Christie’s Mahzor: At Home in Florence?

Posted on: May 11th, 2012

The auction at Christie’s in Paris this May 11 of a Tuscan Mahzor, created and illuminated in the 1490’s, will be an extraordinary event. This rare example of illuminated Jewish art has not been seen publically in over 500 years and, aside from tantalizing internal suggestions, lacks conclusive identification of the scribe and illuminators. Because the gold-tooled goatskin binding was made about 50 years after the manuscript and has a different coat of arms than those found in the machzor, it is assumed that this prayerbook may have quickly changed hands.

Maurice Sendak, 83, Where the Wild Things Are

Posted on: May 9th, 2012

Maurice Sendak, winner of numerous literary awards for children’s book writing and illustration, and author of classic children’s book Where the Wild Things Are, passed away Tuesday at the age of 83. Born in Brooklyn to Holocaust survivors Sadie and Philip Sendak, Maurice gained acclaim at the age of 35 for authoring and illustrating Where [...]

Edouard Vuillard, 1890-1940, at the Jewish Museum

Posted on: May 8th, 2012

"Edouard Vuillard: A Painter and His Muses, 1890-1940" has opened at the New York Jewish Museum and will run through September 23. The exhibition offers a fresh view of the French artist Edouard Vuillard’s career, from the vanguard 1890s to the urbane domesticity of the lesser-known late portraits.

Two Irish Bands Succumb to Cultural Terrorism

Posted on: May 7th, 2012

Two Irish bands scheduled to play highly-publicized concerts in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Nahalal in June have cancelled, citing an overwhelming international uproar over their refusal to join the boycott against relations with Israel. Dervish and Fullset both published apologies on their Facebook pages, explaining that a mutual friend of theirs, Israeli musician Avshalom Farjun, [...]

A Jewish Palimpsest In Maastricht, Netherlands

Posted on: May 4th, 2012

One of my favorite places when I was growing up in Boston was the used bookstore on Beacon and St. Mary’s streets. Boston Book Annex could play a used bookshop on television; it was dimly lit and cavernous, crawling with cats, and packed with a dizzying array of books, many of which sold three for a dollar. But used bookstores of this sort, however picturesque and inviting, are a relatively modern phenomena. In the Middle Ages, for example, I would never have been able to afford even a single used book unless I had been born into an aristocratic family. (Full disclosure, I was not.)

Shuls On My Mind: Robert Feinland’s Paintings

Posted on: April 26th, 2012

One thing is certain about Robert Feinland - he has shuls on his mind. His career has spanned over 40 years, exploring landscape, cityscape, sculpture and abstraction. For many of those years he has focused on the relentlessly changing urban landscape of New York, feeling the necessity to document and, in some way preserve, the physical fabric of the city he loves. A selection of recent paintings, most concentrating on the Crown Heights community, is currently at the Chassidic Art Institute. Many of the images are of shuls.

Marc Chagall At TEFAF Maastricht

Posted on: April 19th, 2012

Jewish medals, several with Hebrew inscriptions and provocative imagery, were among the gems at The European Art Fair (TEFAF) in Maastricht, Netherlands, as I wrote in these pages two weeks ago. Another mini-trend at the fair, which will interest Jewish art aficionados, was an abundance of works by Marc Chagall.

Golden Haggadah: A Unique Methodology

Posted on: April 16th, 2012

The Golden Haggadah was created in Catalonia, Spain sometime around 1320. So named because all the illustrations are placed against a patterned gold-leaf background, it is a ritual object of incredible luxury and expense. In light of Marc Michael Epstein’s analysis found in his recent book The Medieval Haggadah, this tiny masterpiece of Jewish art easily ranks among other towering works of complex narration including Giotto’s Scrovegni Chapel in Padua and Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling in Rome.

Jewish Medals At TEFAF

Posted on: April 6th, 2012

It’s virtually impossible to ignore the financial aspects of TEFAF Maastricht, the annual arts and antiques fair in the historic city about two hours south of Amsterdam. More than 250 dealers from nearly 20 countries sell their wares—which span from Greek and Roman antiquities to contemporary sculptures—in the halls of the Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre, whose corridors are adorned by nearly 65,000 tulips.

Bird’s Head Haggadah Revealed – The Medieval Haggadah: Art, Narrative & Religious Imagination

Posted on: March 29th, 2012

Bird’s Head Haggadah Revealed The Medieval Haggadah: Art, Narrative & Religious Imagination By Marc Michael Epstein, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2011