For Jewish artists to be stylistically kosher, can they paint realistic / representational pictures? The motivation behind this query is the commandment which says that you may not make images of any creature, including those under water, those that creep on the ground, and that those that fly in the air. Presumably, had the ancients known about microscopic life (or more precisely, if God had been a little more specific) there would have been an additional provision for there not to be any depictions of microscopic life either. Therefore, so the socioligical explanation goes, that is why Jews are drawn towards making "abstract" art: because it doesn't look like anything that swims, creeps on the ground, or flies in the air.
Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you: does the amoeba not swim? Or how about the paramecium? Yes, of course they do! And how would you describe their appearance? (Remember, in this case, it's not fair to describe an amoeba as "amoeba-like": that gets you nowhere) Admit it: an amoeba is shape like a blob. That it, it's shape is..."abstract". If you saw a painting of a bunch of blobs, would you regard that as abstract art? Or a realistic respresentation of a family of amoebas? (new concept: amoebas have families!)
The torah (through Moses) forbids the creation of idols, lest we start to idolize them, and idol worship is the thing that Judaism is squarely against. Sometimes, if you're feeling cranky, you can see some blurring around the edges of this value. For argument's sake, let me set up an oversimplification: Judaism is structured around the life of the mind, where everything is abstact, and the only reality exists in the world of concepts. Although we Jews are oriented to make the World a Better Place (i.e. the "real" world of people, places, and things) we want to stay off of the slippery slope to idol worship, so we avoid making sculptures of any person, lest we start treating it like a God. I think that the proviso for Jewish sculptors is that if they do create an image of a person, then it must not look heroic (I'm thinking of the sculptures of Einstein at National Academy of Science Washington, DC, and the sculpture of him sitting in a garden in Israel, which has him lounging on some steps, and sittion on a park bench) And if making realistic sculpture still proves to moral problem, then the Jewish artist can always retreat into abstraction. But if his work looks amoeba-like, then he's being an idol maker after all!
God created, and loves, ALL creatures, even paramecium and amoebas. And can you see someone worshipping a stone blob? How about a massive stone blob? (Say, a massive molten meteorite from outer space?) Although this is veering into the ridiculous, it's all to make the point ALL art is representational, its just that sometimes you've got to change your perspective to see it.
So does this mean that the Ancient Israelites were screwed from the outset, basically commanded to not make any images at all? No. As I see it, the only want to work your way out of this puzzle is midrashic: that God's world can only be perfect if it includes contradictions and inconsistencies! For in every commandment, there are the seeds of inconsistency (I think)
Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you: does the amoeba not swim? Or how about the paramecium? Yes, of course they do! And how would you describe their appearance? (Remember, in this case, it's not fair to describe an amoeba as "amoeba-like": that gets you nowhere) Admit it: an amoeba is shape like a blob. That it, it's shape is..."abstract". If you saw a painting of a bunch of blobs, would you regard that as abstract art? Or a realistic respresentation of a family of amoebas? (new concept: amoebas have families!)
The torah (through Moses) forbids the creation of idols, lest we start to idolize them, and idol worship is the thing that Judaism is squarely against. Sometimes, if you're feeling cranky, you can see some blurring around the edges of this value. For argument's sake, let me set up an oversimplification: Judaism is structured around the life of the mind, where everything is abstact, and the only reality exists in the world of concepts. Although we Jews are oriented to make the World a Better Place (i.e. the "real" world of people, places, and things) we want to stay off of the slippery slope to idol worship, so we avoid making sculptures of any person, lest we start treating it like a God. I think that the proviso for Jewish sculptors is that if they do create an image of a person, then it must not look heroic (I'm thinking of the sculptures of Einstein at National Academy of Science Washington, DC, and the sculpture of him sitting in a garden in Israel, which has him lounging on some steps, and sittion on a park bench) And if making realistic sculpture still proves to moral problem, then the Jewish artist can always retreat into abstraction. But if his work looks amoeba-like, then he's being an idol maker after all!
God created, and loves, ALL creatures, even paramecium and amoebas. And can you see someone worshipping a stone blob? How about a massive stone blob? (Say, a massive molten meteorite from outer space?) Although this is veering into the ridiculous, it's all to make the point ALL art is representational, its just that sometimes you've got to change your perspective to see it.
So does this mean that the Ancient Israelites were screwed from the outset, basically commanded to not make any images at all? No. As I see it, the only want to work your way out of this puzzle is midrashic: that God's world can only be perfect if it includes contradictions and inconsistencies! For in every commandment, there are the seeds of inconsistency (I think)
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