The American Jewish Museum of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh explores contemporary Jewish art with programs that facilitate dialogue about art, philosophy, and culture.

Current Exhibitions
I.B. Singer  l  Fabric of Life

Coming Soon!
Radiant Circles: Ruth E. Levine

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Isaac Bashevis Singer and His Artists

April 4–June 25, 2012

Photo Gallery  l  Press Release

Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902–1991), a towering figure among modern Yiddish writers in America, wrote his entire oeuvre of 86 books and numerous stories in Yiddish. Many of his books and stories, steeped in his Jewish and Polish heritage, have been translated into English, and over 30 of them have been illustrated.

Isaac Bashevis Singer and His Artists features illustrations by fourteen artists who produced artwork for Singer’s stories. Artists included the exhibition: Des Asmussen, Eric Carle, William Pene DuBois, Leonard Everett Fisher, Antonio Frasconi, Nonny Hogrogian, Julian Jusim, Irene Lieblich, Ira Moskowitz, Larry Rivers, Maurice Sendak, Symeon Shimin, Uri Shulevitz, Raphael Soyer, Phero Thomas, Roman Vishniac, and Margot Zemach.

Based on his keen observations and genuine love of pious, superstitious, earthy, heroic, resourceful, and tragic figures, his works continue to live in our collective memories. The fictional characters blur the lines between folk tales, legends, supernatural powers, and the harsh reality, fear, anxiety, and despair of surviviving.

Many of Singer’s artists have been recognized with prestigious awards including the Caldecott Medal, Newbery Award, Pulitzer Prize, and the Hans Christian Andersen Medal. Singer received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978, marking the capstone of his career as well as a notable success for Yiddish literature.

Isaac Bashevis Singer and His not only reveals layers of storytelling via words and images, but also presents a variety of styles. Photography, painting, graphic design, and wood-block prints are a few modes of representation that artists chose to translate Singer’s words into lasting images.

Major funding for the American Jewish Museum is provided by the Allegheny Regional Asset Board, the Anna L. Caplan & Irene V. Caplan Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, the Robert C. and Gene B. Dickman Fund, Ira and Nanette Gordon Curator Enrichment Fund, Edward N. and Jane Haskell Endowment Creative Projects Fund, the Nancy Bernstein and Robert Schoen Fund, Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts, and individual support.

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Fabric of Life: Wall Hangings

April 10–July 27, 2012

Opening Reception: April 18, 2012, 7:30 pm

Photo Gallery  l  Invitation  l  Press Release

Kishorit Website  l  Watch Video

On display for the first time in the United States, Fabric of Life: Wall Hangings features dynamic textiles created by members of Kishorit, a kibbutz in Israel established in 1997 that fosters artistic development and facilitates independence for those with physical, emotional and mental challenges.

Participants of Kishorit’s wall hanging group are self-taught rather than conventionally trained artists. They design and create vibrant and compelling work that is visually exciting and rife with meaning.

Through color selection, imagery, and composition, members’ background, mood, and tastes are often distinctly reflected in their creations. Participating in Kishorit’s wall-hanging group not only provides creative outlets for personal expression but also facilitates friendships, and ultimately, deepens the sense of community.

These pieces bring the personal presence of each and every member of the group. This one’s splash of color and that one’s collage display their personal fingerprint in the community. It’s impossible not to be moved by them and not to relate to the creator who created them.
-Yael Shilo, artist and Kishorit Chairperson

Kishorit is an overseas grantee of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and is located in its Partnership2Gether (P2G) region in Israel. The Partnership2Gether program, a project of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and the Jewish Agency for Israel engages the local and Israeli communities in initiatives that build people-to-people connections.

The wall hangings included in Fabric of Life will be for sale with proceeds benefiting Kishorit.

Support for Fabric of Life: Wall Hangings is provided by an anonymous donor. Major funding for the American Jewish Museum provided by the Allegheny Regional Asset Board, the Anna L. Caplan & Irene V. Caplan Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, the Robert C. and Gene B. Dickman Fund, Ira and Nanette Gordon Curator Enrichment Fund, Edward N. and Jane Haskell Endowment Creative Projects Fund, the Nancy Bernstein and Robert Schoen Fund, Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts, and individual support.

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Coming this October to the AJM

Radiant Circles: Ruth E. Levine's Generous Life
October 23, 2012 - January 11, 2013

Radiant Circles: Ruth E. Levine’s Generous Life traces Ruth E. Levine’s artistic career. Known as a magnanimous friend with charismatic charm, Levine (1936–2010) was a prolific artist and analytical thinker. Her work explores language systems and mapping as a way to position one’s self in the world. Levine’s drawings, paintings and installations deftly utilize various visual strategies to de-code the flux of life, the order of things and the way historical issues are understood. Her magnetic and inviting nature paralleled to her disciplined artistic approach points to her genuine interest in the interconnectedness of the universe.

Born in 1936, Ruth E. Rubin married Arthur Levine in 1959. They lived for nearly thirty years in Washington D.C. There, Ms. Levine lectured at American University, held positions with the National Endowment for the Arts, managed traveling exhibitions for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and co-authored Jews in the Age of Rembrandt. She exhibited in numerous American and European galleries. Ms. Levine and her husband moved to Pittsburgh in 1998. Notably, she was a board member of both the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh and the Andy Warhol Museum. This was not her first Warhol encounter. During the early 1980s while working at the JCC of Greater Washington, Ms. Levine took a call from Warhol’s gallery representative. He was collecting suggestions about what great Jewish figures Warhol should include in the Great Jews series he was developing. Thinking it was a prank call, she proposed the Marx Brothers, Gertrude Stein, Sarah Bernhardt and other figures, and was surprised when Warhol included her suggestions in the series.

Your help is needed to reach our goal of $5,000 for the Radiant Circles: Ruth E. Levine's Generous Life exhibit.
Click here to donate.

What your donation to the American Jewish Museum will support:

• It takes $510 to advertise one time in the City Paper
• It takes $300 to host an opening reception
• It takes $1,000 to design, print and mail exhibition invitations
• It takes $1,100 to install the artwork in the galleries

The American Jewish Museum of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh explores contemporary Jewish art with programs that facilitate dialogue about art, philosophy, and culture. Although the AJM continually receives a range of local and national grant awards, it does not charge an admission fee. Its exhibits and programs are regularly featured in newspapers and art journals and receive critical acclaim from professionals and visitors alike. The goal, always, is to make art approachable, educational and challenging.

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Past
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American Jewish Museum Partners

Please visit the web sites of the organizations that generously support the American Jewish Museum and its exhibitions.

General support for the American Jewish Museum is provided by the Allegheny Regional Asset District, the Anna L. Caplan & Irene V. Caplan Philanthropic Fund of the United Jewish Federation Foundation, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Media sponsorship is provided by WDUQ 90.5 FM.