Amram Scholar Series Presents: LaNitra M. Berger

3935 Macomb Street Northwest,Washington DC 20016

16 January, 2022

Description

WHC's Amram Scholar Series Presents: LaNitra M. Berger (Irma Stern and the Racial Paradox of South African Modern Art) Sunday, January 16 at 10:30 am at Washington Hebrew Congregation on Macomb St. NW. South African artist Irma Stern (1894–1966) gained international fame for her expressionist paintings of Black, Jewish, and mixed-race people, yet she was one of her nation’s most controversial modern figures. Having accepted grants from and publicly supported its apartheid government, she also kept ties with more progressive members of the South African Jewish community. Through her art, Stern played a crucial role in both developing modernism in South Africa and defining modernism as a global movement. Spanning the Boer War, Nazi Germany, and apartheid South Africa and into the contemporary movement fighting institutional racism at the University of Cape Town, Irma Stern’s work documents important 20th-century cultural and political moments. More than 50 years after her death, her legacy challenges assumptions about race, gender roles, and religious identity and how they are represented in art history. For all those who appreciate art or want to learn more about social activism around the world, art historian LaNitra N. Berger takes a closer look at Stern’s life and legacy in her latest book and will join us to examine these contradictions in Stern’s life and career. This program is free and open to the entire community. About the Author: LaNitra M. Berger, Ph.D., is an award-winning scholar, educator, speaker, and social justice advocate working toward making higher education accessible to low-income, first-generation, and minority students. The Senior Director of Fellowships at George Mason University, her scholarly interests are in art and social activism in the African and Jewish diasporas. Click here to purchase this book through WHC’s Mitzvah Mall Presented in Partnership with the Jewish Book Council . *This program will also be available to view via private livestream. To receive the streaming information, please RSVP using the form above. A link and password to access the livestream will be included in your confirmation email. Presented in partnership with the Jewish Book Council.