Carol Zemel, Professor of Art History and Visual Culture at York University will present Critical Israel at CU Monday, April 16 at 7:00 pm.

Israel is a dynamic, complex, and challenging country to understand. The University of Colorado Boulder’s Hillel and the Program in Jewish Studies continue their Seeing Israel series with a look at the intersection of visual art, politics and social justice. The Seeing Israel series events are free and open to the public but RSVPs are appreciated. RSVP to Nicholas.Underwood@colorado.edu or call 303.492.7143. Additional information can be found at jewishstudies.colorado.edu.

In its early days, Israeli art was largely described as utopian. Today, artists in Israel wrestle with critical social and political issues. Join us on Monday, April 16 at 7:00 pm for Critical Israel: Art by Yael Bartana and Roee Rosen on the CU Boulder Campus in University Memorial Center Room 235 for an evening with art historian, Carol Zemel who will focus on the acclaimed video installations Polish Trilogy…and Europe will be stunned by Yael Bartana, and Confessions of Roee Rosen by Roee Rosen. Her presentation will focus on questions of loss, rights of return, and conflicts of national identity raised by these two works by Israeli artists. Finally, she will also discuss the presentation of these artistic pieces and their meanings outside Israel for diasporic audiences.

Zemel is professor of Art History and Visual Culture at York University in Toronto. Her areas of research and publication include 19^th and 20^th century European art, the modern art market, feminism in the arts, Jewish visual culture and diaspora studies. She is an authority on the work of Vincent Van Gogh as well as the co-founder and co-director of Project Mosaica, a web-based exploration of Jewish cultural expression in the arts. Indiana University Press will publish her new book, “Looking Jewish: Visual Culture and Modern Diaspora” in late 2012. She is currently completing two books: Art in Dark Times, a study of images made by prisoners during the Holocaust, and “Right After: Chaos and Culture After World War II.”

These events have been made possible by generous donors to CU’s Hillel, the Program in Jewish Studies and the Legacy Heritage Jewish Studies Project, directed by the Association for Jewish Studies (AJS). Support for the Legacy Heritage Jewish Studies Project is generously provided by Legacy Heritage Fund Limited.

Featuring a solo show by David Grojean and the work of eight Colorado artists, J-ART offers the community the opportunity to meet the artists at a wine and cheese reception. Following the free opening reception, the community is invited to stay for a panel discussion, “Curious Curators: Arbiters of Art” at 7 pm. Admission is $5 at the door.

Join us to find out how curators make the decisions they make and how they shape the art world. Our panelists will talk about what they do at their respective museums and galleries and answer questions about how they select art, display art and work with artists. Our panelists include Georgina Kolber, Curator of Exhibits, Programs and Collections at the Mizel Museum; Susan Saltzman, Director of Open Studios; Simon Zalkind, Director of the Singer Gallery.

Acclaimed Boulder artist David Grojean has fully committed himself to the art of painting for the last 35 years. After two years in the Marines, Grojean attended the American University in Washington, D.C., where he received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Graphic Design. Deciding against a career in design, he attended graduate school in Boulder. In the spring of 1977, he received his Master of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Colorado and began his life as a professional painter.

David Grojean’s work is presently shown in galleries throughout the Western United States, Canada, and Europe. For the next few months, 24 paintings will be on display at the Boulder JCC.

In addition to Grojean’s paintings, J-Art includes a wide range of media – from ceramic to wood to mosaic to photography to fabric. Here’s a sampling:

As thousands of members and associates nationwide gather to commemorate  this momentous NOT FOR WOMEN ONLY occasion, Boulder celebrates with a party that includes champagne and cake, and a screening of a short documentary about Marc Chagall, whose stained glass windows at the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem are among the Jewish artist’s most beloved and well-known works.

