Yeshiva University Museum (NYC)

From YUM’s curator (follow his Tumblr at zcurator): A...

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:10:00 -0400

From YUM’s curator (follow his Tumblr at zcurator):

A RADIO THAT SHOWS BUTTS? WHAT IS THIS MAGIC?!

No, it’s one of Wallace Berman’s Varifax collages (named after Kodak’s Verifax copy machine which Berman used to make his work). Peering deep into the future (into our present) Berman depicts four, then ubiquitous, portable AM/FM radios. However, instead of a speakers projecting sounds, Berman presents the radios projecting an image — football, cigarets a naked butt. Nevertheless, all of these could have likewise projected their respective familiar sounds live, on radio!

Thought of as one of the fathers of contemporary collage — reminds me of a great Hannah Hoch exhibition I saw at LACMA in ‘95! — Berman drew on images and practices employed by Beat artists and poets, as well as earlier surrealists. Berman was interested in Jewish mysticism and created several works that present Hebrew letter combinations that he found in Kabbalistic texts.

Wallace Berman, Verifax collage and synthetic polymer with prestype on paperboard, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of Charles Cowles, 1988, Accession Number: 88.31

JEWS AND THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG - JUNE 3 @6 PM

Wed, 22 May 2013 09:39:15 -0400

JEWS AND THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG - JUNE 3 @6 PM

DANCE! SING! STUDY? - SHAVUOT IS ALMOST HERE! So what are you...

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:53:12 -0400

DANCE! SING! STUDY? - SHAVUOT IS ALMOST HERE!

So what are you going to do to celebrate the anniversary of when the Jews received the Torah at Mount Sinai? Study Torah until dawn? Eat bagels, blintzes, and cheesecake? Maybe dance with a tambourine? All of those are just fine for Shavuot, the holiday that marks the day (THE DAY!?!?!) when the Jews received the Torah — the 5 Books of Moses.

As for this image, it’s perhaps a bit earlier in the story. Miriam’s Song occurs just after the Jews escaping Egypt crossed the divinely-split Red Sea. Miriam, seen here holding a tambourine, is leading the women of the group in singing and dancing to celebrate their the Hebrews’ first moments of freedom.

You may ask, when did they receive the Torah? A few pages later.

Miriam’s Song by Samuel Hirszenberg
Poland?/Jerusalem? YU Museum (1975.021)

SCHOOL’S ALMOST OUT - BETTER STUDY BUDDY Although this...

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:24:36 -0400

SCHOOL’S ALMOST OUT - BETTER STUDY BUDDY

Although this depicts a North African man identified as a Rabbi, it is stamped “Souvenir of the Holy Land” and wishes the recipient “A happy Christmas”. Another version of this postcard, which doesn’t bear the Christmas inscription, was mailed from Syria to Paris in 1925.

Postcard depicting a North African Rabbi
Cairo, ca. 1925
Lehnert & Landrock
Israel

BIG MOMMA CHARITY - JUST IN TIME FOR MOTHER’S DAY! Israeli...

Fri, 10 May 2013 11:43:00 -0400

BIG MOMMA CHARITY - JUST IN TIME FOR MOTHER’S DAY!

Israeli history was shaped largely by charitable giving that sustained (and still sustains) communal institutions that seek to raise up impoverished communities. And this kind of giving was itself a means for creating a cohesive society. Before and in the first decades following Israel’s inception, the Jews moving to their ancient homeland from around the world often arrived with little by way of modern education, let alone the skills that they would need to survive in Israel’s economy.

One organization, AMIT (Americans for Israel and Torah) which took on that name only in 1980, came into being in the 1920s to provide special vocational and religious training to orphaned and immigrant children through schools, workshops, and children’s villages. It was the mother for children without mothers.

In Hebrew the acronym AMIT includes the word mother, and can be interpreted as the beginning of the word for “my mother” or “our mother.” These pendents were gifts to AMIT donors, which they were encouraged to wear to show that they supported this organization.

* “Mother in Israel” pendants, 1984 and 1985, YU MUSEUM colleciton

THE LANDSCAPE OF THE PHONEBOOK From YUM’s curator....

Thu, 09 May 2013 10:49:14 -0400

THE LANDSCAPE OF THE PHONEBOOK

From YUM’s curator. Follow him at zcurator.tumblr.com

Menashe Kadishman, Phonebook Cardiogram, Etching, 1972

What might a page from a phone book tell us about the constitution of our societies? If you could translate the lists of people and business into an image, such as a map, what would it look like?

