Rachel Stern2026-06-30T12:04:40-04:00June 30th, 2026|Newsletter|
Dear friends, First of all: THANK YOU! A heartfelt thank you to those of you who responded so generously to help us continue and expand our work, and a heartfelt thank you to the anonymous sponsor who matched the donations. With your support, we will continue to bring to you buried art treasures and the stories of their creators in historical context. And now we are heading for the 250th birthday of the United States of America! Founded on the basis of an idea, we celebrate the double helix of American DNA: the Jeffersonian embrace of the enlightenment and Adam's emphasis not only on reason, but also on religion and tradition. We celebrate America as a work in [...]
Rachel Stern2026-06-28T08:06:13-04:00June 28th, 2026|Events, Lectures|
In her talk, Daria Santini will present her new biography of the Austrian-British photographer and Soviet agent Edith Tudor Hart (1908–1973). At the centre of a wide and vibrant circle of predominantly Central European artists, architects, designers, scientists, intellectuals and political activists in 1930s and 1940s London, Tudor Hart combined a successful career as a photographer with a clandestine role as a communist agent. This remarkable dual identity forms the basis of a compelling and dramatic life story. Image above: Edith Tudor Hart, London ca 1935. REGISTER HERE Born in Vienna into a secular, social-democratic Jewish family deeply rooted in the progressive culture of the city that became known as 'Red Vienna', [...]
Rachel Stern2026-06-09T07:08:31-04:00June 2nd, 2026|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, This month, the FIFA Soccer World Cup kicks off, and this year it is hosted in North America, with games - among them the final - being played "just across the bridge" in New Jersey. What does that have to do with us? Well, in 1916, the artist Fritz Ascher drew soccer players into one of his sketchbooks - most probably from direct observation. He captured a dramatic moment, when a player holds a shot on goal. He catches the ball with his hands, which identifies him as the opponent's goal keeper - regular players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands. Fritz Ascher, Soccer Players, ca. 1916. Black ink [...]
Rachel Stern2026-05-24T20:47:10-04:00May 24th, 2026|Events, Lectures|
In this presentation, Carla Maria Huttenloher will bring women’s photographic agency to the forefront of the Bauhaus story, uncovering the rich and long-underexplored links between their lives and their powerful bodies of work. Image above: Grit Kallin-Fischer, Self-portrait with cigarette, around 1928. Courtesy Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin . REGISTER HERE Women have worked behind the camera since photography’s beginnings, but their contributions have been sidelined in art‑historical narratives. The Bauhaus offers a clear case: during the Weimar Republic women engaged with and shaped photographic modernism in multiple ways, yet their work is insufficiently acknowledged to date. In the 1920s and early 1930s, the social figure of the New Woman — ideologically linked to greater [...]
Rachel Stern2026-06-15T07:08:32-04:00April 28th, 2026|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, This yearning to be out and about, after this long and cold winter! Every year I marvel at the blooming trees and flowers and am reminded of the power of renewal. In addition to our online events, we are promoting two special in person events here in New York this month, and I hope to meet many of you who live in or around New York or are here for a visit. May is Jewish American Heritage Month, a commemoration of Jewish contributions to American culture and the celebration of the history, culture and achievements of the diverse Jewish community in the U.S. Our first virtual lecture of the month looks at early Jewish Immigrant Artists: [...]
Rachel Stern2026-05-21T07:16:30-04:00April 27th, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|
In this online lecture Anne Uhrlandt will present the forgotten story of once prominent German Jewish artist and collector Eugen Spiro (April 18, 1874, Wrocław - September 26, 1972, New York City). During her two-year research project, Uhrlandt reconstructed the artist’s biography and the fate of his looted collection by bringing together evidence and sources from numerous international archives. Two case studies about specific stolen objects highlight the dramatic events following both s the Nazi government ‘s expulsion of Spiro from his profession, robbing him of his sources of income, and the theft of his art collection, which included both his own works of art and works of art by other artists. The case studies demonstrate the potential of [...]
Rachel Stern2026-05-06T14:12:25-04:00April 22nd, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|
In this talk, Rutgers University professor emeritus Matthew Baigell discusses early Jewish immigrant artists and cartoonists. As millions of Jews immigrated to the United States from Eastern Europe starting in the 1870s, they brought with them not only their religious heritage but also a definitive idea of the place and value of art and aesthetics in society. Around 1900 they established a Jewish art stream separate from mainstream American art that continues to the present day. To a greater or lesser degree over the decades, artists have continually emphasized community values, politics, and religious heritage. Image above: Shelter Us Under the Shadow of Thy Wings, Hebrew Publishing 1909 Matthew Baigell is professor emeritus in art history at Rutgers University. [...]