Founded in 1912, Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, is celebrating its 100th year. Hadassah is the largest women’s, largest Zionist, and largest Jewish membership organization in the United States. In Israel, it supports medical care and research, education and youth programs, and reforestation and parks projects. In the United States, Hadassah promotes health education, social action and advocacy, volunteerism, Jewish education and research, Young Judaea and connections with Israel.

For more information or to register please contact Sandy Friedman at sfriedman4@gmail.com. You may also register on the JCC website. $18 suggested donation at the door.

Menorah: Arts, Culture and Education at the Boulder JCC

Jewish Arts Month includes a film series on four Tuesday nights in March at 7:00 pm  at the Boedecker Theater in the Dairy Center for the Arts. Each film features a discussion with an expert following the screening, and the last film includes a pre-show lecture on Jewish Comic Book Artists.

“The Rape of Europa” on March 6

With talk back by CU Art History Professor Kira van Lil

This stunning 2006 documentary tells the epic story of the systematic theft, deliberate destruction and miraculous survival of Europe’s art treasures during the Third Reich and WW II. The film takes the audience on a journey through seven countries into a violent whirlwind of fanaticism, greed and warfare that threatened to wipe out the artistic heritage of Europe. Joan Allen narrates this breathtaking chronicle about the battle over the very survival of centuries of western culture. The extraordinary true story of “The Rape of Europa” is soon to be a feature film from writer/director/star George Clooney!

“Modigliani” on March 13

With talk back by Mizel Museum Curator Georgina Kolber

Set in Paris in 1919 when the city’s bohemian community was in full flower, this feature film stars Andy Garcia as the Jewish Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani.  An honest portrait of the uniquely gifted painter and sculptor, the film focuses on the troubled artist’s last days, depicting his rivalry with Pablo Picasso and his tragic romance with Jeanne Hebuterne (Elsa Zylberstein), who was disowned by her wealthy family for falling in love with a Jew.

“Herb and Dorothy” on March 20

With talk back by art collector David Raddock

Herb and Dorothy Vogel redefine what it means to be an art collector, as this 2008 documentary so astonishingly attests. Herbert Vogel, the son of a Russian Jewish garment worker, spent his life working as a clerk at the post office. Dorothy Faye Hoffmann, the daughter of an Orthodox stationary merchant, worked as a librarian. Herb and Dorothy married in 1962 and in their cramped one bedroom apartment amassed one of the world’s most important collections of Minimalist and Conceptual art.

“American Splendor” on March 27

With special pre-show talk at 6:30 by Kathryn Bernheimer:

“Jewish Comic Book Creators: From Superman, Batman, Spiderman and X-Men to R. Crumb’s underground commix”

Paul Giamatti plays cult comic book creator Harvey Pekar in this 2003 biographical comedy-drama about a morose artist who shares the sad monotony of everyday life with his fans. When he meets fellow neurotic Joyce Brabner (Hope Davis), he finds his depressive soul mate. The deadly funny film employs a combination of live-action film, video, and animation, including narration and commentary from the real-life Harvey Pekar.

Movies about artist’s lives are usually deadly and diminishing. This cubistic approach, blurring the line between the man and his work, gives us the impression we’re seeing the world from inside Pekar’s head. It’s as if the filmmakers let themselves be invaded by their subject’s quirky, cranky spirit.” - David Ansen, Newsweek

Triple Feature Art Shows on March 18

On Sunday, March 18, the Boulder JCC hosts three fabulous art events, beginning at 4:30 pm with ArtRageous: Intergenerational Art Workshop in which participants are guided to create a work in the style of Chagall.

At 6:00 pm, there will be a wine and cheese art show opening for J-Art, showcasing the work of nine Colorado artists.

Following the meet the artist reception, audiences will get a glimpse behind the art world with the 7:00 pm panel, “Curious Curators: Arbiters of Art.” Join us to find out how curators make the decisions they make and how they shape the art world. Our panelists will talk about what they do at their respective museums and answer questions about the art of curating. Speakers include Georgina Kolber, Curator of Exhibits, Programs and Collections at the Mizel Museum; Lisa Tamiris Becker, Director of the CU Art Museum; and Jane Saltzman, Director of Open Studios.

Hadassah’s 100th on March 22

Finally, on Thursday, March 22, as thousands gather across the country to toast Hadassah’s 100^th anniversary, Boulder celebrates with a party that includes champagne and cake, and a screening of a 60-minute documentary about Marc Chagall, the legendary and quintessentially Jewish artist.

The film and celebration honor Chagall’s stained glass windows at the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, created and donated for Hadassah’s 50^th anniversary, which are among the artist’s most beloved and well-known works. Hadassah is blessed with many works of art which convey the message that soothing the soul is as important as healing the body, and Chagall’s spiritual and spirited works are testaments to that faith in the healing power of art.

To reserve a spot or for more information, call Kathryn at 303-998-1021, Kathryn@boulderjcc.org, or visit www.boulderjcc.org.

Professor David Shneer and CU Art Museum Director Lisa Tamiris Becker

“Through Soviet Jewish Eyes”, a gallery exhibition of photography based on David Shneer’s critically acclaimed book of the same title, opened at the CU Art Museum on Wednesday night.  The exhibition presents 58 photographs, printed at numerous scales over six decades, by the most important Soviet photojournalists including Evgenii Khaldei, Georgii Zelma, and Dmitrii Baltermants.  Also on display are alternate versions of some of the iconic photos, as well as some of the photos in their original Soviet publications and other artifacts, including a rare glass negative from one of the photos shot in Stalingrad.

The museum opening was introduced by CU Art Museum Director Lisa Tamiris Becker, who also co-curated Professor Schneer’s exhibition.

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l-r: Paul Harbaugh, Professor Shneer, Teresa Harbaugh.

Among those in attendance were Teresa and Paul Harbaugh, collectors who donated or loaned many of the photographs in the exhibit.  Also attending were Hal Gould, known as the dean of American fine art photography, and his business partner and fellow photographer Loretta Young-Gautier.  This was the 91-year-old Gould’s first public appearance since closing his famous Denver gallery, Camera Obscura, in June and subsequently breaking his leg a few days later.  Gould’s gallery hosted the first American exhibition of Soviet photographer Dmitrii Baltermants’ works.

“Through Soviet Jewish Eyes” will be on display at the CU Art Museum until October 22.  Professor Shneer will give a lecture and tour of the exhibition on Thursday, September 15, 2011 beginning at 7 pm.  Read more about Professor Shneer and the exhibition in this post from August 29th in the BJN.

More photos from the opening:

Professor David Shneer, Singer Chair in Jewish History at CU. (Photo by Glenn Asakawa/University of Colorado)

Although World War II is one of the most documented conflicts of the twentieth century, western audiences have had little exposure to Soviet photographs of that war. Through Soviet Jewish Eyes, based on David Shneer’s critically acclaimed book of the same title, presents over sixty images that are about Soviet aesthetics and narratives of World War II as much as they are about the Soviet photojournalists who made those images. The majority of Soviet photojournalists were Jewish, coming from mid-sized towns in southern Russia, and raised on the cusp of modernity. In Russia, throughout the 19^th century, most Jews, unless granted special permits, were forced to live in prescribed regions of the Russian provinces, known as the pale of settlement, outside of major metropolitan centers such as Moscow and St. Petersburg. Photography was a new, risky, and entrepreneurial profession, which allowed Jews who came from afar to sustain themselves in St. Petersburg, the capital of tsarist Russia, and then in Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union.  There, they thrived as artists and documentarians and entered an urban sphere of art, politics, and culture, previously unavailable to members of their socio-economic, cultural, and religious spheres.