Israeli artist Menashe Kadishman (b. 1932) seeks an answer to these questions in his Phone Books, some of which were presented in 2011 at The Negev Museum of Art in southern Israel. The exhibition’s curator, Dalia Manor, describes Kadishman’s project:

“Among the pages of the Phone Books in the different cities he visited, Kadishman‘discovered’ forms of landscape concealed between the lines of names and numbers. A grid of latitude and longitude coordinates, order and logic that are essential foundations for the information in the phone-book, also track random permutations of people and create curving lines in the margins of each column. For Kadishman, those lines resembled landscape contours, or the lines of a graph recording heartbeats in Phonebook Cardiogram.”

Learn more about the exhibition and Kadishman on the website for The Negev Museum of Art.

Thanks !

RSVP TODAY! - ARTISTS AND CURATOR TOUR MAY 8, 6 PM @YUMUSEUM Art...

Tue, 07 May 2013 17:23:01 -0400

RSVP TODAY! - ARTISTS AND CURATOR TOUR MAY 8, 6 PM @YUMUSEUM

Art with Strings and Lasers! There’s still time to see this! Join me tomorrow night!

Get a behind-the-scenes look of the exhibition It’s a Thin Line: The Eruv and Jewish Community in New York and Beyond with curator Zachary Paul Levine and artists R. Justin Stewart and Elliott Malkin.
Please join us for a discussion-based tour on the role and value of art installation in the eruv-themed exhibition, followed by a private wine reception with the curator and artists.
6:00pm – Tour and Discussion
7:00pm – Young Friends of YU Museum Wine Reception
Free; Reservations required.
Please contact Barb Adelman at badelman@yum.cjh.org or 212-294-8339

*Images: Extrusion, by R. Justin Stewart (left), Laser Eruv, by Elliott Malkin (right)

From zcurator:

RSVP TODAY! - ARTISTS AND CURATOR TOUR MAY 8, 6 PM @YUMUSEUM

Art with Strings and Lasers! There’s still time to see this! Join me tomorrow night!

Get a behind-the-scenes look of the exhibition It’s a Thin Line: The Eruv and Jewish Community in New York and Beyond with ME! curator Zachary Paul Levine and artists R. Justin Stewart and Elliott Malkin.

Please join us for a discussion-based tour on the role and value of art installation in the eruv-themed exhibition, followed by a private wine reception with the curator and artists.
6:00pm – Tour and Discussion
7:00pm – Young Friends of YU Museum Wine Reception

Free; Reservations required.
Please contact Barb Adelman at badelman@yum.cjh.org or 212-294-8339

*Images: Extrusion, by R. Justin Stewart (left), Laser Eruv, by Elliott Malkin (right)

“SHE’S GONE AND THE HARP IS BROKEN” A body in...

Tue, 07 May 2013 15:36:00 -0400

“SHE’S GONE AND THE HARP IS BROKEN”

A body in state. A harp ripped apart. A rose wilts on the floor and a shirtless guy contemplates it all.

These are part of the image created by the art nouveau illustrator Moses Ehpraim Lilien for the book Judah by Barren Börries Freiherr von Munchausen. Around 1900 Munchausen published a collection of poetry called Judah in which he covered topics such as ancient and contemporary Jewish practice and myth, Greek stories, and Germanic mythology. Lilian completed several images for this volume, which, itself, became the standard gift for Bar Mitzvahs and Jewish confirmations in turn-of-the-century Germany.

Lilian was and remains known his illustrations in the art nouveau style, particularly the images he created for early-Zionist projects. Munchausen was an intriguing character known in large part for his attempts to create a German military academy in the Prussian model in Nazi Germany.

“The Dirge” illustration by E. M. Lilien for Juda by Börries Albrecht Conon August Heinrich Freiherr von Münchhausen published in 1900

Walking tour and conversation, Friday May 31, 2013, 10am –...

Thu, 02 May 2013 14:48:00 -0400

Walking tour and conversation, Friday May 31, 2013, 10am – noon

Eruv and Monastery in Dialogue: Exploring Spatial Definitions of Religious Community

Join this exploration of how Jewish and Christian structures shape communities through shared purposes and essential distinctions. Rabbi Adam Mintz, curatorial advisor for the exhibition It’s a Thin Line, and Brother John Glasenapp, OSB, will illuminate historical and experiential aspects of eruv and cloister, and answer questions.

10am: Meet outside the Fort Washington Ave. (upper) entrance to the 190^th St. A-train station. We will proceed from the eruv to the monastic architecture in The Cloisters Museum.

