This Jewish Museum of Maryland presents the work of Florence H. Austrian; Jacob Glushakow, Gladys Goldstein, Mervin Jules, Reuben Kramer, Perna Krick, Herman Maril, Karl Metzler, Selma L. Oppenheimer, Amalie Rothschild, Aaron Sopher, Edward Rosenfeld, and Peter Scholleck, largely from the museum’s collection. These artists responded to modernist ideas with a broad range of approaches. Their views were largely shaped by the new prevailing theories that initially emerged in Europe: Post Impressionism, Fauvism, German Expressionism, Cubism, Art Deco, Surrealism, and Bauhaus. By the end of the Second World War, this group of Baltimore artists were fully committed to a modern approach to art making. Some of the artists in this exhibition travelled to NYC and beyond; others stayed closer to home, but each found a unique voice that expressed a contemporary approach to their art practice.
Susan Isaacs is retired from teaching art history and museum studies at Towson University where she also curated many exhibitions for the Department of Art + Design, Art History, and Art Education Galleries. She has curated as well for numerous institutions across the United States and abroad. She writes and publishes on modern and contemporary art. Isaacs holds a four-year certificate of Fine Arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia in painting and B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in art history from the University of Delaware and an M.F.A. from Towson University. She has over the years shown her own artwork in venues on the East Coast. Trained in both academic and modern art, she is an interdisciplinary artist working in printmaking, books, painting, and fabric sculptures. Employing organic abstract forms, she creates joyful worlds with intense colors and exuberant compositions.
Text @ Jewish Museum of Maryland, 2025