1975), 335-38). Tomson's cavalier neglect of this problem does not assure the reader of the competence of his work or its relevance to the study of Pauline literature. Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.]. Catholic University of America Chagall to Kitaj: Jewish Experience in 20th Century Art, by Avram Kampf. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1990. Avram Kampf chose the subtitle of his book wisely. By associating a series of Jewish artists with the word "experience," he avoided the criticism which might have arisen had he defined his topic more narrowly. He was also careful to avoid claiming the existence of a formal Jewish artistic style. Kampf understands that others have made such an assumption based on the development of Jewish folk art, but he avoids joining forces with them. Instead, he interprets Jewish art, or rather the art produced by Jewish artists, in a broader, more cultural and religious, context, viewing Jewish artistic creativity as a shared or collective experience , on part of a living organism, which interacts with the world in which it exists. Many paintings ofJewish artists reflect, for example, the theme of continuous upheaval: the migrations ofJewish people from east to west, the uprooting of the lives of those who left closely knit communities for a stranger, often alien, atomized future in another land. The great events of the twentieth century-World War I, the Russian Revolution, the Holocaust, the struggle for Israel-which have made Jews observers, participants, victims, and survivors have also left their imprint on Jewish artistic creativity. "That interaction between man and the world, which we call experience, produces friction and fissures in the individual and the collective, stirs emotions and ideas, and leaves the traces which we attempt to discover in twentieth-century works of art," Kampf writes. He believes that a reluctance to recognize the importance of the Jewish experience on twentieth-century art lies in a traditional predisposition to study art history in terms of national experience, rather than any development unconnected to political geography. Kampfassumes a broad mandate to repair this omission. It is a task with which he has been associated for over a'decade and a half. In 1975, Kampf curated an exhibition of Jewish art at the Jewish Museum in New York City. Out of this show came a book entitledJewish Book Reviews 161 Experience in the Art of the Twentieth Century. In 1990, the Barbican Art Gallery in London mounted an expanded version of this exhibition. The present publication accompanied the Barbican show and is an updated version of the previous work. The 1990 reprise allowed Kampf an opportunity to reassess his earlier efforts. But he does not consider the latest effort to be definitive. Kampfs examination of the Jewish experience in art is essentially an explication de texte of the works themselves. He arranges his presentation into chapters containing the major sources of influence on the artists. It might be a location like "Paris," an event like "The Holocaust," or an ideal like "The Search for Roots in Israel." He judiciously selects those works which prove his case, a task which, for the most part, requires no suspension of disbelief. Certainly , the most famous and obvious artist in his presentation is Marc Chagall, whose work seems a quintessential synthesis ofJewish life. Chagall is especially effective in combiningJewish and Russian folk art with contemporary Western art. Kampf calls this a natural fusion. Chagall celebrates the joy and vitality of an oppressed people while revealing a profound knowledge of their psychological attitudes and way of life. Although Chagall made his fame in the world at large far removed from his origins, he never forgot his Jewish roots. He once said that if he were not a Jew, he would not have been an artist, or at any rate, he would have been quite a different one. Before he left Russia, Chagall personifi~d a new generation ofJewish artists, many who hoped he might lead them towards a distinctive Jewish art style. However, Chagall had his own personal vision. Kampf specUlates that Chagall's ambivalence...