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Quest, Issues in Contemporary Jewish History

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Printed_Matter is a monthly forum of ideas, history, literature and books dedicated to the Italian Jewish experience.

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DESIGN
PRINTED MATTER | CONVERSATION WITH GIULIA MAFAI

Cynthia Madansky

Between June and October 2014, an exhibition entitled Artiste del Novecento tra visione e identit� ebraica was held at the Galleria D'Arte Moderna di Roma. The exhibition magnificently curated by Marina Bakos, Olga Melasecchi and Federica Pirani included painting and sculpture by Twentieth Century Jewish women artists, some well known with strong international careers, and others who were as committed to their artistic practice whose work was rarely seen by the public.

On the occasion of this exhibtion, Giulia Mafai presented her new book entitled La Ragazza Con Il Violino on the work of her mother Antonietta Raphael (1985 c. - 1975).

Antonietta (Nekhom�) Raph�el was born in Kovno in 1895. In 1905, she moved, with her mother, to London where she studied painting, drawing, music and singing. After leaving London she stayed briefly in Paris before settling in Rome in 1924. Her work has been shown in international galleries and exhibitions including the Venice Biennial, Galleria Zodiaco and the 8th Quadrennial of Rome. I visited Giulia at her home to speak with her about her mother's life and artistic work. Read

PROGRAM | IF ONLY I WERE THAT WARRIOR

March 28  |  7:30 pm and March 29  |  2:00 pm

Centro Primo Levi at Vanni's, 30 West 12th Street, NYC 

Free admission. Refreshments. RSVP: [email protected] 

 

Join us for a screening of excerpts of a new documentary film on the Italian occupation of Ethiopia and its contested legacy. Filmmakers Valerio Ciriaci and Isaak Liptzin will discuss their work.

 

The idea of the film took shape in 2012 at a panel discussion organized by the Calandra Institute at CUNY and Centro Primo Levi NY following the controversial dedication of a monument to Rodolfo Graziani, an Italian army general responsible for war crimes in Africa. The CUNY panel prompted the two young filmmakers to research the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and understand why it was remembered so little and with such radical divergences.

 

The film moves from contemporary debate into the history of the invasion through the work of major historians of colonialism like Angelo Del Boca and Richard Pankhurst. Historian of fascist Italy Mauro Canali and cultural historian Ian Campbell accompany the public through the history of the occupation as documented in the Italian and Ethiopian national archives. Read

PROGRAM | FILM, OPERA AND CAFFE'   

March 30  |  1:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Free admission. Caff� Lavazza and amaretti will be served throughout the day.

A day of film screening from Centro Primo Levi's film and documentary collection. Special feature of the day is Emanuele Luzzati's and Giulio Gianini's Academy Award nominated animation La Gazza Ladra (1964) with music by Gioacchino Rossini. The film is part of a series of animations Luzzati and Giannini created after operas by Rossini and Mozart. Unlike their other films however, La Gazza Ladra uses music as base for animation and, departing  from Rossini's original libretto, stages a powerful commentary on war and the human kind.  Read 

 

PROGRAM | THE SARAJEVO HAGGADAH: MUSIC OF THE BOOK

April 15  |  7:00 pm

The Morgan Library, 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street 

Reserve your tickets (CPL members)

Merima Ključo, composer and accordion, Bart Woodstrup, artist,  

Seth Knopp, pianist  

A multimedia work composed by Merima Ključo, Sarajevo Haggadah: Music of the Book traces the incredible journey of this most treasured 14th-century Hebrew illuminated manuscript. Inspired by the musical traditions of Spain, Italy, Austria, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ključo collaborates with artist Bart Woodstrup and pianist Seth Knopp to present a multimedia performance exploring the Sarajevo Haggadah as a symbol of diaspora and return. A discussion with Merima Ključo and Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and author of People of The Book, the historical novel that inspired this production, will follow the performance. Read 

 

The exhibition Hebrew Illumination For Our Time: The Art of Barbara Wolff will be open at 6 pm for concert attendees.

SEMINAR | OF THE JEWISH RACE 

April 30  |  4:30 pm
- 7:30 pm

NYU Casa Italiana Zerilli Marim�  |  24 West 12 Street

In collaboration with NYU Department of History. Registration: [email protected] 

 

Ariela Gross (University of Southern California), David Kerzter (Brown University), Michael Livingston (Rutgers University). 

 

A discussion on Race and Law based on Michael Livingston's book The Fascists and the Jews of Italy Mussolini's Race Laws, 1938-1943 (Cambridge University Press, 2014). 

 

A panel of historians and law scholars will discuss the Italian racial laws and the history of the legal definition of race.

 

The legal approach is novel to the historical discourse on this time period, which has previously focused on political and social perspectives. As Livingston writes: "As compared to Hitler's Germany or Stalin's Russia, Fascist Italy offered at least a limited amount of independence to judges and lawyers, and a courageous few used this independence to ameliorate or limit the damage resulting from the laws. But many others expanded them and, by providing technical assistance in drafting and interpreting the Race Laws, lawyers were indispensable in making the laws effective." According to Livingston, the Race Laws were incredibly pervasive, took too long to be repealed, and produced irreparable damage. The most positive aspect of their existence is to now serve as a haunting lesson for any law student or future attorney. Read

 

THANKS
Centro Primo Levi is the recipient of the endowment fund established by the Viterbi Family Foundation in Memory of Achille and Maria Viterbi.

CPL's activities are supported by the Cahnman Foundation, Peter S. Kalikow, Dr. Claude Ghez, David Berg Foundation, John Elkann, Charles Hallac & Sarah Keil Wolf, Jeffrey Keil & Danielle Pinet.