Modernism because of its support by Jewish deal-
ers.
"Recently, we've been hearing about cases in
which works of art plundered from Jews during the
war have turned up and about the controversy
those have caused," Dellheim says. "My talk tries
to put those concerns in a longer, historical per-
spective — what happened to the Jewish dealers,
critics, collectors and connoisseurs during the war
and how and why Jewish art dealers and collectors
acquired so many old and modern masters in the
first place."
Dellheim, a cultural historian with a doctorate
from Yale, currently is writing a book about Jewish
culture and commerce in modern times for a major
publisher. Next year he will be able to give it more
attention as a fellow at the Center for Judaic Studies
at the University of Pennsylvania.
"I try to make this a very human story by talking
about a number of families who were leading art
dealers," Dellheim explains.
The professor will reference the Wildensteins as a
Parisian Jewish family and the world's richest and
most powerful art dealers at the same time they are
accused of collaborating with the Nazis, and he will
describe the work of Paul Rosenberg as the represen-
tative of works by Picasso.
"The story takes place largely in Paris, although it
also takes place in New York as well," Dellheim says.
"Art dealing is one of those businesses which tends
to take place in capital cities because they are the
cultural capitals."
As Dellheim explores the larger Jewish business
community in his first presentation, he also will

Otto Dix: "The Art Dealer Alfred Flechtheim,"
1926, oil on wood. Berlin, Staatliche Museum.
The German Expressionist artist depicted Flechtheim
as yellow-skinned and stooped with a hook nose,
a stereotype perpetuated since Shylock.

explain how Jewish art dealers fit into the picture.
"Even though we all think we know a good deal
about the role of Jews in business, it's really one of
the areas in Jewish history that has been least
explored — in part because of Shylock's shadow and
the [concern about] awakening all the destructive
and insidious old myths we know," says the profes-

sor. He will refer to passages from the Shakespearean
characterization during his appearance at the Janice
Charach Epstein Museum/Gallery.
"My talk will deal with the heinous stereotypes
but also show how and why certain business practices
and structures developed in the Jewish community. I
look at what made the business of Jews distinctive,
and I give space to religious ethics and the emphasis
of the prophets on the social responsibility of wealth.
"I talk mostly about secular matters — the types
of businesses in which Jews congregated. What's
really striking is that Jews tended to cluster in busi-
nesses that were new and expanding rapidly with a
relatively open playing field, where it was possible
for family firms to compete.
"Jews tended to use ethnic networks as a way to
compensate for their exclusion from gentile society
and gentile power lines, and these ethnic networks
were especially useful when they did business interna-
tionally. Jews also used business as a way of expanding
their sense of themselves and their social roles." ❑

Charles Dellheim will discuss "Shylock's Shadow:
Myths and Practices" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May
16, at the Janice Charach Epstein
Museum/Gallery at the Kahn Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield. He will discuss "Next
Year in Paris: Jewish Art Dealers and Modern
Culture" at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 17, at the
DIA Auditorium at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
No fees. (313) 577-2679.

Left to right:

Marc Chagall: Rabbi,"
c. 1931, gouache and
watercolor over charcoal.

Jacques Lipchitz:
`Acrobat on Horseback,"
1914, bronze.

J ules Pascin: "The

Turkish Family"
1907, oil on canvas.

Mane-Katz•
Landscape," 1914,
oil on canvas.

development of French Modernist art.
The Jewish painters and sculptors
of the School of Paris have come to be
known as the Circle of Montparnasse.
Associating with them were Henri
Matisse, Pablo Picasso and many other
pivotal figures of the period.
Inspiration also was provided by the
Post-Impressionism of Paul Gauguin,
Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Cezanne.
While Mane-Katz and Chagall
showed their nostalgia for the shtetl,
several of the Jewish artists were early
exponents of Cubism, a style of geo-
metric simplifications of form shown
by Marcoussis, Lipchitz and Kisling.

Polish-born Nadelman, influenced
by classical antiquities, pursued a styl-
ized classicism, and his bronze sculp-
tures were collected by cosmetics giant
Helena Rubinstein. Weber experi-
mented with the violent color juxtapo-
sitions of the Fauves.
"School of Paris works are highly
valued and sought after today, and col-
lectors share not only a love of the
beauty of these works but also an abid-
ing curiosity about the lives of the
artists," says Joan Rosenbaum, Helen
Goldsmith Menschel director of the
museum. The Turkish Family by Pascin
came to the museum from Paulette and

Kurt Olden, and the audio tape avail-
able with the exhibition tour explains
why Kurt Olden wanted the painting
"Pascin's painting reminded me of
the story of how I came to New York
City as a refugee from Germany in
1936," the recording reveals. "At first,
I was alone. My family arrived later,
and we were like Pascin's Turkish fami-
ly, like the refugees who escaped from
Turkey in the late 19th century."
Rosenbaum credits the recent
boom in art collecting for opening the
Market to works that might otherwise
have remained in the hands of the
heirs of original family and friends of

the Circle of Montparnasse.
"Many of the lenders are people
we've come to know over the years,"
says Chevlowe. "Our installation is in
the period rooms of the museum, the
restored home of collectors Felix and
Frieda Schiff, so the works have a
home-like setting."

❑

"French Jewish Artists in Private
Collections" will be on exhibit
through June 25 at the Jewish
Museum, 1109 Fifth Avenue,
New York. (212) 423-3200.