The novelty in Jewish performing arts in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries involved the adaptation of traditional materials into new forms, as well as a turn to performing arts that were unconnected to religious life.
This Hanukkah lamp from Poland is made from brass and would likely have been placed near the Torah ark in a synagogue. An engraved and cast eagle sits above a domed cupola, representing gratitude and…
Edouard Brandon’s painting of Amsterdam’s famous Portuguese Synagogue (1675) is set on the Ninth of Av, a fast day commemorating and mourning the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Members of the…
Jacob Epstein’s primitive style was not to everyone’s liking, especially when it came to his sculptures with biblical and religious themes. The overt sexuality of some of his sculptures also aroused…