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Collections and Reflections
As we go to press, we are still unable to safely welcome visitors to our Chicago facility due to the pandemic.
Although our Ground Level Arts Lab remains quiet, this hasn’t stopped us from our exploring the ways that the art and objects in Spertus Institute’s collections convey the Jewish experience. We’ve been weaving research into course curricula, engaging with constituents online, and planning for future projects.
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Spertus Hanukkiah on view in Berlin
Spertus Institute is proud to have an important Hanukkah lamp (or hanukkiah) from our collection on loan to the Jüdisches Museum Berlin (Jewish Museum Berlin) for their new core exhibition on the history and culture of Jews in Germany. The piece was made in Germany by artist Benno Elkan sometime between 1903 and 1920. It depicts Judah Maccabee, shown holding a hammer, flanked by his brothers, Jonathan (as philosopher) and Simeon (as a king). The two lowest figures are Eliezer and Jochanan, two other brothers killed in battle.
In November, we invited Stanford art historian Dr. Richard Meyer for an online behind-the-portraits look at Andy Warhol’s Ten Portraits of Jews of the 20th Century.
With our highly engaged online audience, we explored how and why Andy Warhol memorialized Sarah Bernhardt, Louis Brandeis, Martin Buber, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, George Gershwin, Franz Kafka, the Marx Brothers, Golda Meir, and Gertrude Stein.
We considered these choices through a twentieth-century lens and discussed who might best represent Jews today.
We hope to be able to share this series and other highlights from our collection with you in the months ahead. Sign up at spertus.edu for information on openings and program opportunities as confirmed.
Exhibitions at Spertus Institute are made possible in part by the Harry and Sadie Lasky Foundation.
At left: Andy Warhol’s Ten Portraits of Jews of the 20th Century, Spertus Institute Collection. ©The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / Courtesy Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York.
