In the last of three virtual programs making up the 21st Annual Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Conference for Educators, Professor Rachel E. Perry, Tel Aviv University, History of Art, will introduce teachers to formal analysis of portraits and other artworks. What additional complexities does analyzing art created during the Holocaust involve? She will explore how art can open a window onto the past.
About the 21st Annual Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Conference for Educators
Just as every Holocaust survivor’s testimony is unique, so too is art produced during the Holocaust. It is a miracle that any artwork survived. Artwork asserts the artist’s humanity and individuality, qualities too often overshadowed by photographs taken by the Nazis or their collaborators. Artists documented the Holocaust as it unfolded around them, trying to leave documentation for future generations. When the war ended, many survivor artists continued to produce art relating to their experiences.
In the decades since, among children and grandchildren of survivors were also artists who explored their relationship to their survivor relatives and the Holocaust through art. With the development of computer capabilities, video, and the growing popularity of graphic novels, new arenas for artistic expression opened up. How is this art being shared with the public, with students, within Holocaust survivor families?
How does art inform our students’ understanding of the Holocaust? Is there a legacy of trauma that sets these artworks apart from others?
Join us as we explore these issues in the 21st Annual Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Conference for Educators taking place on Sundays 1:00 – 2:30 PM Eastern Standard Time on December 6, 13, and 20.
This program is made possible through the generous sponsorship of the family of Mrs. Fanya Gottesfeld Heller, z”l.