Minority Modernisms 18 October 2023 … Jewish Primitivism, ‘real Bohemians’, visibility and the power of representation Marc Chagall, The Flying Carriage, 1913.© Guggenheim Bilbao. A painting of a house and a horse Description automatically generated A person and person in a carriage Description automatically generated A painting of two people Description automatically generated František Reichentál, Sabbath in Bratislava, n.d. Otto Müller, Gypsy Album (1927) Take 10 minutes to reflect on these images in writing (no need to share the details). How might these works relate to minority modernism? And why? JEWISH PRIMITIVISM “The face of modernism is turned outwards, while folk art turns inward.” Abram Efros (1888-1954), “Aladdin’s Magic Lantern” (1917) Moshé Raviv-Vorobeichic (Moï Ver, 1904–1995) A group of children playing with a basket Description automatically generated A drawing of two women Description automatically generated Else Lasker-Schüler, The Banished Poet, 1925–1942 Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, Poster for a reading by Else Lasker-Schüler at the Bauhaus in Weimar, 1920 A black and white drawing of a tree Description automatically generated A newspaper page with pictures of people Description automatically generated Anna Lesznai, ‘Die Melodie der Dekorationen’, Die Bühne 13 (1925) A picture containing text, posing, vintage Description automatically generated Klara Meisels, Esther Perelmann and Lea Weintraub-Graf in Ossip Dymow's Der Sänger seiner Trauer (Der singer fun sayn troyer), directed by Shmuel Iris. Jüdischer Künstlerspiele, Vienna, May 1929. Logo Description automatically generated A painting of a person and person Description automatically generated with medium confidence Imrich Weiner-Kráľ – Židovská ulica III. Imrich Weiner-Kráľ, Židovská Street III, c1935 František Reichentál, Two Talmudists, 1932 IWK, Rachovo (Raftman’s dream), c 1935, FR, Slicing Bread, 1930–1935 Slicing Bread, 1930–1935, Slovak National Gallery https://www.webumenia.sk/dielo/SVK:SNG.G_1882 Logo Description automatically generated Poverty, 1930-1939, Slovak National Gallery, https://www.webumenia.sk/dielo/SVK:SNG.O_2019 A painting of a person holding a baby Description automatically generated with medium confidence A drawing of a person and person Description automatically generated with low confidence Mother and Child,1930-1935, Slovak National Gallery https://www.webumenia.sk/dielo/SVK:SNG.G_9039 František Reichentál (1895-1971) A picture containing text, person, old, person Description automatically generated František Reichentál, Jewish teacher in Subcarpathian Ruthenia, 1931, Bratislava City Gallery Isidor Kaufmann, Young Rabbi from N. c.1910, Tate Images A person with a beard Description automatically generated with low confidence Rachovo (Raftman’s dream), c 1935, Slovak National Gallery, https://www.webumenia.sk/dielo/SVK:SNG.O_189 A picture containing doll Description automatically generated Thunderstorm, 1937, Slovak National Gallery https://www.webumenia.sk/dielo/SVK:SNG.O_2162 Imrich/Imro Weiner-Kráľ (1901-1978) A picture containing old Description automatically generated Imrich Weiner-Kráľ – Židovská ulica III. Židovská Street II, c1935, Slovak National Gallery Židovská Street III, c1935, Slovak National Gallery Imrich Weiner-Kráľ, Night, 1928-1932. Považská Art Gallery. https://www.webumenia.sk/dielo/SVK:PGU.O_333 Imrich Weiner-Kráľ – Noc A picture containing old Description automatically generated Marc Chagall, Over Vitebsk, c 1914, Israel Museum, Jerusalem WHO ARE THE “REAL BOHEMIANS”? A picture containing text, book, yellow Description automatically generated “When Albert Besnard returned back home to France from his Indian tour, and I saw the types he collected, I even told him that he needn’t travel that far, he can find figures like this in Hungary.” Lajos Kunffy, Visszaemlékezéseim szerk: Horváth János. Kaposvár, Somogy Megyei Múzeumok igazgatósága 2006, pp. 108–109. English translation in Junghaus, ‘Towards a new art history’ “The gypsies are the Bedouins of the Hungarian basin. They do not have any possessions. They are as poor as a dervish in the desert. The have worn tents or bad huts, one or two horses, many children – they enjoy life and take it as it comes.” Dezső Rózsaffy in Pirsig, ‘Otto Mueller. Mythos und Wahrheit’, 26. A painting of a group of women Description automatically generated with medium confidence Béla Iványi Grünwald, Gypsy Girls by the Banks of Lápos (1909) János Göröncsér Gundel, Gypsy Girl and Nude Model, (c. 1907 ) A picture containing text, painting Description automatically generated A picture containing text, indoor, old, painting Description automatically generated A picture containing text Description automatically generated A picture containing text, book, yellow Description automatically generated Otto Müller Gypsy Album (1927) A painting of a person holding a baby Description automatically generated with medium confidence A group of people posing with a horse Description automatically generated with medium confidence A picture containing old, fabric Description automatically generated Milada Marešová, Gypsy Woman (1933) Erst Neuschul, Gypsies, n.d. Josef Bendík, Gypsy Idyll (1938) Rudolf Balogh, Women fill a barrel (c.1931) Rudolf Balogh, untitled, 1920s-30s (SOCIAL) PHOTOGRAPHY A picture containing person, outdoor Description automatically generated Irena Blühová, Dinner in the Forest (1929) Kata Kálmán, Tiborc, 1937 Kata Kálmán, Tiborc, 1937 https://rofodia.oronk.hu A person and person in a carriage Description automatically generated A painting of two people Description automatically generated František Reichentál, Sabbath in Bratislava, n.d. Otto Müller, Gypsy Album (1927) Reflect on your writing from earlier. What do you think about your interpretations now? Further reading •Thomas Soxberger, Revolution am Donaukanal. Jiddische Kultur und Politik in Wien 1904 bis 1938, 2013. •John Rouse and James M Harding, Not the Other Avant-Garde: The Transnational Foundations of Avant-Garde Performance. Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press. 2006. •Samuel, J.Spinner, Jewish Primitivism. Standford: Standford University Press, 2021. •Éva Kovács, ‘Black Bodies, White Bodies – ‘Gypsy’ Images in Central Europe at the Turn of the Twentieth Century (1880–1920)’, Critical Romani Studies, 3:2 (2021), 72-93. https://doi.org/10.29098/crs.v3i2.75