Dmitrii Baltermants, Russian (1912-1990), Grief, 1942; gelatin silver print, circa 1990; 36 ½ x 43 5/8 inches; Loan from the Collection of Teresa and Paul Harbaugh; Image courtesy of Michael Mattis; © Estate of Dmitrii Baltermant

The exhibition presents 58 photographs, printed at numerous scales over six decades, by the most important Soviet photojournalists including Evgenii Khaldei, Georgii Zelma, and Dmitrii Baltermants. These photographers took aesthetically arresting war images and were also the first to document the liberation of Nazi atrocity sites, three years before better-known photographers like Margaret Bourke White and Lee Miller chronicled the liberation of concentration camps in Germany.

The photographs featured in the exhibition span the Nazi-Soviet war, from June 22, 1941 until V-Day on May 9, 1945, with an opening section that contextualizes the wartime images within the Constructivist and Socialist Realist traditions of Soviet photography in the 1920s and 1930s.  Canonical images appear side by side with photographs that have never before been exhibited.

The exhibition also highlights the central challenge to avant-garde aesthetics and to “art” itself that was posed by the war and by Soviet culture of the time. In this challenge, social and political purpose—as expressed through documentary photography, superseded or in some cases merged with avant-garde modernist sensibilities to create a new aesthetic—one that has continued to echo across art history and influenced future art movements of the 20^th century and beyond.

In addition, Through Soviet Jewish Eyes places canonical images side-by-side with photographs that the curators found in the photographers’ archives currently housed in private collections and that have never before been exhibited to the public. The exhibition also draws attention to the large number of Soviet photographers who were Jewish and explores aspects of what this religious and cultural identity might have meant for the photographers when confronting the war and Nazi atrocities through Soviet and Jewish eyes.

The exhibition also features three vitrines of archival materials, including contact sheets, glass negatives, scrap books, diaries, Soviet publications, and the photographers’ personal book maquettes.

THROUGH SOVIET JEWISH EYES: Photography, War, and the Holocaust

curated by David Shneer, Director, Program in Jewish Studies and Professor of History, University of Colorado and Lisa Tamiris Becker, Director, CU Art Museum

September 8-October 22, 2011

Opening Reception, September 7, 2011, 6 – 8 PM ∙ CU Art Museum, University of Colorado Boulder

Lecture and presentation with Professor David Shneer

Thursday, September 8, 7:30 PM Colorado Photographic Art Center, Belmar Center, Lakewood, Colorado

Lecture and exhibition tour with Professor David Shneer

Thursday, September 15, 7 PM ∙ CU Art Museum, University of Colorado Boulder

Vendor space is available for $50-$60. Har HaShem will advertise the event, which will include free admission, food, face painting for kids, and more.  Vendors should reserve space early; only 40-50 exhibitors will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

For information, or to reserve a spot, email images of products no later than August 30th to ARTandGIFT@harhashem.org or call (303) 499-7077.

Consider ritual items such as tallit, tallit clips, yads, personalized kippot, kiddush cups or candlestick holders. Personalization can include inscriptions and even photos!

Popular gifts include jewelry, jewelry boxes or stands, books on Jewish topics like “The Jewish Book of Why,” bookends, tzedakah boxes, shofars, decorative wall hangings, desktop sculptures, or photo albums and keepsake boxes.

Top off any gift with the right card – including money or gift card holders, a Jewish music CD, fun stickers, toys, or candy.

See and touch merchandise in person at Boulder’s largest Judaica store, or browse a broader selection online that isn’t carried in the store. Either way, the profit made on all purchases – in person or online – supports building Jewish community.

When you shop, you support the synagogue. Open since 1974, and led by dedicated volunteers Karen Braverman, Elise Garland and Barbara Margolis, proceeds from the Gift Shop have provided opportunities including Religious School scholarships.

1.) Shop in person or buy a gift certificate at 3950 Baseline Road, Boulder in the North Building lobby. To schedule an appointment during July and August, call (303) 665-7955, (303) 604-2685 or (303) 444-3674.

2.) Shop online anytime where you can also find free Jewish e-cards, a gift registry, kosher gift basket options, and shipping to around the world!