Double Red Yentl, Split (My Elvis), 1993
Screenprint and synthetic polymer on canvas
Overall: 72 1/4 x 72 in. (183.5 x 182.9 cm.)
Proper right panel: 72 x 36 1/8 in. (182.9 x 91.8 cm.)
Proper left panel: 72 1/4 x 36 in. (183.5 x 91.4 cm.)
Purchased with funds provided by Joan and Laurence Kleinman
1993-120a-b '; $scene_1 = 'Deborah Kass appropriates Andy Warhol\'s full-length portrait of Elvis Presley for her depiction of Barbra Steisand in the role of Yentl. In this painting, Kass substitutes Streisand performing in Yeshiva-boy drag for the rock star\'s iconic image of cool American virility. By constructing this network of references, the artist comments on the roles played by gender and religion in our culture.

See this work in the new online exhibition, Making Connections in Art and Jewish Culture, and also in the online Collection. '; ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// $caption_2 = ' Isidor Kaufmann (Austrian, 1853-1921)
Portrait of Isidor Gewitsch, c. 1900
Oil on wood panel
18 1/16 x 14 5/8 in. (45.9 x 37.1 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. M. R. Schweitzer
JM 3-63 '; $scene_2 = ' The subject of this portrait, Isidor Gewitsch, was a stockbroker and prominent member of Vienna\'s Jewish community. Isidor Kaufmann, the painter, was a successful 19th Century portraitist of the Jewish bourgeoisie. Wealthy Jews seeking to memorialize themselves often preferred Jewish portraitists, like Kaufmann, who understood their desire to present themselves as thoroughly integrated into affluent society. The precise rendering of Isidor Gewitsch\'s direct gaze captures the sitter\'s integrity and solemnity.

What can a painting tell us about experience and identity? See the Elementary School Program Paintings Tell Stories, for Grades 3-6. '; ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// $caption_3 = ' Ken Aptekar (American, born 1950)
I Hate the Name Kenneth, 1996
Oil on wood with sandblasted glass and bolts
Overall: 69 x 120 7/8 x 3 in. (175.3 x 307.1 x 7.6 cm.)
Each: 30 x 30 x 3 in. (76.2 x 76.2 x 7.6 cm.)
Purchased with funds provided by Barbara S. Horowitz, Howard E. Rachofsky, Ruth M. and Stephen Durschlag, Marcia May, J.W. Heller Foundation, Michael L. Rosenberg, the Fine Arts Acquisitions Committee, Helga and Samuel Feldman, Caroline B. Michahelles and Robert G. Pollock
1997-26a-h '; $scene_3 = 'In I Hate the Name Kenneth, Ken Aptekar examines conflicted feelings about his Jewish heritage with a story about his grandfathers\' relationships to their names. "Perhaps because of pangs of guilt at my own willingness to pass as Not Jewish, I have little tolerance for Jews who change their names to sound less Jewish," says the artist. By inscribing his story on glass placed over appropriated 19th-century portraits of Jews, Aptekar invites viewers to consider the historical context of his meditation on Jewish identity.

High school students can explore art and Jewish identity through studio arts and trips to artists\' studios and cultural institutions in SummerArts. '; ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// $caption_4 = ' Isidor Kaufmann (Hungarian and Austrian, born Hungary, 1853 - 1921)
Jewish Man With Fur Hat, ca. 1910
Oil on panel
16 1/8 x 12 3/16 in. (41 x 31 cm.)
Gift of Lisl Weil Marx in memory of her husband Julius Marx and his brother Rudolf Marx
1985-179 '; $scene_4 = 'Isidor Kaufmann\'s portraits of religiously devout Jews conveyed aspects of Jewish tradition that his audience of acculturated Jews and non-Jews would understand. Here, the sitter\'s orthodoxy is indicated by his fur-trimmed shtraymel (hat) and black kapote (coat). Hung in well-appointed parlors, these paintings enhanced not only Kaufmann\'s prestige as a painter, but also the social status of the paintings\' owners. They also provided a connection to Jewish heritage by linking the world of cosmopolitan Vienna to a traditional lifestyle that endured outside the capital.

Make a connection to Jewish heritage. Support The Jewish Museum. '; ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// $caption_5 = 'Nan Goldin, (American, born 1953)
Self-portrait in blue bathroom, London, 1980
Silver dye bleach print
Purchase: Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund
2002-28 '; $scene_5 = 'Nan Goldin made her reputation in the 1980s with her candid examinations of the intimate moments between her friends and herself, focusing on drug culture, sexual relations, and the overwhelming reality of the AIDS crisis. The bathroom is a frequent setting in Goldin\'s early work, often serving as a site for the religious symbolism that pervades her oeuvre. In this photograph, Goldin\'s ethereal image hovers over an empty bathtub in a theatrical space in which the still and meditative aura of the private prevails.

See this work in the current special exhibition Contemporary Art/Recent Acquisitions. '; ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// $caption_6 = ' Judaea Capta Coin of Vespasian, 71 CE
Gold
7.1 gm
The Jewish Museum
X1983-88 '; $scene_6 = 'This coin was minted by the Romans to commemorate their victory in Jerusalem in 70 CE, during which they destroyed the Second Temple. This triumph of paganism over monotheism was particularly significant to the Romans, who were losing increasing numbers of upper-class citizens to Judaism and Christianity. One side of the coin features a portrait of Emperor Vespasian and his name in Latin; on the other is the depiction of a mourning Jewess sitting beneath a trophy.

See this coin in person in the Permanent Exhibition, Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey.'; ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// $caption_7 = 'Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences'; $scene_7 = 'In Gentleman\'s Agreement (1947), Gregory Peck played a journalist who poses as a Jew to research an exposé of anti-Semitism. Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, the film won an Oscar for Best Picture. The poster and trailer for this film are included in current special exhibition Entertaining America, as an example of how Hollywood has addressed the issue of American anti-Semitism. Buy the exhibition catalog in the online shop. This colorfully written, lavishly illustrated book surveys how Jews have participated in — and identified with — American movies, radio, and television from the nickelodeon era at the turn of the twentieth century to the present day.'; ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// $caption_8 = ''; $scene_8 = 'Peck is shown here on a visit to the Museum with director Stephen Kayser in 1947, the year Gentleman\'s Agreement was released. They are standing in front of the Urbino Torah Ark, which is featured in the newly-renovated permanent exhibition Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey.'; ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// $caption_9 = 'Photo courtesy PhotoFest'; $scene_9 = 'From 1970 to 1977, Mary Tyler Moore played the role of Mary Richards-a single career woman working her way up in a TV newsroom. Moore\'s character was an icon to millions of television viewers who identified with her struggle for independence. Rhoda Morgenstern, portrayed by Valerie Harper, was also a source of pride to an audience of liberated women. On The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda was a "nice Jewish girl" — self-deprecating and a little rough around the edges — who becomes Mary\'s best friend and alter ego.

Hear Marilyn Suzanne Miller, a writer of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, speak in the June 12 panel discussion on women television writers. '; ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// $caption_10 = 'Photo courtesy PhotoFest'; $scene_10 = 'Best friends and roommates, Will Truman (Eric McCormack) and Grace Adler (Debra Messing) are today\'s most celebrated platonic couple in television comedy. Much of the show\'s humor derives from sexual and cultural difference. Will is male, gay and WASP. Grace is female, straight and Jewish. Since 1998, Will & Grace has broken new ground in television comedy as the first series to feature a leading gay male character.

See an episode of Will and Grace in a program of New York-themed comedy, "Seinfeld\'s Neighbors: New York Jews in the 90\'s," as part of SummerNights. '; ?>