Imagining Jewish Art

Rosen's effort to identify and elucidate the Jewish concerns of these three very different artists is penetrating and his analysis of the works in question is consistently insightful. Though the exact nature of Jewish art remains slippery, Rosen's book is a worthy investigation of the ways in which the most evidently Jewish art can borrow from the least Jewish sources, and the ways in which less apparently Jewish art can have unexpected Jewish resonances. -- Zeek at Jewcy Zeek at Jewcy Bypassing past scholars, critics, and curators who have sought the quintessential nature of Jewish art... but failed to come up with the answer, Rosen is your man. -- The Jewish Telegraph The Jewish Telegraph For lovers of American art, Jewish art, history or theology, Dr Rosen has approached the subject comprehensively... Making an exceptional input to the exchange of ideas and channel of communication between religion and the fine arts, Dr Rosen processes how any type of Jewish art may serve deep-seated Jewish ideas of family, tradition, and homeland... Dr Rosen communicates his ideas succinctly, in an accessible manner. -- The American The American Unashamedly scholarly yet written in a style that is refreshingly accessible, achieving a rare and satisfying balance between detailed, even minute, analyses of specific works of art and a broader sense of purpose, underpinned by an intimate knowledge of a wide range of theological and philosophical texts... Imagining Jewish Art concludes with an excellent and immensely thought-provoking chapter entitled 'Brushes with the Past', suggestive of enough new avenues of intellectual enquiry to fuel several more volumes. While other scholars (both Jewish and non-Jewish) may indeed take up some of these challenges, I have little doubt that we shall be hearing more of Aaron Rosen in the future. -- Art & Christianity Art & Christianity Towards the end of his book, Rosen explains that his intention has been to illustrate 'something of the unique, productive tensions which can arise when the themes and symbols in works by non-Jewish artists are made to "speak Jewish"' (106). In this he is entirely successful. The reader learns a good deal about the three artists, and can see in practice how a Jewish artist, interested in questions of Jewish history and identity, may engage the art-historical tradition in producing a new kind of visual imagery. -- Journal of Modern Jewish Studies Journal of Modern Jewish Studies A probing and accessible interdisciplinary contribution to the field of modern Jewish art. -- Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies The book is at its strongest when it employs formal comparisons to demonstrate the close visual conversations with European 'Masters' of religious art (such as Grunewald, Uccello and della Francesca) that Chagall, Guston and Kitaj each engage in. -- Literature and Theology Literature and Theology