Sarah Shor, a painter, graphic artist, and theater designer, belonged to the modern Jewish cultural and literary circles of twentieth-century Russia and Ukraine. The notion of creating “modern Jewish art” influenced Shor’s artistic evolution, and works on Jewish motifs occupy a significant place in her oeuvre. 

Jewish women participated in the artistic life of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union for over a hundred years. Jewish women artists worked in all styles, from the routine academic to the extreme avant-garde. There were also well-known art patrons, gallery owners, art historians, and art critics.