with essays by Ziva Amishai-Maisels, Dominique Jarrasse,
Rudolf Klein, Ronny Reich, Pierre Leriche
635 pages; 796 illustrations, 272 in color, maps & architectual plans
Harry N. Abrams, pub. April 1997; $ 175.ee
Book Review by Richard McBee / Jan, 1999
Where is the Jewish Mona Lisa? Who is the Jewish Rembrandt? They do not exist. Breathtaking masterpieces of aesthetic beauty and willful titans of individualistic genius are not the signature of Jewish Art. Beauty and genius certainly exist in Jewish art, but not in the realm of the senses. Rather, its glory is in paradigms established in the Torah and played out in history. Jewish Art by Gabrielle Sed-Rajna beautifully documents the sweep of the Jewish visual arts and places this tradition within the larger realm of the surrounding Western culture. ñ Jewish art was only rarely, and fleetingly, an ïart of princesÍ. Nevertheless, the presence of Jewish art in European civilization is palpable through its concepts, its methods and the ideas that inspired the works. Its creations are more significant in the realm of ideas and iconology than in that of means of expression. However, just as European culture would be inaccessible without a knowledge of the Bible, fundamental aspects of European art cannot be understood without a knowledge of the artistic creation which derived from the Jewish tradition.î ïContent, not masterpiecesÍ A startling opening statement to the reader of a sumptuous art book. Ms. Sed-Rajna then proceeds to maintain that the underlying vision of Jewish art is to be found in the image of the Tabernacle in the wilderness; in the first and second Temple; a vision ñbare of cult statues or images.î It is the lack of a divine image that defines Jewish art. Her vision of Jewish art is one fueled by tension and doubt, as the expression of a people involved in continual process and transformation. Concerning the sixth century synagogue mosaics in Israel; Ms. Sed-Rajna maintains that they evoke a ñhieratic vision of the world, ruled by the transcendent force of an inaccessible God, evoked through the symbols of absence.î
The French scholar Gabrielle Sed-Rajna has written many books and scholarly articles on various aspects of Jewish art ( Ancient Jewish Art, The Hebrew Bible in Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts). This is, however, her most comprehensive work that skillfully organizes diverse material spanning three thousand years and many cultural contexts. Ms. Sed-Rajna enlists the aid of five other scholars in their fields of specialty (synagogue architecture, ancient synagogue archaeology, modern and contemporary Jewish art, the murals at Dura Europos) in producing a work that is both an excellent introduction for the layman and is thought provoking for the specialist. Be forewarned that while the reproductions of every conceivable type of Jewish art and Judaica are stunningly beautiful (272 in color alone) , this is not a causal coffee table book. The illustrations are there to serve the text
The historical foundation of Jewish art is first established in the chapter 'Oriental Sources of Jewish Art, Sacred Spaces'. The concept of plastic representation is explained from the first and second Temple periods up to the evolution of Rabbinic Judaism in the first century of the common era. It was the Rabbis who defined the intellectual space of the visual arts especially in the ancient
synagogue and its decoration.
Long before Giotto and Michaelangelo, the mural series in the synagogue found at Dura Europos
was ñone of the most important sets of narrative paintings ever undertaken.î Accidentally unearthed by the British army in 1920, this well preserved series of wall paintings were hidden in the Syrian desert since 256 CE. The entire interior of the synagogue was decorated with a series of at least 28 figurative Biblical paintings expressing the themes of national redemption, reconstruction of the Temple and GodÍs providence towards His people. The extensive and detailed analysis offered here acknowledges the central place of Dura in the long hidden foundations of Jewish art. This presentation of the Dura paintings is fully integrated into its historical context and summarizes over 60 years of scholarship concerning the iconography of the paintings. Of note is the startling implication that they actually represent an extensive pre-existing tradition of Jewish Biblical illustration.
Further dashing the common notion that the Jews have no figurative artistic tradition, the amazing phenomenon of the figurative synagogue mosaics such as at Beit Alpha (518 CE) depicting the Temple, the Zodiac with the Seasons and the Sacrifice of Isaac and the floor at Hammas Tiberias (350 CE) are examined in light of the latest scholarship. The Dura Europos murals and these figurative mosaics are the first Jewish cultural reactions to the new and threatening phenonomon of extended exile. For all other peoples, exile meant extinction; but for the Jews, it meant reinvention and redefinition as is demonstrated by these remarkable works of art.
