MEQgritoniinvisitchttasicir.
PAGE TEN
ated such a stir in all artistic and
1 "
clerical circles in Europe and Amer.
ica, are men of exceptional talent
and though they are good Jews in a
sense, they are not Jewish artists, be-
For the last two decades or so, d raw their inspiration from Jewish
cause their genius is not attracted by
Jewish publicists discuss the merits I ife. But still we could not name
Jewish motives and does not reflect
any
one
of
them
who
succeeded
in
of a Jewish art and attempt to de-
Jewish life and Jewish atmosphere. =
scribe its characteristic features. painting a really great picture. Most
There are innumerable Jews and
of
their
works
are
mediocre
and
only
Hundreds of essays and scores of
books have been written on the sub- a few of them are worth while look- Jewesses today who paint, draw, com-
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ing
at.
The
pictures
and
drawings
of
Pose
or etch and who devote their
ject of Jewish art during the last few
yearn. In Europe, where people are these artists are often striking, not lives and energies to the cause of
because
they
are
great
works
of
art,
art,
but
there
are
no
Jewish
artists
hungry and merry and try to kill time
by doing something, the problem of but because the subjects and themes and they are not the representatives
Jewish art is today discussed more are striking and often make us shiver and spokesmen of Jewish art. All
when we look at them. We know this is true, simply because there is
than ever. But even here in our be-
of one Jewish painter who has en- none yet in existence. We ought to
loved America, where everybody is
NEILSON BROS., Proprietors
terribly busy and nobody has time riched the galleries of Europe and be so sincere as to recognize that
for anything except for the pursuit America with a number of so-called mediocre busts are not expressive of
Jewish
paintings.
From
the
point
of
the
Jewish
artistic
talent
and
are
of happiness, people find time to dis-
art they are not of great value, but not the artistic reflection of Jewish
cuss the problem of Jewish art as if
they are of some value from the life. The same is true of certain
Jewish art would be a living reality.
Is there a Jewish art at all in ex- point of view of illustration, because Jewish melodies and we should be
Foot Cass Avenue.
istence? Of course we can point out they illustrate best Jewish condi- ashamed of calling these mediocre
tions
during
the
war.
They
are
most-
works
Jewish
art
and
if
we
can
not
that Max Lieberman, the president
of the Berlin Academy of Art, is a ly pogrom pictures, pictures of wrath. fill out our time by doing useful work
Cars Carefully Washed and Polished
Jew and that the great English paint- Many of the pictures often lack even we should not kill it by discussing
er Solomon Solomons is also a Jew. proportion and symmetry, but still Jewish art, because there is none in
in' '
Upholstery Cleaned
they
are
striking
pictures.
Can
that
existence
and
we
maintain
that
We can further point out that the
there
great Polish sculptor, GIssIzerstein, be called Jewish art? Can that be the countries of the Diaspora
Motors
and
Chassis Steam Cleaned
cannot
be
any
Jewish
art,
reflecting
is a Jew and that the greatest living called Jewish painting? Decidedly
the life, atmosphere and living con-
poet in Germany, Von Hoffmansthel,' not. We can imagine Gentile paint-
ditions
of
our
people.
The
back-
is also a Jew. One can easily enu- ers being inspired by the same sub-
ground of every great national art is
Alemite, Zerk, Rear Axle, Transmission
merate two scores of famous artists, ject and turning out much better pic-
a civilization of a nation just as a
painters, sculptors and musicians who tures than these Jewish pogrom paint-
and Crank Case Service.
civilization of a people is a back- F
ers
have
produced.
The
best
biblical
are either Jews by birth or of Jewish
ground of the culture of a people and
origin. But do they represent Jew- paintings are the works of Gentiles in the countries of the Diaspora there
and
not
Jews.
That
of
course
does
Phone Randolph 8139
ish art? Are they inspired by Jewish
Heated Public Garage
cannot be a Jewish civilization. There a
motives? Have their artistic crea- not mean to say that Jews, because
cannot be a Jewish commerce or in ,=
tions Jewish values? All these three they are Jews, cannot be talented dustry unless it be the industry of =
questions must be answered in the painters. We can enumerate a great Mazoth and Kosher meat. There can a
negative. The fact that ever so many number of very able and very gifted be no Jewish commerce unless it be =IIIIIIIIII11111111===a1=ONS
W"111111111111111111C
Jews are great artists does not mean JeWish painters, but their works are the trade of Talaisim and Tfilim. 1 "
to say that there is a Jewish art in not Jewish and do not belong to the There can be no Jewish shipping, no
Jewish
people,
but
to
the
many
others
existence. The art of a people must
Jewish railroads, no Jewish ports, no
reflect the life of a people and the sheltering us. Lieberman's paintings
Jewish engineering and no Jewish
works of those artists who are either are German and not Jewish paintings. stock
exchange. Even if all the mem-
Jews or of Jewish origin do not re- Joseph Israel's paintings are Dutch tiers of a certain stock exchange are
and
not
Jewish
paintings,
etc.
flect Jewish life and have not been
Jews, as such it would still be Ameri-
inspired by Jewish life or Jewish mo-
The Jewish artist is not Inspired can, English, German and French,
tive, and the number of artists who by Jewish life nor enthused or over- but not Jewish. Even if a certain
draw their inspiration from Jewish whelmed by great Jewish motives, but railroad should be controlled by Jews,
life are so few in number; they are— by English, French, German, Italian that railroad would not be a Jewish'
God knows—so unimportant, thht it or American motives and his artistic one, but an American, French, Rus-
would be greatly exaggerated to de- creations belong to those people and sian, or whatever it may be
scribe them as the representatives of not to us. It is interesting to ob-
The civilization of a nation can
Jewish art. Within the last 15 years sery eho pw
w i s h only be developed, can only prosper
jeew
ogr o o nm
e sal stphiie, :aphee Jewis
there was a generation of so-called theme,
on the soil of a nation, in the land
Jewish painters, that is to say, paint- poet and the Jewish painter. N. Bia- of a nation, and we Jews have been
We use the soft water system.
