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On View: All the Jewish Art You Need to See This Week, December 15th Edition

by
Alexandra Pucciarelli
December 15, 2017
Bob Schalkwijk, courtesy of the Skirball Cultural Center
Jean Charlot, detail of mural The Massacre in the Main Temple, Mexico City, 1922–1923. Fresco, 14’ x 26’ © The Jean Charlot Estate LLC, with permission.Bob Schalkwijk, courtesy of the Skirball Cultural Center
Bob Schalkwijk, courtesy of the Skirball Cultural Center
Jean Charlot, detail of mural The Massacre in the Main Temple, Mexico City, 1922–1923. Fresco, 14’ x 26’ © The Jean Charlot Estate LLC, with permission.Bob Schalkwijk, courtesy of the Skirball Cultural Center

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

Los Angeles

Another Promised Land: Anita Brenner’s Mexico at the Skirball Cultural Center highlights the visual culture of Mexico and its relationship to the United States as seen through the lens of the life and work of the Mexican-born American Jewish writer Anita Brenner (1905–1974). In the 1920s, Brenner, as a member of the Mexican Modernist circle, translated Mexican art and culture for an American audience. The exhibit includes her work and the work of her contemporaries, including artists and intellectuals like José Clemente Orozco, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Jean Charlot, and Tina Modotti. (Through February 25, 2018; admission $12.)

Miami

Subject to Interpretation: The 3D Works of MONAD Studio Artists Eric Goldemberg & Veronica Zalcberg is currently on view at the Jewish Museum of Florida at FIU. In this exhibit, 3D artists Goldemberg and Zalcberg display 3D-printed panels that hang over the central space of the gallery as a beacon of light. These pieces depict the cosmology of communal relations through geometry. (Through February 25, 2018; admission $6.)

Milwaukee

The Jewish Museum Milwaukee’s exhibit, The Seventh Day: Revisiting Shabbat, is on view through the end of the month. This exhibit features the work of 30 international artists who explore the sanctity of Shabbat through their art. The Seventh Day explores how the Sabbath is observed from various perspectives including different religious traditions, mindfulness practices, and the movement to get back to nature. Accompanying the exhibit is a series of programs including mindfulness seminars and a book club. (Through December 31; admission $7.)

Farmington, Michigan

The Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus exhibit, Stitching History from the Holocaust, is nearing the end of its run. In the winter of 1939, Paul Strnad wrote his cousin in Milwaukee desperate to obtain an affidavit to escape Nazi Germany. Along with the letter, he sent sketches of his wife Hedwig’s dress designs, to show that the couple would be self-sufficient if they were allowed to emigrate to the United States. Sadly, this plan did not work, and the Strnads were killed during the Holocaust. Hedwig’s dress designs have been recreated with help from the Costume Shop of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and are on display in this exhibit. (Through December 29; admission $8.)

New York

1917: How One Year Changed The World at the American Jewish Historical Society, closing at the end of the month, looks back at the three events that defined 1917: America’s entry into World War I, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the issuing of the Balfour Declaration, in which Great Britain indicated support for a Jewish homeland. These events are examined in this exhibit through the American Jewish and diaspora lens. Artifacts include uniforms, letters, photographs, and posters, as well as interactive media, but the highlight of the exhibit is two original drafts of the Balfour Declaration. (Through December 29; free admission.)

San Diego

MA-SA-JOURNEY opened last week at the Gotthelf Art Gallery at the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture. Masa means journey in Hebrew, and artist Neta Levi’s exhibit tells the story of her family’s own journey, its dreamlike images encouraging the viewer to see themselves in the work. (Through February 22, 2018; free admission.)

Tulsa, Oklahoma

The Anguish of Liberation as Reflected in Art is closing at the end of the month at the The Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art. This exhibit examines how Holocaust survivors reacted to their liberation through art, and features 11 works of art that were created by survivors from the end of the war through 1947. (Through December 31; admission $6.50.)

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.