This lecture attempts to answer some puzzling historical questions: When studying the History of Art, a typical course covers Egyptian, Persian, Etruscan, Christian, Greek and Roman Art. Why do we not hear of Jewish Art before the Twentieth Century ? Was their no art created by Jewish artists throughout history?

The late nineteenth century saw an emancipation of Jewish creativity. When Jewish artists hit the world stage, they did so with great impact. Modern art began with Impressionism, and the father of Impressionism was Jewish. Did you know that Superman was created by the Jewish artist Joe Shuster, when Jews needed a hero, and the man of steel was actually based on the story of Moses?

Beginning with a brief overview of the history of Jewish art, this lecture explores the contributions of such twentieth century Jewish masters as Marc Chagall (pictured above), Amadeo Modigliani, Max Weber, Louise Nevelson, Roy Liechtenstein, Max Beckmann, Frida Kahlo, Mark Rothko, Peter Max, Chaim Soutine, Al Capp, Al Hirshfeld, Rube Goldberg, and photographers Alfred Eisenstadt, Joe Rosenthal and Alfred Steiglitz.