Sacramento State University had the pleasure of getting to listen to Israeli scholar and art historian Shahar Marnin-Distelfeld on April 19th, 2017. She had received her degree at Zefat Academic College and her PhD from the University of Haifa. She is now teaching art history and Jewish studies at San Francisco State University in California.
Marnin-Distelfeld's lecture was about Jewish artists and the the art of Israeli wildflowers. I could tell that Distelfeld was so very passionate about wildflowers and that they were something that were very important to her and the Israeli culture. The emblem of the Jewish religion is in-fact a wildflower, which is very symbolic of the region she had grown up in when she was younger. I didn't realize the importance of nature when it came to Israeli people, and the wildflowers are something that many are taught to preserve and cherish.
Israeli was very well known for its wildflowers and they were featured on postcards as well as travel catalogs and brochures. Marnin-Distelfeld also explained that this was used in order to spread propaganda and campaign the strength and ties of Jewish people are the world.
Some of the artists which she had talked about had included Ruth Coppel, Esther Huber and Bracha Avigad. These women artists had used botany illustrations in order to show feminist contributions to culture. This had also showed a connection to tending over flower gardens, which so many Jewish women had done and this type of artwork was a sort of niche for woman to take part in.
Shahar Marnin-Distelfeld's lecture was fascinating to me and brought about a lot of great insight into the Jewish/Israeli culture that I did not know about before. I really enjoyed getting to listen to her enthusiasm as it was so evident she was really proud of her Jewish heritage.
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