Research Catalog

Title

Gilded lions and jeweled horses : the synagogue to the carousel / Murray Zimiles ; project coordinator, Stacy C. Hollander ; with an essay by Vivian B. Mann ; foreword by Gerard C. Wertkin.

Author

Zimiles, Murray.

Publication

Waltham, Mass. : Brandeis University Press ; Hanover : Published by University Press of New England ; New York : In association with American Folk Art Museum, [2007], ©2007.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

• Hollander, Stacy C.
• Mann, Vivian B.
• American Folk Art Museum.
• Fenimore Art Museum (Cooperstown, N.Y.)
• Farmers' Museum (Cooperstown, N.Y.)

Description

xviii, 170 pages : illustrations (some color), map; 29 cm.

Summary

"Until recently, relatively little was known in the United States about the creative work of European immigrant Jewish folk artists. The destruction of the material heritage of Eastern and Central European Jews during World War II has made it very difficult to trace the European precedents for American Jewish vernacular artistry. The physical remnants of that heritage - among them, the types of papercuts, gravestones, and woodcarvings featured in this volume - can only suggest how extensive the traditions of Jewish folk art in Eastern and Central Europe once were." "Jewish craftsmen skilled in the elaborately crafted arks and bimahs found in the carved and painted interiors of Eastern European synagogues arrived in North America in the late nineteenth century, where they soon flourished and became the creators of some of America's greatest folk art. When these artisans came to the United States, they encountered a society more interested in what they could produce than in what religion they practiced. So, they not only continued to carve religious artifacts for the new synagogues serving fellow immigrants but also created wooden trade figures, carnival figures, and some of the greatest carousel animals the world has seen." "A principal purpose of this volume and the exhibition that it documents is to recapture a sense of awe and appreciation for a nearly lost tradition. The book and exhibition return to the Jewish people, and to world culture, a visual tradition of great beauty and decorative complexity."--BOOK JACKET.

Series Statement

Brandeis series in American Jewish history, culture, and life

Uniform Title

Brandeis series in American Jewish history, culture, and life.

Subjects

• Stone carving > Europe, Eastern > History > 19th century > Exhibitions
• Jewish folk art > United States > Exhibitions
• Wood-carving > United States > History > 20th century > Exhibitions
• Jewish art and symbolism > Europe, Eastern > Exhibitions
• Jewish folk art > Europe, Eastern > Exhibitions
• Wood-carving > Europe, Eastern > History > 19th century > Exhibitions

Note

• "Published in conjunction with the exhibition 'Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses: The Synagogue to the Carousel', presented October 2, 2007, to March 23, 2008, at the American Folk Art Museum, New York; and May 24 to September 1, 2008, at the Fenimore Art Museum, New York State Historical Association, and the Farmers' Museum, Inc., Cooperstown, New York"--T.p. verso.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-160) and index.

Contents

Foreword / Gerard C. Wertkin -- Recapturing the Past / Vivian B. Mann -- In America: The Synagogue to the Carousel -- Plates.

ISBN

• 9781584656371 (cloth : alk. paper)
• 1584656379 (cloth : alk. paper)

LCCN

2007016904

OCLC

• ocn123912516
• 123912516
• SCSB-5377021

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries