Temple Isaiah of Great Neck will be hosting a lecture titled “POP ART CYNICS: Rivers, Lichtenstein & Segal” on April 28 at 2:00 p.m. The lecture, part of Temple Isaiah’s continuing series about Jewish artists and their role in the art world, will be presented by Dr. Dennis Raverty, award winning teacher, author and art historian.
Secular Jewish artists figured prominently in Pop Art during the 1960s. The lecture will take a critical look at some of the most prominent artists associated with Pop Art in the 1960’s, and how they critiqued the visual language of advertising and promotion as well as the values associated with consumerist culture at midcentury. This was expressed with a sardonic sense of humor labeled “camp”, which according to one definition is “A banality so extreme as to have a perversely sophisticated appeal”—in other words, it’s so bad, that it’s good.
For decades Dr. Raverty has delighted audiences with lively presentations at libraries, churches, synagogues, hostels and business lunches on a variety of topics in the history of art, from the Italian Renaissance to the Harlem Renaissance. Dr. Raverty recently retired from his role as an Associate Professor at New Jersey City University where he taught 19th and 20th-century art history, the art of West Africa, the diaspora and African American art, as well as the Renaissance and Baroque periods in Europe. Dr. Raverty lives in New York City, and is currently co-authoring a book on American illustration with Dennis Dittrich, former president of the Society of Illustrators.
Temple Isaiah is located at One Chelsea Place, off Cutter Mill Road, and is a Member Congregation of the Union for Reform Judaism. For additional information about this or any other program, please call the Temple office at 516–487-5373 or e-mail at isaiahgn@yahoo.com. The suggested contribution is $15 and light refreshments will be served.
—Submitted by
Temple Isaiah of Great Neck
