Gideon Ofrat: Great Mothers of Israeli Art

At the forthcoming 

Jung Neumann Letters Conference, April 24-26, 2015 

Prof. Gideon Ofrat will speak about 

The Great Mothers of Israeli Art

The lecture will follow the variety of "Great Mothers," in the Neumannian sense, along the history of art in Israel. An emphasis will be put on the Great Mother's association with the jar (of water or ashes…), its unity with earth and mountain, its idealization as a heavenly figure versus its representation as a devouring goddess, also its depiction as a birth-giving figure versus its aggression and danger. All these artistic images of the Great Mother will also be examined within the framework of the Zionist ideology.

Gideon Ofrat (Ph.D., The Hebrew University, 1974) has been deeply involved in Israeli art both as a historian and theoretician. He has taught at various Israeli universities and art academies, and also lectured as guest-professor in many universities in Europe and America. Ofrat has curated many historical and contemporary Israeli art exhibitions (mostly in Israel, but also in the U.S. and at the Venice Biennale), published hundreds of articles, art catalogues and about fifty books (mostly in Hebrew, a few in English, including ‘The Jewish Derrida’) on Israeli art, Israeli culture, philosophy of art and more.

Jung Neumann Letters Conference Website

International Advisory Board

Erel Shalit • Murray Stein • Batya Brosh • John Beebe • Riccardo Bernardini 
Jerome Bernstein • Ann Casement • Angela Connolly • Tom Kirsch • Patricia Michan
Joerg Rasche • Nancy Swift Furlotti • Luigi Zoja • Liliana Wahba