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Rembrandt's Jewish Jesus Show is a Frustrating Exhibit

FINANCIAL TIMES
By Ariellia Budick

PHILADELPHIA - In a provocative but frustrating exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, curator Lloyd DeWitt hazards the theory that Rembrandt found the model for his Messiah in Amsterdam’s Jewish neighbourhood, transforming him from a figment into a genuine working-class Semite. Unfortunately, the show is so replete with hedges, speculations and circumlocutions that Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus might be more accurately titled Rembrandt, Some of His Students and The Face of Someone Who Might or Might not be Jesus – and Who Might or Might Not Be Jewish. [link]
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Tahlib said…
Does it matter that a Christian created the 9/11 coloring book? Does it matter that a Jew designed the Holocaust Memorial in DC? Does it matter that Muslims destroyed the Ghandhara Buddhist statues in Pakistan? Faith matters. It is the lens through which we see and examine the world. What I know about Islamic art, Fine Judaica, Christian art, Buddhist art, Hindu art and their various art historiographies requires also knowing the cultures. Thus when someone asks me "what does my faith have to do with my ability to critique a work of religious art" I am astounded. Of course it matters. It doesn't mean you can't have an opinion, we always do but until I can see the artwork and art experience through the lens of a particular faith tradtion, I can never truly understand the message or intent. Faith matters in art, as does race, gender and sexuality, and that is the experience we try to share through AOA News.
Sun Sep 04, 07:44:00 AM EDT
JFutral said…
Not really sure what to say about all this, there is so much to rail against. What do you think? Do you agree? I think making religious boundaries makes a very one dimensional definition of "religious art" and art in general. I completely disagreed with the other question too about kitsch. I believe that "beauty" should be the only goal of art, and the person's religious perspective doesn't matter.
Sun Sep 04, 07:51:00 AM EDT
Tambra said…
Of course faith matters. Would the Egyptian Billionare & Art Collector have tweeted out the image of Minnie Mouse in a burqa had he been anything other than Christian? Would he have done it had he been Muslim?

http://alphaomegaarts.blogspot.com/2011/08/christian-billionare-art-collector.html
Sun Sep 04, 07:54:00 AM EDT
Sophia Deboick said…
Religious art, arguably like religion itself, ultimately deals with the trials of being human, and this is something those of all faiths and none can share in. The pope is right when he says that "art can express and render visible humanity's need to go beyond what one sees, revealing a thirst and quest for the infinite", but that "infinite" is the unfathomable in ourselves, whether we call that "God" or not.
Tue Sep 06, 05:23:00 PM EDT
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