Ars Judaica, Volume 6
The Bar-Ilan Journal of Jewish Art
The Michael J. Floersheim Memorial for Jewish Art
About the editors
Bracha Yaniv is Head of the Department of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University. Her research topics are Jewish ceremonial objects and synagogue art. She is the author of The Carved Wooden Torah Arks of Poland and Ceremonial Synagogue Textiles from Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Italian Communities, both of which will be published in English by the Littman Library.
Mirjam Rajner is Lecturer in the Jewish Art Department at Bar-Ilan University. Her numerous publications deal with the early art of Marc Chagall, the art of Russian, Polish, and South-Eastern artists of Jewish origin in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, and the art created during and immediately after the Holocaust.
Ilia Rodov is Lecturer in the Department of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University. He is the author of many works on European synagogue art, focusing on the history, patronage, and meanings of synagogue paintings, sculptures, architectural decoration, and furniture design.
Contributor information
Ruth Apter-Gabriel, Former curator, Department of Prints and Drawings, and Curator for Special Art Projects, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Yossef Charvit, Programme in Contemporary Jewry; Department of Sephardi and Eastern Jewry, Bar-Ilan University
Olga Goldberg-Mulkiewicz, Professor, Department of Jewish and Comparative Folklore, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Batsheva Goldman Ida, Exhibition and Research Curator, Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Dalia-Ruth Halperin, Department of Art, Talpiot College of Education, Holon
Sergey R. Kravtsov, Centre for Jewish Art, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Elisheva Revel-Neher, Professor, Department of Art History, Johns Hopkins University
Joshua Schwartz, Professor, Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar-Ilan University
Tamar Shadmi, Department of Jewish Art, Bar-Ilan University, and Midrasha of Oranim – Academic College of Education, Tivon
David Stern, Professor, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania
Tamara Sztyma-Knasciecka, Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw
Noa Yuval-Hacham, Department of Art History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Emunah College, Jerusalem
Contents
Editor’s Note
BRACHA YANIV
You Shall Not Make for Yourself Any Graven Image . . .’: On Jewish Iconoclasm in Late Antiquity
NOA YUVAL-HACHAM
‘Jewish’ Art and the Making of the Medieval Prayerbook
DAVID STERN
Maiestas Domini Converted
DALIA-RUTH HALPERIN
From Functional Solution to Decorative Concept: Stages in the Development of Inscribing Liturgical Texts on Synagogue Walls
TAMAR SHADMI
Jewish Identities in Synagogue Architecture of Galicia and Bukovina
SERGEY R. KRAVTSOV
El Lissitzky’s Self-Portrait (Constructor), 1924: Paradoxes and Possible Sources
RUTH APTER-GABRIEL
Special Item The Birthing Chair: The Chair of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav, a Phenomenological Analysis
BATSHEVA GOLDMAN IDA
Exhibition Review
‘Pole, Jew, Artist: Identity and Avant-Garde’
TAMAR SZTYMA-KNASCIECKA
Book Reviews
A Woman for All Seasons Katrin Kogman-Appel & Mati Meyer (eds), Between Judaism and Christianity: Art Historical Essays in Honour of Elisheva (Elizabeth) Revel-Neher
JOSHUA SCHWARTZ
An Inverted Path Mitchell B. Merback (ed), Beyond the Yellow Badge: Anti-Judaism and Antisemitism in Medieval and Early Modern Visual Culture
ELISHEVA REVEL-NEHER
Jewish Identity and Modern Philanthropy Dominique Jarassé, Osiris: Mécène juif et nationaliste français
YOSSEF CHARVIT
Life in the Shtetl in Paintings and Narrative Mayer Kirschenblatt & Barbara Kirschenblatt-Gimblett, They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland before the Holocaust
OLGA GOLDBERG-MULKIEWICZ
Books and Catalogues Received
AVIVA LEVINE, MIRJAM RAJNER
Abbreviations
Contributors to this Issue
Submission and Style Guidelines
Ars Judaica is an annual publication of the Department of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University. It showcases the Jewish contribution to the visual arts and architecture from antiquity to the present from a variety of perspectives, including history, iconography, semiotics, psychology, sociology, and folklore. As such it is a valuable resource for art historians, collectors, curators, and all those interested in the visual arts.
Volumes of Ars Judaica are distributed by the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization throughout the world, except Israel. Orders and enquiries from Israeli customers should be directed to:
Ars Judaica
Department of Jewish Art
Bar-Ilan University
Ramat-Gan 52900
telephone 03 5318413
email ajudaica@mail.biu.ac.il