All flat work ironed.
ers who are not only Jews by birth Ilk's great poem, The City of Slaugh- a wandering people for the last 2,000
and often by conviction but who also ter" or "Songs of Wrath," are poetic years and have been deprived of a'
ONE DAY SERVICE
masterpieces and if Bialik had writ- national homeland where we could
ten no other poems than these two radiate our energies and create a
he would go down to posterity as one civilization of our own. Not having
of the greatest poets the Jewish peo- created, and not having been able to'
ple has ever produced and poetry al- create a national civilization because
ways has been one of the great do- we had no homeland of our own, we
maine of the Jewish genius. In his could not create a civiliation of our
pogrom poems, Bialik reached amaz- own, expressive of our own national 01:101 -- 101:301==l
0== 0==10=c0
ing heights and reveals a poetic genius, and M consequence we could 0
genius that is only a match to that not create a Jewish art expressive of
0
r national genius.
especially to that of Jeremiah.
That is the reason why we have
Abel Pann, the well-known Jewish
painter, has painted pictures of po-
groms and tried to present in colors
what Bialik has expressed in words. ish artists of fame and world-wide
He has painted a whole gallery of reputation. People may talk ever so
such pictures, but there is more art much about Jewish art, but this talk °
and expressiveness, more revelation does not make Jewish art a reality.
of true talent and manifestation of It is a fable invented by Jewish
genius in two lines of Bialik's po- dreamers and visionaries who dream
l n i
grom poems than in all the paintings and long for a Jewish art.
The reason there is no Jewish art
of Abel Penn. What holds true of
0
Abel Pans, though he is by no means and why we have not succeeded in
Is There a Jewish Art?
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THE SEASON'S
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SMITH
A HAPPY
AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR
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a man without talent, holds true of creating and even while we were in ,
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dozens of other Jewish painters.
Needless to say that the same is also
true of Jewish sculptors. Our people
have been admiring Antokolsky and
have thought him to be one of the
greatest sculptors of his time, but
by and by they discover what other
peoples have discovered long ago,
that he was only a second, if not a
third class man in his line. Glitzen-
stein, it is true, and even our own
Epstein, whose bust of Jesus has cre-
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possession of a national homelandlis
that the Jew was never much inter-
ested in nature from the point of
view of science or art, but rather
from the point of view of the rhythm
i social
i and ethi-
of human life and 'its
Randolph 4675 n
142 West Jefferson
cal problems; in short, he was inter- n
0
eared in ethics and not in aesthetics. " 0=0S—•--‘0=01===l0=10 1=10 =01===30 = 0
The problem of justice was of more
absorbing interest i o him than the
problem of beauty. He was always
attracted by the problem of ethical
truth and having been an ethicist all
his life, the world of lines and forms,
symmetry and rhythm remained to
him an unknown realm. His ethicism
— from
often led him to asceticism and men
of an ascetic disposition of mind ,
have no understanding for art and '
not desire for matters artistic. Dias-
pora Judaism in its rabbinic shape
was not only ethical to the core, but
often bordered on asceticism and
thus could neither take interest in
art nor cultivate it to any extent. The
only great domain of Jewish art that
was and is still is the domain of ly-
rical poetry. In this we are to be
present day unexcelled and this tal-
ent of ours is recognized even by our
Manufacturer. of
bitterest enemies. Anti-Semitic lit-
erary critics might say of Heine that
ROACH DOOM, RAT DOOM, ANT DOOM,
he was a bad man or a wicked man,
but they cannot and do not say that
BUG DOOM, MOTH DOOM, FLY DOOM
he was a mediocre lyrical poet.
They moreover recognized that he
POWDER, FLY DOOM LIQUID
was one of the greatest lyrical poets
of the nineteenth century.
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In our own literature, our inclina-
or Phone Us.
tion towards lyricism is best ex-
pressed by the great works of lyrical
EDGEWOOD 3446
2703 GUOIN ST.
poetry in ancient times, in the mid-
dle ages and modern times. Psalm
104 is still considered by critics the
greatest piece of political poetry ever
written and from Yehudah Ilalevy to
N. Bialik, the lyrical genius of the
Jew has expressed itself in a thou-
sand and one wonderful and amazing
forms. Why the Jews incline more to
lyricism and less to the epic is a dif-
ferent question which we cannot dis-
cuss here, but the fact itself cannot
be denied. The art of poetry is as
fine as any other art such as painting
A
or music and having distinguished
ourselves so much in the art of lyrical
Happy New Year
poetry, we should take pride in this
fact and we should not claim the
ownership of domains which do not
to
belong to us because we do not pos-
sess them. It may be that some time
All Our Friends
we will produce great works of last
ing art, too, but at the present there
and Patrons.
is not yet a Jewish art in existence .
and the less we talk about it the bet-
ter.—The Chicago Sentinel.
Clothing
WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY NEW YEAR
EDGAR A. MURRAY
COMPANY
QREETINQS
a]
May the coming year be
filled with happiness and
success for you and yours
INSECTICIDES
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duct, save one; every excuse for his
crimes, save one; every plea for his,
safety, save one; and that is his cow-
ardice.
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