These works were last on display from September 13, 2015 to January 3, 2016.

Published by L.M. Stein, Chicago, 1937

Spertus Institute Collection, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Iker.

In 1934, a Jewish autonomous region was established in Birobidzhan (sometimes spelled Biro-Bidjan), Siberia. This Jewish region emerged from a Soviet policy that encouraged each ethnic group to contribute to the building of socialism by settling its own territory (or oblast) and developing its own language and culture. Yiddish was declared the official language of the Jewish Oblast and a proletariat secular culture was bolstered. The area boasted Yiddish newspapers, schools, a library, and a theater.

In 1937, a group of progressive Jewish artists from Chicago created a portfolio of prints in support of the project. The participating artists were active in the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal government program that carried out public works projects during the Great Depression.

In the introduction to the portfolio, written in Yiddish and English, the artists expressed that their work emerged from a past rooted in age-old suffering but was energized by a cultural force that aspired for a better life and more understanding world. As such, some of the woodcuts convey hardship, both in Depression-era America and in Europe, while others express optimism and hope for the future.

Among the fourteen participating artists were notable Chicago modernists Todros Geller, Mitchell Siporin, A. Raymond Katz, David Bekker, and Morris Topchevsky.

Spertus Institute is fortunate to have a rare, complete copy of the folio in our collection. It will be on display in conjunction with our Fall/Winter 2015 exploration of Jewish life in the former Soviet Union.

Exhibits at Spertus Institute are supported, in part, by the Harry and Sadie Lasky Foundation.