Free; Space is limited.

Register: jmusto1@fordham.edu

Co-Presented by Yeshiva University Museum in conjunction with its current exhibition It’s a Thin Line: The Eruv and Jewish Community in New York and Beyond, and The Cloisters Museum.

THE SUN IS SHINING AND THE BIRDS ARE CHIRPING. TIME TO BUST OUT...

Thu, 02 May 2013 12:46:16 -0400

THE SUN IS SHINING AND THE BIRDS ARE CHIRPING. TIME TO BUST OUT THE SPRING CLOTHES.

Perhaps you might try this fantastic Yemenite-embroidered top on for size? The donor purchased this blouse during her honeymoon in a shop called Esther’s in Jerusalem. Many immigrant women earned money by embroidering articles of clothing using traditional decorative motifs to be purchased by tourists.

Blouse decorated with Yemenite embroidery
Israel, 1953
Collection of Yeshiva University Museum
Gift of Charlotte Schneierson

8 BIT EMBROIDERED PROPHET - PILLOW OF ELIJAH This...

Wed, 01 May 2013 17:12:00 -0400

8 BIT EMBROIDERED PROPHET - PILLOW OF ELIJAH

This wonderful embroidered pillow or wall hanging looks like an 8 bit video game, perhaps a splash screen from the first Zelda or Miracle Warriors (Sega System Fans?).

In fact, depicts Elijah the prophet, a wonderworker in his own time, just beyond the gates of Jerusalem. Elijah legendarily was sucked up to heaven in a whirlwind — or on a chariot — and occasionally visits the earth. In Jewish tradition his appearance is supposed to harken the coming of messianic times.

Pillow/Wall hanging depicting the Prophet Elijah, Pauline Fischer, colored thread; ultrasuede on reverse, 1996.396

LINK ARMS AND GET YOUR SISTERS! It’s all about Jewish...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:12:00 -0400

LINK ARMS AND GET YOUR SISTERS!

It’s all about Jewish women and the Civil War, Monday May 6 at 7 pm. Get your tickets at Smarttix or call 212-868-4444 for your tickets.

MANAGE YOUR TIME WITH THESE 5 CLOCKS A catalogue featuring...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:37:15 -0400

MANAGE YOUR TIME WITH THESE 5 CLOCKS

A catalogue featuring works from the Michael Steinhardt Judaica Collection, featuring this unique clock, recently came across my desk. Created at the end of the 19th century, the clock — which is as much a painting with clocks in it — tells the times for various prayers on weekdays as well as the Sabbat, and does it with an incredible flair!

Check out the Michael Steinhardt Judaica Collection website to see more.

From the collection’s notes:

Painting with Five Clocks, 1878

Artist: Avraham Pavyan

Hermannstaadt (Sibiu, Romania)

Painted on paper with metal dials with opening wood and glass frame

Height: 15 3/4 in., width: 22 1/4 in.

Hebrew Inscription around the border:

Psalms 88:13-17.

These manual clocks designate five different times of prayer. Two for the weekdays and three for the Sabbath. This provincial shamas created a proto-modernistic art work out of the need to post the times of services. In the interplay of color and shape one can foresee the work of Franz Kupka, the Orphist painter, and his 20th century painting Discs of Newton (1912, Philadelphia Museum of Art).

Photographer: Malcolm Varon

WHO’S THAT WEARING HIS SIDE LOCKS OUT? OH, THAT’S...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 13:04:12 -0400

WHO’S THAT WEARING HIS SIDE LOCKS OUT? OH, THAT’S WHO!

YUM’s curator discusses artist Michael Levin’s work on the different clothing styles of Hasidic Jews.

Follow our curator at zcurator.tumblr.com.

Shabbat Shalom Everybody!

zcurator:

LIKE A SKVER

It’s not always easy to decode the minute differences between ultra-orthodox Jewish sects. Well, these images will guide you.

I just came across some terrific work by Brooklyn-based artist Michael Levin who explores the modes and identities of Brooklyn Hasidic community through an intriguing variety of artistic styles. Kabuki. Manga. Persian miniatures. More. It’s definitely worth a look. This project, Hasidic Dress Codes, is just one of the fantastic examples.

