Description: Hirszenberg deserves to be more widely known because of the intertwining of universal modernism and Jewish themes in his work. While reflecting artistically on Jewish life and tradition, he demonstrated a great breadth of concerns, and his style was influenced by the different artistic modes he encountered. This fully illustrated study offers an intimate picture of his oeuvre.
Brief description: Richard I. Cohen is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has co-curated two major art-historical exhibitions, one in New York (From Court Jews to the Rothschilds) and one in Paris (Le Juif Errant: Un Témoin du Temps). He is the author of Jewish Icons: Art and Society in Modern Europe, which was the recipient of the Arnold Wischnitzer Prize for the best book in Jewish history (1999), and has edited and co-edited over fifteen books, many focusing on aspects of Jewish art and history. Two of his co-edited works are published by the Littman Library: The Jewish Contribution to Civilization: Reassessing an Idea (2007), and Insiders and Outsiders: Dilemmas of East European Jewry (2010).
Review Quotes:
'Hirszenberg is a fascinating and important artist who deserves to be known more widely, The authors have produced an authoritative volume about his life and work, his studies and travels, his patrons and fellow artists, opening a most interesting window on the world of Polish Jews and their various milieux--Jewish, Polish, and European--during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The intellectual approach is sophisticated and speaks to current concerns in the social and cultural history of art more generally.' Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Ronald S. Lauder Chief Curator, Core Exhibition, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw