Joodse riten en symbolen

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Grace Cohen Grossman

This magnificent volume is the first major survey of Jewish art to be published in thirty years. Superbly illustrated, Jewish Art presents a sweeping panorama of three thousand years of artistic creativity accompanied by informative and thought-provoking text. More than 300 stunning full-color reproductions map an extraordinary odyssey that has traversed the globe. Jewish Art's richly detailed text provides historical, social, and religious background that places these remarkable treasures within the context of the forces that shaped them. The rich culture and timeless traditions of the Jews have inspired works of art throughout history. The incredible range of the art presented here reflects every facet of Jewish life. Reverence for the Law is evident in exquisitely crafted furnishings for the synagogue: elaborately decorated ark curtains, Torah arks carved in wood or cast in bronze, Torah scrolls with silver and gilded ornaments, and lavishly embroidered Torah binders. Beautifully adorned objects celebrate the ritual observances of daily life - the Sabbath, holidays, and life cycle events - and attest to the value placed on preserving Jewish tradition in the home. Among the astonishing array of ceremonial articles and cherished family heirlooms presented here are such treasures as illuminated prayer books and marriage contracts, unusual and imaginative seder plates, a lovingly embroidered hallah cover, and Hanukkah lamps of infinite variety.

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Melissa Raphael

It is now widely agreed that the biblical Second Commandment neither limits Jewish art to the production of ceremonial artifacts nor to abstract or distorted images. Raphael goes further and argues that while creation and revelation are inherently aesthetic moments both for God and the world, the assumption that Jewish religious tradition is nonetheless mediated in words, not pictures, has left Jewish art with no significant role to play in Jewish theology and ethics. Despite a substantial body of literature on the history and diversity of Jewish art, almost nothing has been published on the role of the visual image in Jewish theology, historiography, and gender studies. In conversation with modern Jewish theology, Jewish historians' recent re-evaluation of the role of the visual in Jewish culture, and with the growing body of Christian theological aesthetics, Raphael engages several areas of contemporary debate relevant to students, scholars and the general reader. Arguing that the creation story in Genesis 1 mandates a Jewish theology of image, Raphael asks how and why images of Jewish women as religious subjects appear to be doubly suppressed by the Second Commandment and absent from modern Jewish culture, when images of observant male Jews have become legitimate, even iconic, representations of Jewish holiness. Against a tide of scholarly opinion that argues against the aestheticization of the Holocaust, she further suggests that ‘devout beholding’ of images of holocaustal suffering can correct post-Holocaust theologies of divine absence that have been skewed by the sub-theological aesthetics of the sublime. Raphael concludes by proposing that the relationship between God and Israel ultimately composes itself into a unitary dance or moving image by which God’s presence in the world can be represented to witness.

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Janet E. Grant

Provides information on identifying the writer within, creating three-dimensional characters, submitting a manuscript for publication, and other authorship issues.

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Sarah E. Braddock and Marie O'Mahony

This exuberant collection celebrates the way in which astonishing new textile technology is bringing together fashion, design, engineering and science. Here are microfibers so fine that fabrics made from them are windproof and waterproof, yet allow the skin to breathe. Engineered textiles combine fabric with glass, ceramics, metal or carbon to produce lightweight hybrids with incredible properties. Sophisticated finishes, such as silicone coatings and holographic laminates, transform color, texture and even form. Smart textiles are no longer a science-fiction fantasy - anti-bacterial, perfume-releasing, self-cleaning and anti-insomniac microfibers are being developed. Stripes of silicone coating speed swimmers through the water; when they come out of it, ceramic fibers utilize solar power to keep them warm. The book is illustrated throughout with the work of leading designers in the USA, Europe and Japan - Issey Miyake, Donna Karan, Helmut Lang, Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Alexander McQueen and many more. A comprehensive reference section includes biographies of artists, makers and developers; explanations of technical terms; a directory of suppliers; a full bibliography; and information on where to see contemporary textiles.