The 18th World Congress of Jewish Studies

Palette, Perspective and Practice: Jewish Ritual Art and Material Culture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

author.DisplayName

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s permanent collection contains over two million works divided among 17 curatorial departments – but where can one find the story of Jewish cultural heritage in this museum? Like the Diasporic Jew, the answer is across time and across space. In a survey of Jewish history from antiquity to the present this lecture will examine the presence of Jewish ritual art and material culture at the Met which tells a wonderful story of Judaism’s history and heritage.

Because so much of the religion is based on ritual – prayer, mitzvot, family life, community, and good deeds - the study of ceremonial art as material culture is a strategic method to understand the traditions and experiences of the Jewish people throughout history. The exploration of Jewish heritage and culture in an encyclopedic museum is an opportunity to define Jewish art: Artist, subject, content, and provenance all play a role. However, the true testament of the Jew in diaspora can be seen in the consistent adaptation to and celebration of design aesthetic of host country, community or culture in a wonderful entanglement -- of religion and design. The presence of Jewish visual arts in various lands and eras speaks to the perseverance of a cultural heritage and the creativity of the Jewish patron and craftsperson remaining loyal to the integrity of the Jewish ritual.

This multi-department study of the Jewish design experience in the Met’s collection reveals a consistent nod to aesthetic motifs and design culture of host culture and current vogues as well as evidence of the Jewish patron in conversation with the gentile artisan. The Jewish visual arts speak to Jewish cultural heritage and its presence in the world of art history.