Get your tickets soon, because they’ll sell out fast. Get...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:24:00 -0400

Get your tickets soon, because they’ll sell out fast. Get them at Smarttix: https://tix.smarttix.com/Modules/Sales/SalesMainTabsPage.aspx?ControlState=1&DateSelected=&DiscountCode=&SalesEventId=2237&DC

WISH WE HAD THIS PLATE If you could make a Seder plate, or any...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:49:26 -0400

WISH WE HAD THIS PLATE

If you could make a Seder plate, or any kind of Judaica, what would it be?

Passover has already passed us over, but it’s not too late for us to admire this fantastic seder plate created by Morgan Levine, who happens to be the sister of YUM’s curator. Check out his post below, and follow him at zcurator.tumblr.com.

Thanks zcurator!

SEDER PLATE FANTASTIC - PLATE

This wonderful Seder plate, created by crafting/pottery phenom (and my sister) Morgan Levine was central to our family’s Seder - the ritual, interactive meal during which Jews re-enact the exodus from Egypt.

Morgan wanted to produce a version of this plate for years, but doing so presented a surprising number of technical conundrums. It was only thanks to some fruitful collaborations at Maine’s Haystack, the famed ‘summer camp for artists,’ that Morgan was able to produce this otherwise light and airy piece.

Can’t wait to use it next year!

Thanks morganlevine!

The Seder plate I made last summer making its debut. Happy Passover!!

LITTLE ERUVS ON THE HILLSIDE A new post from YUM’s...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:39:00 -0400

LITTLE ERUVS ON THE HILLSIDE

A new post from YUM’s curator. Follow him at zcurator.tumblr.com.

To him, this watercolor depicting the flow of particles looks like the quilt of seemingly random settlements below a plane as you flyover and look down. it might also look like lots of little houses with court yards and alcoves, the type that were the impetus for the eruv, the physical ritual boundary around Jewish neighborhoods — which happens to be the featured topic in YUM’s incredible exhibition, It’s a Thin Line - The Eruv and Jewish Community in New York and Beyond.

zcurator:

BEAUTY OF THE POTENTIAL

This lovely image, which perhaps looks like a patchwork of new subdivisions, or an overhead view of rice paddies, or the design for a microchip, is actually a watercolor drawing of the potential flow of particles.

To me, it also kind of looks like houses… which is perhaps saying something if we consider the ways that human settlement patterns occur. Is it surprising that as houses and towns coalesce into being from the scattered discrete concentrations of individual structures, that the dispersion of particles should be any different? Put differently, when we flyover cities, towns and other settlements, should we be surprised if they appear somehow organic? … well, unless, like me, you live in a grid. :)

Thanks geo-graphique!

Écoulements potentiels sous les particules
« Potential flows under the particles »

40x28cm drawing watercolor _ paper 75x55cm _ Fabrice Clapiès

THE MESSAGE OF YOM HA’ZIKARON — TOGETHERNESS Like...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 21:01:16 -0400

THE MESSAGE OF YOM HA’ZIKARON — TOGETHERNESS

Like memorial days elsewhere, Yom Ha’Zikaron, Israeli Memorial Day, is a moment when Israelis and many Jews elsewhere come together to remember and contemplate the sacrifices made by their co-religionists for the Jewish State and Jewish people.

Together to Victory, Z. Bergman, Tel Aviv, mid 20th century, Linotype, Collection of Yeshiva University Museum, Gift of the Jesselson Family

THE SOUVENIRS OF REMEMBRANCE Today is Yom Ha’Zikaron,...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:01:20 -0400

THE SOUVENIRS OF REMEMBRANCE

Today is Yom Ha’Zikaron, Israeli memorial day, the day during which Israelis and many Jews worldwide take time to remember the sacrifices that gave birth to the Jewish state and sustained it up until today. This shirt commemorates the military efforts made by the Palmach, a precursor to the Israeli Defense forces, as well as the IDF and the Israeli government. It was created to mark the 10th anniversary of Israel in 1958.

Boy’s shirt decorated with Israel Defense Force emblems, 1960s, Cotton, Yeshiva University Museum, The Weinshall-Lieberman Collection

YOM HA’ZIKARON - THE DAY OF REMEMBRANCE Today is the...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:41:00 -0400

YOM HA’ZIKARON - THE DAY OF REMEMBRANCE

Today is the Israeli Day of Remembrance, a day when Israelis and many Jews observe the sacrifices made for creating the state of Israel.

This poster is characteristic of similar poster in the first years of the Jewish State, which considered military service and agrarian labor in the service of the collective society as crucial to the survival of the state.

Shoulder to Shoulder, Rudi Deutsch-Dayan, Lithograph, Israel, 1948, Collection of Yeshiva University Museum, Gift of the Jesselson Family