Presented by Dr. Ori Soltes
Goldman Professorial Lecturer in Theology and Fine Arts, Georgetown University
Join us as we welcome Dr. Ori Soltes back to the Haberman Institute community for an image-rich presentation on the evolution of Jewish art.
Dr. Soltes will guide us through three elements of the modern and contemporary world of Jewish art, beginning with addressing the wonderfully complex question of what one means by “Jewish Art,” conceptually and historically. Arriving into the modern era, Dr. Soltes will ask how the definition of “Jewish art” changes and evolves—without providing a simple answer to the original question.
Against the backdrop of these two observations, the talk will offer a significant handful of instances that demonstrate not only the extraordinary richness of “Jewish art,” but also promote the idea that part of its richness is our inability to define—draw a conceptual boundary around—“Jewish art” at any point in history and across geography, most particularly in the world of the present.
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The Hack Family is pleased to sponsor this lecture in loving memory of their Mother/Bubby, Anita Hack. She had a love of family and a passion for art, culture, and beauty in the world which she shared widely and passed on to her children and grandchildren.
Thank you, also, to Jewish Residents of Leisure World for helping bring this program to the community!
Dr. Ori Z. Soltes teaches at Georgetown University across a range of disciplines, from art history and theology to philosophy and political history.
He is the former Director of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum and has curated more than 90 exhibitions across the country and overseas.
He has also authored or edited 25 books and several hundred articles and essays. Recent volumes include Our Sacred Signs: How Jewish, Christian and Muslim Art Draw from the Same Source; The Ashen Rainbow: Essays on the Arts and the Holocaust; Tradition and Transformation: Three Millennia of Jewish Art & Architecture; and Growing Up Jewish in India: Synagogues, Ceremonies, and Customs from the Bene Israel to the Art of Siona Benjamin.