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Who Represents Us? Exhibition Opening
Who Represents Us? Exhibition Opening
Monday, March 23, 2020 - 5:30 pm to Tuesday, March 24, 2020 - 7:59 pm
This event has been postponed.
Watch your e-mail—or follow us on social media—for news of a pop-up opening later this spring or summer.
Who Represents Us?
Andy Warhol’s Ten Portraits of Jews of the 20th Century and other highlights from the Spertus collection
Exhibition Opening Reception
In this once-controversial series, Andy Warhol memorialized luminaries of modern Jewish culture: Sarah Bernhardt, Louis Brandeis, Martin Buber, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, George Gershwin, Franz Kafka, the Marx Brothers, Golda Meir, and Gertrude Stein. Warhol referred to these great thinkers, politicians, performers, and writers as his “Jewish geniuses.” He depicted them in his signature pop-art fashion, splashed with color and shapes, blurring of boundaries between art and commerce.
The idea for the series came from art dealer Ronald Feldman, who together with Susan Morgenstein of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, came up with the list of names. The series was warmly received by Jewish audiences despite negative reviews from art critics who considered the works exploitative. Hilton Kramer of The New York Times wrote, “The way it exploits its Jewish subjects without showing the slightest grasp of their significance is offensive—or would be, anyway, if the artist had not already treated so many non-Jewish subjects in the same tawdry manner.”
Today, as we think about Jewish identity through a multi-cultural, twenty-first-century lens, do these Jews represent us? Who does? See this series and other highlights from the Spertus collection as we explore Jews in art.
Who Represents Us? will run through September 21, 2020.
Exhibitions at Spertus Institute are supported in part by the Harry and Sadie Lasky Foundation and Charles & M.R. Shapiro Foundation.
Ground Level Arts Lab Exhibition Hours
Sunday 10 am–5 pm
Monday–Wednesday 9 am–5 pm
Thursday 9 am–6 pm
Friday 9 am–3 pm
Closed Saturdays and Jewish and secular holidays.
Admission is free.
Group Visits
Due to the intimate nature of the Ground Level Arts Lab, we ask that those planning to visit with groups of ten or more fill out a short form to ensure we can accommodate you in the space. While we look forward to you visiting and enjoying the exhibition, notifiying us at least one week in advance is required. GROUP VISIT FORM >
