"Lilith"

When the Jewish Museum mounted its “Too Jewish?” show in 1996, the field of identity politics in art was broadened to include Jewishness. Strangely overlooked in that exhibit, however, was the important role Jews have played in the history of postwar American art. Indeed, a crucial catalyst in the development of Abstract Expressionism was the relationship between various Jewish artist/intellectuals (well ; versed in Cabalistic mysticism and the Talmud) and the Surrealist refugees with whom they’d booze the night away.

Yet as “Lilith” suggests, a specifically Jewish involvement with abstraction continues to this day. Provocatively, curator Stephanie Theodore focuses here on women, even naming her show after the biblical first wife of Adam (not Frazier’s spouse on Cheers).Together, these artists represent a substantial tradition—albeit one historically overshadowed by the boys’ club of Jackson Pollock, et al.

Of course, a theme this large needs a space much bigger than the one provided here: Theodore barely scratches the surface of her subject before running out of wall space. Still, what is presented constitutes a serious inquiry into a field rich with possibilities for future exploration.

Theodore has chosen to focus on six painters with long professional track records. Although sometimes inconsistent, the painter’s painter Louise Fishman is represented here by Lifting, Moving, Placing, a dark, brooding beauty of a piece structured by chunky architectonic blocks of green. Nearby, Cora Cohen’s small, explosive jewel of a painting is desublimated mark-making at its best, while Melissa Meyer’s The Green Painting suggests a woozy, luscious landscape of emerald foliage. Joan Snyder—an artist I’ve always admired more than liked—seems a bit out of place; her quiet Bones is like a puzzle amid the muscular, battling brushstrokes of the other pieces.

Even without Theodore’s curatorial premise, “Lilith” would be a concise, informative selection of sincere, smart abstraction for our era of ironic disbelief. And its invitation to consider gender and cultural identity alongside the history of Action Painting gives us something even better: a show that can be debated long into the night at whatever pale substitute for the Cedar Tavern remains.

—Bill Arning