Another instance of Jewish art hailed as the answer to religious problems. Though “most young Jews” don’t affiliate with “synagogues and organizations the way their parents and grandparents did,” Gary Rosenblatt is “heartened” by a two day conference on Jewish art. He adds, “It’s an especially rich topic since there has been a burst of creativity of late from young Jewish musicians, filmmakers, photographers, painters, comedians and others in the arts.” [NY Jewish Week]
(Right) “Diana of Esephus is here portrayed with a ritual bundle of bull testicles which early Christian interpreters misidentified as breasts.” From The Daily Gazette’s “Steinberg and Art Criticism: Bringing the Focus Back to the Image.” The whole piece is well worth reading; Steinberg is fascinating, especially for his contribution, The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion.
Le Monde, having caught on that Superman is Jewish, suggests, “This knowledge will help to better understand how and why the Jewish minority in the United States used comic strips to first tell their own story and then modify, unexpectedly and unpredictably, the popular culture of their host country.” [Courrier International]
The Toledo atheist council is showing a “pornographic art exhibit against the Church,” according to Catholic News Agency, which elaborated, “a pornographic and blasphemous exhibit entitled Sanctorum, which features images of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the saints.” The show takes place at an old church. [CNA]
Only the Guardian could come with this sort of lede: “You can tell a great museum is drifting when its specialists are allowed to curate exhibitions that don’t cut to the heart of the history it exists to communicate, but instead chase their own tails up scholarly blind alleys. The National Gallery has developed dangerous signs of failing to edit its curators’ ideas.” The rest is a fun read too. [The Guardian]
Money quote from the Minnesota Daily: “… staring at Catholic art and snacking on wine and cheese doesn’t instantly transform you into a worldly sage.” You’ll have to read the rest to see how it fits. [The Minnesota Daily]
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Kittredge Cherry Says
Did you hear about another new instance of art being attacked as pornography against the church?
A poster of Jesus and his disciples as “half-naked homosexual sadomasochists” sparked controversy recently at the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was among its defenders.
You can see the image, lots of relevant links and my commentary the Jesus In Love Blog.
Oct 25th, 2007 at 1:20 pm