The Jewish Museum in New York has an exhibit titled Signs
and Symbols on view through January 6, 2019.
The exhibit "examines the
meaning of the Star of David within Jewish contexts as well as the various
interpretations of the six-pointed star as a widespread motif in other cultures.
Works on view range from a Bohemian Hanukkah lamp (probably 18th century) that
uses the star as an emblem for this Czech Jewish community to Persian and
Indian Judaica that feature the symbol as an expression of late 19th and early
20th-century Zionist sentiment. A ceramic beer pitcher from the late 19th
century decorated with the star is also on display, attesting to secular use of
the hexagram as a symbol for beer in Europe. Examples of post-Holocaust art are
also featured, including Morris Louis’s Man Reaching for a Star (1952), and in
Dana Frankfort’s Star of David (Orange) (2007), the artist intends the star to
be a symbol that anyone can make the subject of a work of art".
Thanks to Amir Roggel for telling me about this
event and for the photograph.
