In May 2005, Judy won a first place award for excellence in feature story writing, from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists. To read her prize-winning article "Aaron Lansky: The Yungerman Who Outwitted History and Saved a Civilization", click here.

You can view all of Judy Polan's articles that have appeared in the Jewish Ledger by going to their archive:
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© Judy Polan 2007

A keen group of admirers and fellow artists enjoyed the rare opportunity to hear Leonard Nimoy discuss his life as a photographer, and his spiritual journey as a Jew, when the celebrated actor/director visited Western Massachusetts last week to begin a four-day series of events hosted by R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton. Following his Friday afternoon gallery talk, he was fêted at a public reception and book signing on Saturday night, honoring his 2007 release The Full Body Project. He stayed on in town for two more days, shooting portrait photos for his upcoming book about "secret selves".

A distinguished actor in films, theater, and television -- and holder of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame -- Nimoy is perhaps best known for his role as the unflappable Mr. Spock in Star Trek. He is the Boston-born son of Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants from Russia. He grew up in a kosher, Orthodox home; he now belongs to a Reform synagogue where his wife Susan’s cousin is the rabbi. ("It’s a schlep to get there," he joked, "but we just love him.")

These days he considers himself to be "mostly retired" from acting; his life for the past decade or so has centered around photography. His 2002 Shekhina Project – a compelling and controversial photographic exploration of the womanly aspect of the divine presence – gave voice to the manner in which his Jewish identification and his photographic artistry are inextricably linked.

Pure poetry

In his November 2 gallery talk, Nimoy exuded a fascination with all things visual, and a haimish presence that immediately put his somewhat starstruck audience at ease. His presentation was accompanied by a slide show that traced his artistic development from the time he was around 13, when he became enamored of the family camera (a bellows Kodak Autographic) and learned how to develop prints "in a 15¢ solution kit and three soup bowls". During his teenage years in the 1940s, he "always had a camera loaded and ready to go." He studied at UCLA in the early 1970's under the tutelage of famed photographer Robert Heineken ("the most influential person in my photographic life") and later received an appointment as an artist in residence at the American Academy in Rome.

Throughout his worldwide travels, he has continually been on the lookout for an interesting form or texture. "I have always loved photography," he commented, "and now I have the privilege of spending most of my time thinking about and shooting pictures." He acknowledged a preference for working in black and white: "I love the pure poetry of this medium. In fine art photography, color can be a diversion."

Nimoy displayed a number of photographs of hands placed in the position used in the blessing of the Kohanim, representing the shape of the Hebrew letter shin. (This letter is often used as a symbol for one of the names of G-d; it is an abbreviation for the name Shaddai.) During the priestly blessing, the Shekhina – a Talmudic term for the visible and audible manifestations of the deity's presence on earth – is said to enter the sanctuary, casting a blinding light from which all eyes should be averted.

He first saw this gesture when he was eight years old, attending an Orthodox service with his father. "It struck a chord in me," he said. "The men were chanting –- shouting, really -- and praying. The whole thing was very passionate, very theatrical. I found it chilling, and the aura of that intensity has stayed with me." Nimoy confirmed that it was he who introduced to the Star Trek cast the shin-shaped gesture that became known as the "Vulcan salute".

Nimoy discussed the intention behind his Shekhina Project, and the public reaction to it. This photographic series depicts a number of alluring women, some wearing prayer shawls, others wrapped in tefillin and posing "in all their naked glory. The work was viewed as transgressive by some," Nimoy commented. "There were people who were offended by the mingling of sexuality and spirituality. Others, though, saw the work as sensual and revolutionary."

A departure

Always eager to take on the next challenge, Nimoy followed up his Shekhina photo series with the one that was to become his newly released book, The Full Body Project. This photo series comprises nude images of full-bodied women, all members of a burlesque troupe called the Fat Bottom Revue. The photos are a departure for Nimoy, as his previous work focused on svelte women who epitomized the societal norm of beauty. In The Full Body Project, the women are "fleshy and proud -- irrepressible, unabashed, joyous."

Nimoy describes his work on this project as "consciousness-raising." He had never before thought about "what a huge issue body image is in our society. A gigantic, multi-billion dollar industry has sprung up to capitalize on this: diet pills, surgery, workout programs … This obsession is endemic in our culture. People are always telling you that you don't look right."

At first, Nimoy felt uncomfortable shooting the Full Body photos; he had "never worked with this kind of figure before, and I didn't want to do the women some kind of injustice." As the shoot went on, though, he grew more comfortable, helped by the presence of his wife and the high spirits of the women. He found sculptural and spiritual magnificence in them, an attitude that is strongly conveyed through the work. "I think they're beautiful –- don't you?" he asked the audience, smiling.

© 2002 Judy Polan

At the dawn of the 20th century, Vienna was the epicenter of the European cultural world; and the multi-ethnic city's Jewish community was at its very heart. While such luminaries as Freud, Wittgenstein, Herzl, Schoenberg, and Mahler led the way in philosophy and musical composition; Jewish painters, architects, and designers were pivotal figures in the movement known as the Vienna Secession. This coalition of innovative artists challenged the official academy with their "art nouveau", and in 1897 emerged as a formal but more open association, eventually creating their own landmark modern exhibition hall. Financial support from visionary patrons allowed the Secessionists to thrive both materially and spiritually; and it was Jewish industrial magnates and financiers who provided much of this backing.

With the rise of anti-Semitism in Vienna, this art was pejoratively labeled "Jewish Modernism" by the press, then defined by the Nazis as "decadent"; and the flowering of progressive culture in Vienna was nearly extinguished. Adolf Hitler, who had arrived in the city as an aspiring art student, eventually presided over the demise of 20th century Viennese cultural ascendancy. And after the horrors of the Nazi years, the world had little taste for or interest in Austrian art.

