What does it mean to be a Jewish artist or writer? Is one obliged to assert one's Jewishness — ethnically, religiously, culturally — in order to be seen as such? Or are all Jewish creators by definition "Jewish" creators, even those who create little with what can be considered "Jewish content"?
In Japan, we will have a chance to consider such notions when a remarkable exhibition of the works of the brilliant American artist Ben Shahn (1898-1969) opens at the Museum of Modern Art in Hayama, Kanagawa Prefecture on Dec. 3. This comprehensive retrospective — comprising photographs, watercolors, posters, prints and other media numbering 200 exhibits in all — runs there until Jan. 29, 2012, then tours to Nagoya, Okayama and Fukushima.
What has Shahn, you may ask, to do with the issue of what it means to be a Jewish artist?