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Jewish Art Before 1800

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Rembrandt Etchings Walking out of the US Holocaust Memorial in Washington, D.C. the stench of mass murder was overpowering. Western Civilization, that hubristic culture celebrating man's highest aspirations, seemed obscene. Stately government buildings that bespoke American power and beneficence only reminded me of American rejection…
Prints at the Philadelphia Museum of Art What is it about big?  Why are we impressed by size when we all know that the quality of any given thing is easily just as, if not more, important?  The simplest answer is that while man can…
The Sarajevo Haggadah: The Choice of Images All Jewish Art depends upon the choice of subject as the primary vehicle to elicit meaning. Style, composition, form and innovation operate in the context of the theme drawn from Jewish texts, commentaries, midrashim and history. For the…
Suspended A figure in the primitive mosaic is depicted suspended in mid-air, seeming to flee his father’s grasp and yet hovering dangerously close to an all consuming fire. It is our forefather Isaac, depicted as a small lad with his hands bound, and in some…
At The Library Jewish Theological Seminary And if Not Now, When? When you see a talmid chacham pass by, you stand up to honor him and his learning. You then return to your own learning inspired to do more and to learn deeper. The same…
At The Metropolitan Museum The Courtyard of a House in Delft, 1658, oil on canvas by Pieter de Hooch, lent by The National Gallery, London Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675), one of the great masters of the Golden Age of Dutch painting, had nothing to do with the…
The Rylands Haggadah: A Cry from Catalonia, Part II In the late 1300s a masterpiece of Jewish Art was produced in Northeastern Spain in Catalonia. Over the years this Jewish community had been subject to increasing hostility from their Christian rulers in the form of…
The Rylands Haggadah: A Cry from Catalonia I want to take you on a journey to a land where Jews once flourished. They even felt secure enough to make this masterful illuminated manuscript, the Rylands Haggadah. This Jewish community had been fully legitimate citizens of…
Artemisia and Esther Artemisia Gentileschi, Esther Before Ahasuerus, 1622, oil on canvas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Elinor Dorrance Ingersall Whether it is Purim or not, it’s always a good time to see Artemisia at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Artemisia Gentileschi is the…

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