Jewish architecture is defined as ñessentially an architecture of reaction and interaction, a reflection.î The wonderful details that reflect the various cultures that the Jews found themselves in throughout their history in Diaspora are explored; the Moorish splendor of El Transito in Toledo, Spain; the hidden Baroque synagogues of Venice; the simple Georgian Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island and contemporary synagogues throughout the world.
" ïThe bookÍ was, finally, the ultimate refuge of all aesthetic aspirations when unfavorable political circumstances impeded the creation of major works of art." [Which was, unfortunately, most of Jewish history.] And what a refuge. This was the second flowering of Jewish creativity in the visual arts from approximately 1200 until the mid 16th century. There were Hebrew Bibles with frontispieces of illustrations of ritual objects from the long gone Temple, numerous illuminated scientific texts, miscellany (collections of ritual, sacred and secular illuminated texts) of France, Mahzorim (prayer books for the holidays) and illuminated philosophical and religious works such as Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed and his Mishnah Torah.
The crowning glory of Jewish manuscript illumination is the surviving series of fifteen Catalonian Haggadot from the 14th century. The opulent Golden Haggadah, the rich and inventive Rylands Haggadah and the Sarajevo Haggadah are but the most famous of these works in which the traditional home service for Passover is prefaced by extensive sets of miniature illuminations of scenes from Genesis up to the Exodus. ñThe analytical method of narration that distinguishes these images is alien to the conceptual art of the Middle ages, whereas it has strong affinities with the Jewish method of literary exegesis, the Midrashî which suggests that its ñcommon source is in the Jewish milieu of the ancient Near East.î It is a truly provocative understanding of Jewish medieval illumination to say that Jewish narrative representations are derived from a Talmudic methodology. In other words, we not only think like Jews but we paint and draw Jewishly also.
Judaica is normally thought of as craft and folk art, but in the context of this book, the ritual objects; lavishly illustrated here; ñcommemorated events in the ancient history of the Israelites - the
only history that was common to all the exiles - that filled the void created by a present that was fragmented, and, for the Jews of the Diaspora, out of control.î Kiddush cups, menorahs, spice boxes, Torah covers and Ketubot all expressed the concept of hiddur mitzvah (to beautify the commandment) within the larger task of what we now call ïcontinuityÍ, i.e.; the survival of the Jewish people in an alien and hostile world.
The most striking feature of the preceding sections is how small a role the individual plays in these works of art. Missing are the kind of legendary artists such as Praxiteles, Giotto, Michaelangelo or Rembrandt. Therefore, it is not surprising that in the final section of the book concerning "Jewish Artists from the 18th century to the Present" we still do encounter towering masters of artistic genius. Rather we are told "...modern Jewish artists are subject to divergent desires. On the one hand, they wish to be fully integrated into international art and culture, often joining avant-garde movements and making decisive contributions to modern art. Some bow to the pressures of conformity and try to assimilate, occasionally, even converting to Christianity. Many, on the other hand, feel a need to express themselves as Jews at some point in their careers... Moreover, for most of them, the interplay between these two factors is both basic to their art and problematic."
This exposes the central problem of Jewish artists (and perhaps is reflective of the Jewish people also) since 'the Emancipation'. But this is not necessarily the case for all modern Jewish Art. The serious study of Jewish art (as expressed in most of this book) is concerned with Jewish content and ideas, not with the ethnic background of the artist. In fact many of the medieval illuminations and some of the ancient synagogue mosaics were done by non-Jewish artisans. There is, however, an unfortunate shift of focus to the individual and away from Jewish content in the last section of the book that would explain the surprising omissions in the section on Jewish artists. While not fashionable as 'modern artists'; the work of Isaac Mizrachi, and Shalom of Safed certainly express relevant and insightful Jewish ideas. And surely the series of 105 etchings by Chagall, 'The Bible', is an important link in the Jewish narrative tradition going back to the Spanish Haggadot and Dura.
This book fills an important gap in our understanding of the role of Jewish art. It attacks the cult of the masterpiece and artistic genius with the notion that the cultural expression of this people has made a meaningful contribution to Western culture by sustaining a narrative tradition, primarily in literary form (Torah, Talmud & Midrash) but also in a pictorial tradition that dates from antiquity. Jewish art is a foreign art that helped give birth to the Western cultural tradition and continues to nurture it. It is in this volume we are given the opportunity learn about it in all its glory.
Richard McBee is an artist and one of the founders of the American Guild of Judaic Art