Benjamin Ivry is a frequent Forward contributor.
Benjamin Ivry
By Benjamin Ivry
-
The Schmooze Chopin and Jewish Pianists: Then and Now
A revelatory May 7 Chopin recital by the noted pianist Edward Auer at New York’s Kosciuszko Foundation coincides with historic CD reissues from Sony Masterworks of Arthur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz. Rivals in death as they were in life, Rubinstein (1887–1982) and Horowitz (1903 –1989) offer utterly different definitions of what it means to be…
-
The Schmooze Happy Birthday Frank Kameny: A Gay Rights Pioneer Reaches 85
Things are not always easy for a nice Jewish boy from Queens who happens to be 50 years ahead of his time. On May 21, Franklin Kameny will be 85 years old. As “Leaders from the 1960s: A Biographical Sourcebook of American Activism” (Greenwood Press) explains, in 1957 Kameny, a World War II combat veteran…
-
The Schmooze Adad Hannah: Questioning Photography, Video and Painting
Art lovers eager to rethink the inherent truth in the media of photography and video have until May 30 to catch “Adad Hannah: Masterpieces in Motion” at Connecticut’s Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. Born in New York in 1971, Hannah was raised in Israel, London, and Vancouver. Based in Montreal for several years, Hannah has created…
-
The Schmooze Meijer de Haan: More than Just a Jewish Student of Gauguin’s
The 19th century Dutch painter Meijer de Haan (1852-1895), whose life was cut short by tuberculosis, has been so overshadowed by his mentor Paul Gauguin that even New York’s MoMA, which owns Gauguin’s 1889 portrait of de Haan, misidentifies the sitter as “Jacob Meyer de Haan” (sic). More than merely getting de Haan’s name right,…
-
The Schmooze What Did You Do in The War, Zayde? Robert S. Cone of the Filthy Thirteen
Reports that Jack Agnew, a member of the so-called Filthy Thirteen, a US Army combat unit during World War II that inspired Hollywood’s “Dirty Dozen,” has died at age 88, should remind us that the sole Jewish member of that group is still enjoying a well-earned, peaceful retirement in Delray Beach, Florida. Robert S. Cone,…
-
The Schmooze Look Jewish? Psychologist Nancy Etcoff Explains It For You
In a world where some Jews still get nose jobs in an attempt to look less Jewish, it is invaluable to have Nancy Etcoff, a clinical instructor in psychology at Harvard Medical School, explain why people react the way they do to beauty and appearance. For those already planning their fall calendar, on September 1,…
-
The Schmooze Paul Burlin: An Artist Who Deserves Rediscovery
Sometimes posterity can play odd tricks on talented artists. Paul Burlin (1886-1969), born Isadore Berlin in New York, was rediscovered repeatedly during his lifetime, only to fall into subsequent obscurity. Now a new biography by Michelle Wick Patterson, “Natalie Curtis Burlin: A Life in Native and African American Music,” about Burlin’s ethnomusicologist wife, sheds light…
-
Culture A Renaissance for Belleville’s Georges Perec, Master of the Lipogram
One of France’s most daring postwar writers, perhaps best known for writing an entire novel without the letter “e” (a lipogram), French-Jewish author Georges Perec, is coming back into vogue. Two of his books were reprinted by publisher David R. Godine last year, and new interest is being taken in his Polish-Jewish roots. Perec, who…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
News Exclusive: ADL chief compares student protesters to ISIS and al-Qaida in address to Republican officials
- 2
Opinion Greta Thunberg’s Gaza flotilla was never going to help Palestinians
- 3
Culture I ranked the NYC mayoral candidates exclusively based on their bagel orders
- 4
News How Jewish can you be in a Boca country club? Wrapping tefillin got a family suspended, lawsuit says
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture His parents fled the Nazis in 1937 — now he’s using his chutzpah to fight Donald Trump
-
Fast Forward 24 hours of war leaves Israel reeling, with bomb shelters full and flights canceled
-
Fast Forward In US lawmakers’ response to Israel’s strike on Iran, sweeping support with signs of tension
-
Opinion Trump’s latest move makes Mahmoud Khalil a Joseph for our times
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
