About this Event
The exhibition Modern-ish traces a new path for modern art history, drawing on the Eastern European Jewish refugee experience by focusing on modernist painter and Yiddish poet Yonia Fain (1913-2013). The forced migration of millions of Eastern European Jews from pogroms starting in the late 19th century coincided with the invention of modern art and led to the emergence of a creative generation that lived simultaneously in the world of Yiddish culture and the world of modernism. Later, in the 20th century, the unfolding careers of many Eastern European artists, deeply connected to Yiddish culture, were cut short as a result of WWII and the Holocaust; many of those who survived found themselves as refugees in North America, Israel, and elsewhere after the War.
Modern-ish proposes an outsider modern art history that accounts for the immigrant, uprooted, displaced, and resettled Jewish artists, originally from Eastern Europe and with strong connections to Yiddish language and culture. Bringing into focus artists who have been forgotten, neglected, or ignored by national art histories of their countries of origin (Lithuania, Poland, etc.) and of their newly adopted homes (US, etc.) Modern-ish forges a “Yiddish art history” that transcends and upends the borders of nation-states. Modern-ish is a critical intervention into global art history and national art historical narratives of the countries of Eastern Europe as it examines how the experiences of marginalized refugee artists shaped modernism.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The James Gallery, 365 5th Avenue, New York, United States
USD 0.00