But this summer -- over a hundred years later -- the Berkshire hills are vibrant with the paintings, design, music, and theater of turn-of-the-century Vienna. Eleven different arts organizations in Western Massachusetts have formed a consortium, known as The Vienna Project, which is bringing to the area a plethora of artistic and historical exhibits, concerts, and plays.

Two special exhibitions in Williamstown depict the opposite ends of the spectrum: the Artists and Architects of Vienna at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute (running through September 2); and the stunning "Prelude to a Nightmare" on view through October 27 at the Williams College Museum of Art.

The Clark Museum exhibit highlights Gustav Klimt's gloriously colorful and evocative landscape paintings, and also includes paintings by Bellotto, designwork by Josef Hoffman, and the architecture of Otto Wagner. An introductory room superbly sets the scene for the entire exhibition, depicting through paintings, photographs, and text the rich urban life of 19th century Vienna. As the curator notes, "Art, music, theater and philosophy thrived, and Vienna's substantial Jewish community contributed enormously to the city's intellectual energy. Many Viennese artists, writers, and composers were from a Jewish background, and Vienna's large Jewish middle class provided an audience for discussion of experimental and innovative ideas."

Though the Klimt exhibit is clearly the major drawing card, the other Vienna Project exhibits at the Clark are certainly not to be overlooked. "Josef Hoffman: Homes of the Wittgensteins" demonstrates not only Hoffman's remarkable and forward-looking design sensibility, but also the congenial and mutually respectful relationship between artist and patron -- a vital one in any age, but especially during a time of such meteoric artistic innovation. A curatorial note emphasizes that "without the financial support, encouragement, and enthusiasm of the Wittgenstein family, the beautiful designs and costly workmanship of Josef Hoffman could never have been realized."

This is true not only of Hoffman's personal creations, but that of all the members of the collaborative venture called the Wiener Werkstatte (Vienna Workshop) which he cofounded with artist Koloman Moser in 1903. The Werkstatte was devoted to meticulous "honesty to materials and techniques", and to the elevation of the decorative arts to equal status with that of the fine arts. It eventually employed over 100 artists and craftsmen, and could not have existed without the generous support of its many Jewish benefactors.

Hoffman's fundamental belief in Gesamtkunstwerke (the total artwork) made itself evident in the homes he designed for various members of the eminent Wittgenstein family; which included industrialist/philanthropist Karl, and his philosopher/ architect son Ludwig. Hoffman fashioned not only the homes' architecture, but their furniture, serving dishes, silverware, bookbindings, textiles, and wallpaper. He believed in the "spiritual benefit of harmonious living arrangements", a creed much mirrored in today's concepts of interior design.

In stark contrast, "Prelude to a Nightmare: Art, Politics, and Hitler's Early Years in Vienna" at the Williams College Museum of Art explores the darkest side of the power of art and imagery. Inspired by Brigitte Hamann's acclaimed book "Hitler's Vienna: A Dictator's Apprenticeship", the WCMA exhibit uses posters, paintings, cartoons, manuscripts, time lines, newspaper clippings, and photographs to depict the changing culture and ambiance of Vienna from the period of Emperor Franz Josef's reign to 1913.

In 1908, 18-year-old Hitler arrived in Vienna; an open, cosmopolitan city. He was a provincial German nationalist who harbored hopes of becoming a great painter, architect, or theatrical designer. While in Vienna, he had "friendly relations with many Jewish people"; and his mother was diligently cared for by a Jewish doctor. But, rejected twice from the conservative Academy of Fine Art (found to have "no original ideas, creativity, or wit"), he left for Munich five years later. By then he was an embittered drifter, seething with racism. Though he later claimed to have been radicalized by the economic chasm he saw between the classes of Viennese society, he did not particularly identify with the proletariat, and was stung by his own inadequacies.

An excellent video within the exhibit deftly explores Hitler's obsession with the "aesthetic high" of staging on a grand scale. Early on, he had observed the mesmerizing force of imperial pageantry during Emperor Franz Josef's 60th anniversary celebrations -- with their elaborate costumes, historical banners, and stirring music. He emulated the rhetorical style, "designer flair", and passion for building of Vienna's virulently anti-Semitic mayor Karl Lueger, elected in 1897. From other Aryanists he expropriated the swastika -- a simple, recognizable "logo". He was mindful of contrasts of light and dark, and staged torchlit nighttime demonstrations for the Third Reich, maximizing their demonic effect. By 1933, when Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, he had cast himself as producer, lead actor, choreographer, and set designer for the nightmare scenario that was about to envelope Europe.

Seeing art used to promulgate such terrifying evil is profoundly disturbing, and turns all of one's previously held notions about its sanctity upside down. Hitler understood all too well the power of art to manipulate, control, and push people beyond reason into a zone of utter depravity.The WCMA exhibit succeeds remarkably in demonstrating the extent to which we are all vulnerable to this power.

James E. Young, professor and department chair of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies at U. Mass/Amherst, says of the exhibit : "The lure of Nazi aesthetics was in part responsible for the party's success. The Nazis were brilliant at choreographing their own presentation ... Holding up a mirror to these images is one way to nullify their power, to defeat them."

In the end, while the corrupt artistry of master manipulator Adolf Hitler has been consigned to the dustbin of history; thousands of people from all over the world will flock to the Berkshires this summer, to honor and take delight in Klimt's joyous colors, Hoffman's shimmering fantasies, and Wagner's dreamy architectural visions. The eternal resonance of this art, and the persistence of the ideals which nurtured it, are the shining legacy of the Jews of fin-de-siecle Vienna.