Forgotten Jews: Modernism and Cosmopolitan Women Artists

In a world that is increasingly concerned with globalism and multiculturalism, this paper will consider the presence of Jewish identity and culture in the lives of three modernist artists of Jewish ancestry, all of them women, who each resided in more than one country in the first half of the twentieth century. Each was either the child of intermarriage (with just one Jewish parent) or married to a non-Jew, or both. The women are Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979), born Sarah Stein in Ukraine, who also lived in Russia, Germany, France, Portugal and Spain; Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), born in Mexico, who also lived in the United States and showed in France; and Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941), born in Hungary, who also lived in France and India. None of these artists is routinely identified as Jewish by art historians and critics yet each self-identified with her Jewish heritage. Focusing on women from very different geographical regions, I seek to identify how each woman and her art was shaped by her Jewish heritage, however hidden from the public. Looking at their art, historical events, and their individual life stories, I ask to what extent and explore how these women’s culturally diverse cosmopolitan identities and life-styles are linked to Jewish culture and heritage.