The Jewish Identity Project: New American Photography Susan Shevlowe, ed.The Jewish Museum/Yale University Press 2005 227 Pages $40.00 ISBN: 0-300-10916-4

The exhibition commemorated by this catalog opened at the Jewish Museum, New York, and will be traveling to the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, on its way to ending at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, in 2007.

Most of these photographs are beautiful studies of faces; a few indicate their post- 2000 esthetic. In fairly even distribution, there are classic shots and funky ones, bringing the artist Judy Chicago’s works to mind, but no abstract/geometric/textural works are in evidence. Much attention has been paid to layout, typography, and overall design, as befits a museum book.

The serious theme is somewhat belied by the cover, a moment under a huppa canopying a cheerful and decidedly multiethnic wedding party with an unseen groom. A rich photographic treat, the book is in a generous but manageable 11”x13” format, augmented by carefully annotated sections: “Framing Jewishness: Photography and the Boundaries of Community,” and “Oy, Are We a Pluribus? Multiculturalism and American Jews.”

Inclusion of a section on the inner workings of exhibition preparation (generally fascinating to the lay public), followed by detailed photographers’ credentials, plus the lightheartedness mentioned above, contribute to this book’s unusual appeal.