Collector Searches for Jewish Aesthetic in Art

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE
By Mary Thomas

"Bearded Man"by Philip Held. Courtesy of American Jewish Museum.

PENNSYLVANIA---"Lunch Hour" is among 32 works by 25 artists in the exhibition "The Eye of the Collector: Images of the New World from the Sigmund Balka Collection," which speaks to the experience of Jewish immigrants. But it also speaks to all who have dealt, or are dealing, with acculturation, whether in early 20th-century America, or now. These, and other of the more than 200 works in his collection, are promised by Mr. Balka to New York's Hebrew Union College Museum. They are a rich repository of Jewish experience; and, like all powerful art, they reach beyond the particular to the whole. [link]

 American Jewish Museum: "The Eye" (Ends March 28), 5738 Darlington Road, Squirrel Hill. Information: 412-521-8011, ext. 105, or jccpgh.org/page/ajm.