American artist Al Held had his first solo exhibition as an Abstract Expressionist painter in 1952 at Gallery Eight in Paris. Known especially for hard-edge painting, in the 1960s Held was a leading exponent of the trend known as Post-Painterly Abstraction. After a period beginning in 1967 in which he painted mainly in black and white, he returned to the use of color in the late 1970s. Held was awarded a Logan Medal of the Arts (1964) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (1966).
In 1903, the paintings of Abel Pann had helped draw attention and international outrage to the Kishinev pogrom. Pann again used his art to document the devastation of Jewish communities in Eastern…
The scroll (megillah) of Esther is read out loud on the holiday of Purim. This example, from Baghdad, is hand painted, with an ornate design in which bands of flowers frame the text. It is rolled on a…
Waiting for the Verdict depicts a despondent family sitting outside a courtroom, waiting for a verdict in the trial of a loved one. Through the door can be seen a judge and white-wigged lawyers…