Before the 18th century, Jewish art and literature remained dormant. Painters, writers, and artists were among the lowest in the society echelon. The hardship of Jews for their arts’ sake could be mirrored when one tries to find out the history of Jewish art.

This is a Marc Chagall piece and resides at the Art Institute of Chicago.

See also

• Jewish art in history
• Jewish art in modern era

Jewish artists were not given due credit for their work when in fact most of their artworks were being used since time immemorial. Some of their works include an illustration of King David, Jonah and Balaam in the 15th century, as well as elucidated Yemen Bibles.

However, a larger recognition of the Jews became evident in Western Europe in 1881 when almost seventy-five percent of Jews inhabited Eastern Europe. Greater artists with Jewish blood became popular in early 20th century like Marc Chagall, Amedeo Modigliani and Camille Pissarro as well as other Jew artists like Moritz Oppenheim, who became the first Jewish painter.

In Russia, a Jewish cultural renaissance swept up the nationalist impulses of the time from about 1915 to the mid-1920. Jewish blooded artists, musicians and writers like El Lissitzky, Nathan Altman, Issachar Ryback, Joseph Tchaikov, and Boris Aronson created a cultural rebirth for Jewish art.

The work of Mark Rothko has been completely realized now when he painted the modern day tabernacle using blocks of colors that signified a sanctuary for worship to the highest power and to remind people of history and of what his ancestors underwent.