Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute Of Chicago’s New Website Has Over 50K Public Domain Artworks — Here’s What’s Jewish
The Windy City’s primary art establishment is making sure its wealth of cultural artifacts is just a keystroke away.
Better Call Saul Steinberg
This is the centenary year of artist Saul Steinberg, probably best known for his cover art for The New Yorker, particularly, “View of the World from 9th Avenue,” his illustration of the world as seen by a typically myopic New Yorker.
Do Jewish Photographers See the World Through a Different Lens?
Throughout art history critics have debated whether Jewish artists see the world differently. A new exhibit on photographer Max Kozloff focuses in on the idea of a Jewish lens.
A Bloody Beheading for Hanukkah
There’s no way of getting around the violence in the noteworthy, but often neglected, Hanukkah-related story of Judith and Holofernes. Judith’s heroic action, the political assassination of the Assyrian general Holofernes, is one of the reasons, some say, why one Jewish legal code states that women shouldn’t work while the Hanukkah candles are burning.
Ancient Tchotchkes Deepen Our Understanding of Jewish Pilgrims
Many of the tourists who trek to Israel inevitably pack for their return flight with a variety of kitschy souvenirs and gifts for friends back home: red “Kabbalah” bracelets; Israel Defense Forces T-shirts; clocks with the Hebrew alphabet; Israeli flag or hamsa key chains. Fourteen centuries ago the props were different, but the business model of selling holy tchotchkes was very similar.
Understanding Pope Francis's Surprising Affinity For Jewish Art
Marc Chagall’s ‘White Crucifixion’ has been making international news. Pope Francis has said that the painting, which depicts Jesus wrapped in a tallit, is his favorite work of art.
Battling Horror With the Absurd
A new exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago details how surrealism used absurdity as a weapon against the unthinkable horror of the Holocaust.
El Lissitzky's Everyday Avant-Garde
El Lissitzky, ‘For the Voice (Dlia golosa),’ 1923. Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago.
A Restless Photographer in Chicago
From the celebrated to the marginalized, from the heat of a summer antiwar protest to the searing cold of a Windy City winter, Chicago-based photographer Art Shay has been capturing unique, often strikingly ironic images for more than six decades. Thirty two of them, including pictures of John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Saul Bellow, James Baldwin and Marlon Brando, are currently in display in an exhibit titled “That Was Then” at Chicago’s Thomas Masters Gallery through December 23.