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On View: All the Jewish Art You Need to See This Week

Refugees in Tulsa, beautiful minds in Memphis, chocolate in New York City

by
Alexandra Pucciarelli
October 20, 2017
Shutterstock
Shutterstock
Shutterstock
Shutterstock

Each week, the Scroll will be highlighting upcoming exhibits, performances, and cultural events around the country.

Philadelphia

The National Museum of American Jewish History’s latest exhibit, Sifting Through Ashes, uses contemporary art to connect new audiences to the horrors of the Holocaust. The exhibit features vivid, large-scale oil paintings by landscape painter and photographer Bruce Gendelman, inspired his visit to Auschwitz and Holocaust sites in Ukraine and based on photographs he took there. (On view through Jan. 7, 2018; adult admission $15.)

Memphis, TN

This is your last week to view Beautiful Minds at the Memphis Jewish Community Center’s Shainberg Art Gallery. This exhibit showcases the work of individuals with special needs following a six-week art course over the summer. (On view through Oct. 27; free to the public.)

Tulsa, OK

All Are Welcome: Jewish Art Through the Eyes of Refugees, on view at the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art in Tulsa, OK, features works from refugee artists along with art that features refugee imagery. According to executive director Drew Diamond, “Our exhibit represents a view of the extensive history of the Jewish people both as refugees themselves and as champions of all refugees.” (On view through Fall 2017; adult admission $6.50.)

Miami

On view at Miami’s Alper JCC is an exhibit by Israeli-born, California-based artists Neta Levi, whose colorful paintings often incorporate fabrics and are inspired by her childhood memories. Neta Levi: Journey is based on her family’s personal journey, and visitors are invited to see their own memories in her works. (Opening reception Oct. 26 at 6.30 p.m.; runs through Nov. 19, 2017. Free to the public.)

As part of Art Basel season in Miami, the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU is exhibiting Ruth Gruber: Photojournalist. The show more than 60 photographs from the pioneering Jewish photojournalist, including Gruber’s iconic images of Jewish refugees from the ship Exodus 1947, as well as her later photographs. I saw this show at the International Center of Photography in New York (they organized the traveling exhibit) and it is extremely powerful. (On view through Jan. 7, 2018; adult admission $6.)

Los Angeles

On Oct. 24, The Skirball Cultural Center in L.A. is screening the Mexican silent film El Automóvil Gris (The Grey Automobile, 1919), accompanied by live musical scoring from the world-renowned Mexican band Troker. Get there early and you can check out Another Promised Land: Anita Brenner’s Mexico, on view through Feb. 2018. (general admission $25.)

New York

Chocolate has been part of Jewish life for hundred of years—from the Sephardic Jews who introduced chocolate to France to the founding of Elite Chocolates in Israel in the 1930s by Russian emigre Eliyahu Fromenchenko. On Jews and Chocolate, on view at the Herbert and Eileen Bernard Museum of Judaica at Temple Emanu-el in New York City, offers a tour through the intersections of Jews and chocolate throughout history. (Opening reception Oct. 20 at 6 p.m; on view through Feb. 25, 2018; free to the public.)

Is there an event or exhibit in your area we should know about? Email [email protected] with the details and a link.

Alexandra Pucciarelli is an editorial intern at Tablet.