"On October 16th, our class, Jewish American Literatures in Dialogue with U.S. Minority Literatures, enjoyed a rich and detailed tour of the Krannert Art Museum’s exhibit, Art Since 1948. Amy Powell, the curator of the exhibit, generously offered us many details about the fascinating multi-media texts. Our class was particularly interested in a large Frank Stella piece from his Polish Village series. The painting on cardboard is so delicate, Powell explained, that it cannot be loaned outside of KAM. Stella created the series in the early seventies as a means to evoke some of the lost Polish synagogues destroyed in the Nazi genocide and its stark colors and huge scale definitely made an impression on all of us. After the tour, one student wrote to me to say, “the art museum today was amazing, and I am glad we went!” I am teaching this new class for the first time this semester and the students and I find many connections and resonances between the Jewish immigrant experience and that of many other voluntary and involuntary immigrants."
Professor Brett Ashley Kaplan (Comparative and World Literature/Program in Jewish Culture & Society and Director of the Initiative in Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies) is currently teaching JS/CWL 209/ENG 222, Jewish American and U.S. Minority Literatures in Dialogue. The course satisfies General Education criteria in Humanities (Literature and the Arts) and Cultural Studies (U.S. Minority Cultures).
To learn more about "Art Since 1948" and view images of some of the works, please visit the exhibit page on the KAM website.