Religion

By PATRICK BUTLER
Religion Editor

Sunday is the final exhibition day for "The Eye of the Collector: The Jewish Vision of Sigmund Balka" at the Tyler Museum of Art. The museum is located at 1300 Mahon Ave. on the campus of Tyler Junior College.

The exhibit is free.

More than 50 works have been chosen from 200 pieces in Balka's collection for the Tyler exhibition said Kimberley Bush Tomio, the museum's director. Artists Marc Chagall, Josef Israels, Abel Pann, Herman Struck, Max Beckmann, Lyonel Feininger, Robert Motherwell and more are featured.

"I didn't collect art just to own art," Balka said to the Tyler Morning Telegraph in May at the exhibits opening. "I look for works that express the social consciousness of humanity."

Tyler Morning Telegraph

in May at the exhibits opening. "I look for works that express the social consciousness of humanity."

Balka's world-view includes art as "mankind's highest state of experience," he said.

"I'm proud to be a Jew," Balka said. "There is an intellectual current in Judaism, along with a spirit of creative expression that makes art important."

The "Jewish Vision" exhibit attempts to reflect that spirit through the interpretation of historical events and scenes of Jewish life. Works include expressions from 19th-century East Europe to Depression-era socio-realist painting, to contemporary abstract responses to the Jewish Holocaust of World War II.

"There is a spiritual force in the universe," said Balka "that is difficult for mere mortals like us to identify. But one way is by performing acts of social consciousness that identify the importance of that spiritual force."

Balka donated his extensive collection to Hebrew Union College's Institute for Religion in New York in 2006. The Harvard Law School graduate was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hebrew Union in 2008.

"It's almost impossible to overstate the scope of Sig Balka's contribution," said Tomio, "not only in celebration of Jewish culture, but to the art world in general."

The Tyler Museum of Art is accredited by the American Association of Museums. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Visit the Web at www.tylermuseum.org for information.