Rachel Stern2026-06-24T13:42:59-04:00April 16th, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|
The Restless Hungarian (2021) is a personal narrative set against the backdrop of the Hungarian Jewish diaspora, the rise of Modernism, and the Cold War. The film centers on Paul Weidlinger, one of the most important structural engineers of the twentieth century who created the strength behind iconic skyscrapers, churches, museums, embassies, and monumental sculptures by Picasso, Noguchi, and Dubuffet. Early in his career, he broke from mainstream modernism with his concept of the “Joy of Space”. Behind his professional success, however, was a deeply troubled private life marked by loss, denial, and family tragedy. As the filmmaker—his son—begins to explore Paul’s past, the story shifts into a deeply personal journey across continents, uncovering hidden Jewish roots and the family’s [...]
Rachel Stern2026-03-09T14:05:31-04:00March 9th, 2026|Events, Lectures|
This class with acclaimed professor Ori Z. Soltes will consider the lives of eight major Jewish artists of the 20th century, and will discuss their experiences migrating under duress just before, during, or after the Holocaust. From Fritz Ascher to Anni Albers to Eva Hesse, we’ll learn about how these great artists fled, adapted, and survived through the 20th century and went on to create powerful works of art that we still recognize today. REGISTER HERE Session 1: March 13 Immigration and Art from One Generation to Another We'll begin with brief discussions of Ben Shahn and Raphael Soyer, then focus primarily on Fritz Ascher and Rudi Lesser, before concluding with Michael Iofin and David Stern. [...]
Rachel Stern2026-04-15T13:27:08-04:00March 1st, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|
In this book talk, author Cathryn J. Prince follows Pauline Newman’s life from a youth split between Lithuania and New York City sweatshops to her work as an advisor to New Deal–era labor secretary Frances Perkins. From her start as one of the youngest activists in US history, Pauline Newman helped shape the International Ladies' Garment Workers’ Union (ILGWU) into a dominant force in industrial America. Cathryn J. Prince tells the story of a self-educated Jewish immigrant who dedicated herself to a legion of causes and lifelong battles against sexism and classism. Newman’s long hours at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory informed her entrée into labor activism. In the following years, she tirelessly advocated for workers, [...]
Rachel Stern2026-03-05T07:21:05-05:00February 13th, 2026|Events, Lectures, Past Events|
In this talk, art historian and curator Rachel Perry discusses ten graphic narratives of their experiences of Nazi persecution created by women immediately after liberation. Lacking photographs of what they witnessed and endured, these "first responders" used visual storytelling to counter perpetrator and liberator sources and represent maternal loss, sexual violence, forced labor, and bodily trauma—experiences rarely recorded in canonical Holocaust testimony. Drawing on archives across Europe, Israel, and the United States, this talk recovers marginalized stories that predate Art Spiegelman's Maus by decades. Featured Artists: Lea Grundig (1906-1977), Luba Krugman Gurdus (1914-2011), Mária Turán Hacker (1886-1967), Edit Bán Kiss (1905-1966), Regina Lichter-Liron (1920-1995), Ella Liebermann-Shiber (1927-1998), Ágnes Lukács (1920-2016), Zsuza Merényi (1925-1990), [...]
Rachel Stern2026-02-04T06:26:33-05:00February 3rd, 2026|Newsletter|
Dear Friends, As the snow doesn't seem to melt here in New York, we slowly move towards the Jewish holiday of Purim. So in our next talk, we will focus on the German-born Israeli artist Jacob Pins who depicted clowns repeatedly. We will explore how he portrayed the clown, a figure between tragedy and comedy, between self-identification and stage, within his larger oeuvre, within the Israeli society and beyond: Wednesday, February 11, 12:00pm ET online Jacob Pins (1917-2005): The Art of Laughter and Tears Presentation by Ori Z Soltes, PhD Georgetown University, Washington (DC) REGISTER HERE Jacob Pins, Dance of Death, 1957. Color woodcut, 995 x 597 mm. Forum Jacob Pins, [...]
