Observation ·
Archie Rand, the Jewish Michelangelo?
By Menachem WeckerMichelangelo had a thousand years of Catholic art to build on when creating the Sistine Chapel. Jews haven't had such a tradition, until a secular Jew from Brooklyn stepped up.
Menachem Wecker
Menachem Wecker, a freelance journalist based in Washington DC, covers art, culture, religion, and education for a variety of publications.
Latest Content
Observation ·
Its Name Is Not Asher Lev
By Menachem WeckerA new hasidic art gallery grows in Brooklyn and is already bucking stereotypes. Can it survive, and what does it suggest about contemporary Orthodox life?
Observation ·
Show-and-Tell for the World’s Most Interesting Judaica Collectors
By Menachem WeckerOnce a month in Manhattan, a small group of committed collectors gather to share their latest finds, identify fakes, pass on knowledge, and share in the arts of material remembering.
Observation ·
The Patronizing Censoring of Philip Guston
By Menachem WeckerThe National Gallery of Art has postponed a blockbuster show featuring a renowned American Jewish artist because his work needs further "interpreting."
Observation ·
The Missing Miracles of Marc Klionsky
By Menachem WeckerBorn in the Soviet Union, the painter took on everything and everybody from Dizzy Gillespie to New York street life to the Holocaust. When will he get his full due?
Response ·
Idol Worship Isn’t a Relic of the Past
By Menachem WeckerCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Monthly Essay ·
Shibboleths and Sun Salutations: Should Religious Jews Practice Yoga?
By Menachem WeckerWhy some Orthodox Jews are nervous about yoga, and why they’re right to be.
Observation ·
How Jews Solved the “Design Problem” of Gesturing to the Prohibited Name of God Without Actually Writing It
By Menachem WeckerThe story of the three yod s and other religious and aesthetic innovations.
Observation ·
Tintoretto and His Jewish Neighbors
By Menachem WeckerArt historians have almost completely ignored the many connections between the great Old Master and the Jews of Venice. Is there more to be said?
Response ·
Can the Jewish Museum Be Saved?
By Menachem WeckerCommitted to developing and supporting the intellectual, religious, and political leaders of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.
Monthly Essay ·
The Wreck of the Jewish Museum
By Menachem WeckerFrom its priceless collection of artworks, a foremost cultural institution has harvested mainly inferior examples for display, while submerging Jewish identity in a sea of “universal values.”
Observation ·
What If You Trivialize Hitler?
By Menachem WeckerThe question has plagued artists ever since the Holocaust. At least one contemporary artist manages to pass the test.
Observation ·
In His Biblical Scenes, the 17th-Century Dutch Painter Jan Steen Rivals Rembrandt Himself
By Menachem WeckerLike Rembrandt’s, Steen’s art reflects a tremendous effort to humanize Jewish figures.
Observation ·
The Unprecedented Bible Portraits of Francisco de Zurbarán
By Menachem WeckerIn his paintings of Jacob and his twelve sons, the 17th-century Spanish master humanizes his subjects, rendering them approachable and individual rather than remote and ethereal.
