The portrayal of Jews in art
Through his own art, artist Jacob Pichhadze sought to convey his impressions of Jews and Judaism, which countered negative stereotypes.
Recently in The Jewish Post & News, Professor Lionel Steiman shared his insights on the history of antisemitism, which he also discussed at the Lanny Remis Speakers Forum.
As he explains, over time and around the world antisemitism has taken different forms, such as the portrayal of Jews as having stereotypical characteristics.
Numerous types of stereotypes of Jews can be referred to. As an example, Lionel notes that “Jews were depicted in various art forms as devil-like creatures, with horns and tails and cloven feet.”
In addition to stereotypes about the physical features of Jews, there have also been stereotypes about their character and intentions. For example, Yaëlle Azagury traced and explained the motif of the ‘beautiful Jewess’ (“la belle Juive”), an evolving trope that has been depicted in Western literature and the visual arts. As Yaëlle explains, “la belle Juive became conflated with the image of the femme fatale… The Jewess was seen as threatening because she was Jewish, but also because she was a woman with voracious desires and uncommon ambitions.”
This trope suggests that the Jewess is “sly, coquettish, overall sexual, dangerous and destructive.
“The typical appearance of la belle juive includes long, thick, dark hair, large dark eyes, an olive skin tone, and a languid expression. Often, she will be depicted wearing exotic oriental clothing and jewelry.”
Some examples of these stereotypes in art are available in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection, at the United Stated Holocaust Memorial Museum. The collection consists of over 900 individual objects depicting Jews and antisemitic and anti-Jewish propaganda from the Medieval to the modern era, created and distributed throughout Europe, Russia, and the United States. The same hateful stereotypes reappear throughout the collection, spanning centuries and continents.
Such stereotypes have been so prevalent and influential that some conducted research to determine whether they were true, though their research expectedly failed to reveal truth in such stereotypes.
Nevertheless, as Lionel cautions, even in today’s era we know too well that dangerous beliefs can persist despite overwhelming evidence against them.
From an early age in Georgia, my father, Jacob Pichhadze, was exposed to Georgian Orthodox Christian art and was educated in traditional art making techniques and styles such as those of the Renaissance period.
Yet, through his own art, he sought to convey his impressions of Jews and Judaism, which countered negative stereotypes. He sought to convey an image of the Jew as proud, strong, confident, modest, and beautiful. He also sought to convey the aura of introspection that exist in Jewish life through prayer and contemplation.
He began this exploration through his art when he immigrated to Israel from Georgia, in 1972.
“Jacob’s unique talent reveals itself in two series of paintings which are devoted to new themes – the Georgian Jewish woman (‘pictures of women’) and the Jew at prayer (called ‘Judaica’ by the artist). The paintings come from the higher and more mature level which the artist has attained along his creative path. These paintings possess a magical strength from which it is difficult to turn away.
This phenomenon of strength is not easy to describe. A single look at the paintings is a thousand times more meaningful and convincing. When you see the ‘pictures of women’ or the ‘Judaica’, you believe that you have the creation of the great masters before your eyes – the same realistic, almost precision in the contours of the body. In a word, it is the same style in which the Renaissance portraits or Russian religious paintings were created. Then suddenly you are confused. Something is different from the classical works. Jacob has succeeded in a masterful way in ‘modernising’ the bewitching style of the great masters…
In the portraits of the Judaica series, the old Jews seem alive, their eyes show a living soul, their expressions penetrating your inner being. Even the prayer shawl has a tangible quality – you can hear the rustling of the material. The ‘pictures of women’ remind us of Madonnas or religious paintings – the same style, the same creative manner, except that the women are typical Georgian Jewish women, personification of virtue and modesty. Jacob’s heroine doesn’t particularly demonstrate her femininity. She is dressed unpretentiously in the traditional dark clothes of the Georgian woman. She is reserved – the fire of her passion deeply buried…
He masters the magical art of light and shade with excellence… which have earned him the complimentary name “the Israeli Rembrandt.”
An early version of Jacob’s Judaica paintings depicts a Jewish man making his proclamation of “Hear, O Israel” (“Shema, Israel”; שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל), “God is our Lord, God is one” (“Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad”).
Throughout their history, this proclamation of the Shema prayer became the ultimate declaration of faith of the Jewish people. As Rabbi Shraga Simmons explains, Shema “is said upon arising in the morning and upon going to sleep at night. It is said when praising God and when beseeching Him. It is the first prayer that a Jewish child is taught to say. It is the last words a Jew says prior to death.”
The late Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, Jonathan Sacks, described the proclamation of the Shema as “the greatest of all commands… the last words spoken by Jewish martyrs as they went to their deaths.”
A version of this painting was displayed at an exhibition of Jacob’s artworks at the Beit Emanuel Museum in 1982 (Ramat-Gan, Israel). The exhibition was opened by guest speaker Shimon Peres, who at the time was Leader of the Labour Party and subsequently became the Prime Minister and President of Israel.
Over time, Jacob and I have been collaborating in the creation of artworks. A recent Judaica painting we created is called ‘Jewish Scholar’. It depicts a Jew engaged in religious studies. This artwork’s integration of realism and surrealism is suggestive of the scholar’s engagement with the textual reading of religious text and spiritual contemplation.
Some early examples of Jacob’s portrayal of Jewish women were also displayed in his exhibition at the Beit Emanuel Museum in 1982 (Ramat-Gan, Israel). One of these is his portrayal of the biblical figure Rachel, who was the wife of Jacob and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. Below is the original version, which was featured at the Beit Emauel Museum, as well as a more recent version which was created by the collaborative work of Jacob and I.
Jacob and I have been cooperating in creating artwork, dealing with numerous themes, styles, mediums and techniques. One of our objectives has been, and continues to be, to provide a positive and inspiring portrayal of Jews and Judaism through art, in contrast to art that is negatively, unfairly and unreasonably stereotypical and harmful. We hope that our art will inspire others to do the same. Together we can contribute to the shared objective of making the world a better place for all, an objective which in Hebrew is referred to as ‘tikkun olam’.
Dr. Amir Pichhadze is a Renaissance man. Driven by his varying interests and utilizing his mixed talents, skills, and diverse knowledge, Amir’s activities have been impactful in a range of spheres. His activities have included creating visual art, working as an art dealer, lecturing and teaching at universities and conferences worldwide, conducting and publishing academic research on a range of subjects, providing policy advice to government agencies, editing law journals, providing peer-reviews of journal submissions, working as treasurer, conducting philanthropic projects, among other things. Under the guidance of and in collaboration with his father, the master artist Jacob Pichhadze, Amir has been creating visual art using a range of mediums, styles and techniques, and explores different subject matters.