Frick Pittsburgh criticized for postponing Islamic art exhibition due to Israel-Hamas War

Jewish and Muslim art lovers are furious at a Pittsburgh museum for postponing an Islamic art exhibition because of the Israel-Hamas War.

The Frick Pittsburgh quietly postponed its exhibition, “Treasured Ornament: 10 Centuries of Islamic Art”, until August 2024 as it believe it would be “insensitive” to display while the conflict continues.

But Executive Director of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Christine Mohamed, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review she hopes the museum reverses its decision.

She said postponing it “perpetuates the harmful stereotype that Muslims or Islamic art are synonymous with terrorism or antisemitism.”

Adam Hertzman of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh said the museum shouldn’t have connected the exhibition to the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel or the bombing of Gaza.

“As with any community, some people will go see the exhibit and some people won’t. But I don’t think anyone connects it even remotely to what’s going on in the Middle East,” he told the Washington Post.

“Just in general, we know that blaming any religious group for the actions of a terrorist organization or a foreign government is an incident of bias.”

The Frick Pittsburgh quietly postponed its exhibition, Treasured Ornament: 10 Centuries of Islamic Art, until August because it believe it would be “insensitive” to display while the Israel-Hamas War continues. The exhibit was supposed to open on Saturday, and feature works of modern glassware, ceramics, metalwork, paintings, and more from countries across the Middle East. Google Maps

The exhibit was supposed to open on Saturday, and feature works of modern glassware, ceramics, metalwork, paintings, and more from countries across the Middle East.

But Museum Director Elizabeth Barker said the decision was made because the art center was concerned it might be hurtful to the Jewish community, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.

“When war broke out in the Middle East, we were as heartbroken as everyone, and we realized that we were about to open an exhibition that a forgiving person would call insensitive, but for many people, especially in our community, would be traumatic,” she said.

Adam Hertzman of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh said the museum shouldn’t have connected the exhibition to the war between Israel and Hamas. Gaza is pictured after an airstrike.AFP via Getty Images

Internal talks about postponing the exhibition began Oct. 11, according to emails viewed by the local outlet. Barker reportedly said she wanted to discuss the future of the exhibition “given the war in Israel and the inflammatory anti-Islamic rhetoric related to the current political environment.” 

She highlighted that Pittsburgh has a large Jewish population and the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting that occurred in 2018 which killed 11 people.

The official decision was made on Oct. 16 during a virtual meeting, according to the Tribune-Review.

The museum originally did not plan to announce the postponement, but after receiving backlash, it released a statement on its website.

A still image taken from a video released by Hamas apparently shows Hamas soldiers in battle.via REUTERS

“The Frick is devastated to have hurt neighbors we deeply respect with our unclear communication about the postponement of this exhibition featuring ten centuries of Islamic art,” it wrote. ” We will work earnestly to repair our relationships with the Muslim community.”

The museum claimed it postponed with the “intention of making it better.”

“As we looked more deeply at the show, we became concerned by the light historical context and our lack of engagement with the regional Muslim community.”