My painting, Spinoza, The Modernist, 2018, encompasses detailed readings completed before the exhibition and the visual examinations which occurred as an outgrowth of them. As I began this project, I read both his Thelogico- Political Treatise and The Ethics as they appear in the book The Chief Works of Benedict De Spinoza. From these readings I tried to look beyond the Philosopher’s role as a father of The Enlightenment. I strove to see him much as other contemporary members of the Jewish Art Salon, as a modern artist approaching sacred texts. Spinoza advocates for the individual to negotiate his or her feelings about the Bible through the lens of logic and reason. This includes religious symbols, mysticism, gaffs in the narrative and the like. As a result, Spinoza is responsible for modern Judaism, where the individual must question clerical authority and doctrine. The Philosopher was certainly transgressive by 17^th Century standards, and in my understanding, paves the way for Modernism. For this reason, I chose several images to be used in depicting Spinoza. I employed the traditional picture, called the 'Wolfenbütteler- portrait attributed to Barend Graat in order to render his features as they are recorded by posterity. These are juxtaposed against Marc Chagall’s The Rabbi, also called A Pinch of Snuff, 1912. To round out the image I have also copied part of a still life by Pablo Picasso called Composition with Skull, 1908. If Spinoza symbolizes the pre-enlightenment logical philosopher, Chagall’s Rabbi embodies a mystical Oriental exotic, seen as alien by Western European Christian sensibilities, yet an important part of authentic Twentieth Century Jewish experience. The use of Picasso demonstrates the Modernist artist as an agent of will, style and temperament, as opposed to simple observational realism. The skull, however, refers to traditional “Vanitas” images in Christian painting, a Memento Mori evoking Death in the face of human vanity. The poles of these diverse experiences still exist today: secularism, Philosophy, Science, traditional faith, mysticism, antisemitism, Jewish cultural empowerment and synergy. The image of Spinoza has been transformed into a new character who reveals his own relation to the 20^th and 21^st Century.

Joel Silverstein is an artist, critic and teacher. He has shown work at the Derfner Museum of Judaica, the Van Leer Institute, The Mishkan Le'Omanut Museum, Pratt Hadas Gallery Rohr Center, Columbia University, the Clemente Center NY and BEKI in New Haven. He has written over 60 published articles and catalogue essays. The artist/ critic is a Founding and Executive Member of the Jewish Art Salon and has curated or advised on ten Salon exhibitions including Through Compassionate Eyes; Artist Call for Animal Rights at The Charter Oak Center, Hartford, Ct, Convivio; Jews, Hispanics and the Comics at Repair the World, NY, JOMIX- Jewish Comics, Art & Derivation and The Dura Europos Project both at the Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art and UJA, NY. He has participated in The Jerusalem Biennial, 2015 and 2017 and Spinoza, Marrano of Reason, Amstelkirk, Amsterdam. His work and curated exhibitions are cited in Ori Z. Soltes’, “Tradition and Transformation; Three Millennium of Jewish Art & Architecture. The current exhibition, Rand/McBee/Silverstein; Modern Jewish Narratives is at Brooklyn Jewish Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY.