Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Five fine Jewish Art Titles

These just in. Some very interesting Jewish Art titles. The Lilien illustrated volumes are in particularly good condition which is not always the case. There will be a few more similar posts coming soon. These may be ordered through the Hollander Books website or by email or phone (415-831-3228).


Barnett, R.D., edited by. Catalogue of the Permanent and Loan Collection of the Jewish Museum, London. London and New York, Published for the Jewish Museum by Harvey Miller and New York Graphic Society, 1974. Quarto in dust jacket with slight edgewear, tipped in color plate on the half-title page, tipped in frontispiece depicting a commemorative medallion in honor of Wilfred Sampson Samuel, xxvi, 414 pp., nineteen color plates tipped in, ccvii b/w plates depicting 1208 objects (a few fold-outs), bibliography, index. Hardbound. Very Good. Inscribed by the editor on the free front endpaper. With a woodcut bookplate of a certain Jewish Art collecting couple. Editor's Foreword by Richard D. Barnett. Introduction by Cecil Roth. "Textiles," by Natalie Rothstein. "Silver," by Arthur Grimwade. Contributors to the Catalogue are "Silver*Brass*Pewter," Arthur Grimwade, "Textiles," Natalie Rothstein, "Manuscripts," Adolph Schischa, "Coins," Daniel Sperber, "Pottery*Glass," D. Manheim, "Furniture," Philip Blairman, "Prints*Drawings*Engravings and Trade Cards," Alfred Rubens, "Bookplates," Leon M. Hertz and Richard D. Barnett, "Medals and Seals," Alfred Rubens and Richard D. Barnett, and "Introductory Notes and Inscriptions," Richard D. Barnett.
          "Wilfred Sampson Samuel... founded the Jewish Museum in 1932 under the presidency of Sir Robert Waley-Cohen, coinciding with the beginning of the exodus of refugees from Nazi Germany ... This remarkable collection, now numbering over 1,000 items, was assembled with the aid of many generous helpers and friends under the chairmanship of Wilfred Samuel until his death when Alfred Rubens took it over and entrusted to me [Barnett] the task of bringing to birth and editing this catalogue. ... The nucleus of this fine collection is the splendid private collection , mainly of silver, of the Franklin family, placed on loan in 1932 but in 1967 generously sold by Mr. Colin Franklin, FSA, to the Museum. The next largest constituent element is the large and varied collection loaned by the United Synagogue in 1932, consisting mainly of ritual objects from former City of London synagogues; specially important are the silver and embroidered vestments of the Hambro' Synagogue. The richness in silver ritual objects was happily amplified by the purchase in 1967 of the rich collection of synagogal embroidered textiles from Central Europe brought together by Mr. Frederick Kahn of Leeds. But the Museum contains much besides the more recent Anglo-Jewish material. Jewish history and art are well illustrated by 'objets d'art' and ritualia from ancient Palestine, first century C.E. coins, a gold plaque and a foot-seal from early Byzantine Greene, a charter and wooden tally of Mediaeval England and various objects from Renaissance Italy and Central Europe from the sixteenth century onwards; particular interest is offered by the mixture of Jewish and non-Jewish craftsmen who fashioned these treasures." from the Foreword by Barnett. (71505)      $195.00

Börries v Münchhausen [E.M. Lilien]. Juda: Gesänge von Börries, Freiherrn von Münchhausen mit Buchschmuck von E.M. Lilien. Berlin, Egon Fleischel & Co., 1900 [1920]. Small octavo, blue cloth spine with dark blue lettering, illustrated paper covered boards with white lettering and designs in aqua and dark blue, decorative endpapers, frontispiece illustration in black and red, one short tear to the title-page, 85 pp., illustrated plates, decorative borders, mild toning . Bookplate and gift inscription on the blank between the free front endpaper and the half-title page. Hardbound. Very Good. Text is in German.

Above is Lilien's illustration of the Shabbat Queen. The homo-erotic quality of some of Lilien's illustrations has been noted but here another radical notion appears: an image of a woman holding a Torah.
                   Borries was a descendant of the famous Baron von Münchhausen (about whom, late in his life, he prepared a bibliography). His early career was as a poet in the German Romantic tradition. This volume followed Börries medievalism into a Biblical mode. Lilien's combination of the use of Bearsleyesque Art Nouveau and realistic Jewish types is only, in the long run retrospect, odd as a companion to the work of Borris, an author later to align himself first with extreme German nationalism and finally active Nazi leadership in the literary and academic community. (71542)      $125.00

Buber, Martin, edited by. Juedische Kuenstler. Josef Israels von Fritz Stahl. Lesser Ury von Martin Buber. E.M. Lilien von Alfred Gold. Max Liebermann von Georg Hermann. Solomon J. Solomon von S.L. Bensusan. Jehudo Epstein von Franz Servaes. Berlin, Juedischer Verlag, 1903. Large quarto, soiled tan cloth with blue-gray lettering, fraying at the head of the spine, with the Juedischer Verlag emblem on the rear cover, 176 pp., many b/w illustrations. Hardbound. Good. Text is in German. With chapters on the artists, "Josef Israels," Fritz Stahl, "Lesser Ury," Martin Buber, "E.M. Lilien," Alfred Gold, "Max Liebermann," Georg Hermann, "Solomon J. Solomon" S.L. Bensusan,  and "Jehudo Epstein" Franz Servaes.
                This volume has grown more uncommon of late. (71508)      $250.00

Kühnel, Bianca, edited by. The Real and Ideal Jerusalem in Jewish, Christian and Islamic Art: Studies in Honor of Bezalel Narkiss of his Seventieth Birthday. Jewish Art, Volume Twenty-Three/ Twenty-Four 1997/1998. Jerusalem, Center for Jewish Art, 1998. ISBN: 965-391-007-8. Quarto in dust jacket, xxxviii, 689 pp., bw. and color illustrations throughout, index. Hardbound. Very Good. Introductory materials are "Editor's Note [General editor of the periodical Jewish Art]," Aliza Cohen-Mushlin, "From Bezalel to Bezalel," Gabriella Sed-Rajna, "Introduction: The Use and Abuse of Jerusalem," Kühnel.
           Articles are "The Signification of Jerusalem in Biblical Thought," Shemaryahu Talmon, "The Place of the End of Days: Eschatological Geography in Jerusalem," Ora Limor, "The Temple of Jerusalem and its Restitution by 'Abd al-Malik b. Marwan," Heribert Busse, "The Temple After Solomon: The Role of Maryam Bint 'Imran and her 'Mihrab,'" Priscilla Soucek, Images of the Tabernacle/Temple in Late Antiquity and Medieval Art: The State of Research," Sed-Rajna, "'Antiquus populus, novus populus:' Jerusalem and the People of God in the Germigny-des-Pres Carolingian Mosaic," Elisheva Revel-Neher, "Relations of Time and Space: The Temple of Jerusalem as the 'Domus Ecclesiae' in the Carolingian Period," Martina Pippal, "The Menorah of Zechariah's Vision: olive Trees and Grapevines," Ariella Amar, "Ark and Curtain: Monuments for a Jewish Nation in Exile," Annette Weber, "Scenes from the Life of King David in Dura Europas and in Byzantine Art," Rainer Stichel, "Davidic Virtue: The Crown of Constantine Monmaches and its Images," Henry Maguire, "'Thou Shalt Paint the Likeness of Christ Himself': The Mosaic as Provocation for Christian Images," Herbert L. Kessler, "The Anastasis Rotunda and Christian Architectural Invention," W. Eugene Klienbauer, "The Rock of Calvery: Uncovering Christ's Crucifixion Site," George P. Lavas, "Between Jerusalem and Bethlehem: The Dating of a Newly Recovered Tessera of Crusader Mosaic Decoration," Gustav Kühnel, "Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulchre through the Eyes of Crusader Pilgrims," Jaroslav Folda, "The Loss of Christian Jerusalem in Late Medieval Liturgy," Amnon Linder, "The Destruction of Jerusalem Miniatures in the Neville of Hornby Hours and their Visual, Literary and Devotional Contexts," Kathryn A. Smith, "Black on White - A Remembrance of Jerusalem," Batsheva Goldman-Ida, "'Hec est Domus firmiter edificata': The Image of the Temple in Crusader Art," Daniel H. Weiss, "Between Vatable and Villalpando: Aspects of Postmedieval Reception of the Temple in Christian Art," Paul von Naredi-Rainer, "Piranesi and Villalpando: The Concept of the Temple in European Architectural Theory," Lola Kantor Kazovsky, "The Evocative Character of Louis Kahn's  Hurva Synagogue Project, 1967-1974," Luis Mariano Akerman, "'Jerusalem the Golden': Image and Myth in the Middle Ages in Western Europe," Jonathan J.G. Alexander, "The City refigured: A Pentacostal Jerusalem in the Sao Paolo Bible," Peter Low, "The Gothic Cathedral as Heavenly Jerusalem: A Fiction in German Art History," Wilhelm Schlink, Jerusalem from Girona: A Sixteenth-Century Representation of the Holy City," Silvia Planas i Marce, Joan Boadas i Raset, "Messianic Aspirations and Renaissance Urban Ideals: The Image of Jerusalem in the Venice Haggadah, 1609," Shalom Sabar, "Mapped and Marginalized: Early Printed Images of Jerusalem," Larry Silver, "The 'New Jerusalem' the Star of Zion and the Mandala," Avigdor W.G. Poseq, "Heavenly Jerusalem: The Byzantine Approach," Alexei Lidov, "A Reference to Jerusalem in a Georgian Gospel Book," Alexander Saminsky, "Gravures et vues de Jerusalem dans les 'Proskynetarions' grecs et leurs copies serbes et russes du XVIIIeme siecle," Waldemar Deluga, "The Idea of the Holy City in Medieval Muslim Painting," Tatiana Kh. Starodoub, "Visual Representations of Jerusalem's Holy Islamic Sites," Eva Baer, "Flexible Geography and Transportable Topography," Robert Ousterhout, "Jerusalem from Alpha to Omega in the Santa Pudenziana Mosaic," Wendy Pullan, "'Laetare filia Sion. Ecco ego et habitabo in media tui': Imnages of Christ Transferred to Rome from Jerusalem," Gerhard Wolf, "Linking Jerusalem and Rome in the Fourteenth cnetury: Images of Jerusalem and the Temple in the Italian Bible of Anti-Pope Clement VII," Cathleen A. Fleck, "The Image of the Dome of the Rock in Cairene Mamluk Architecture," Hana Taragan, "The Decoration and Plan of Queen Helena's Tomb in Jerusalem," Ruth Jacoby, "Jewish Substratum, Christian History and Muslim Symbolism: An Archaeological Episode in Jerusalem," Myriam Rosen-Aayalon, "The Jewelled Surface: Architectural Decoration of Jerusalem in the Age of Suleyman-Qanuni," Sylvia Auld, "In the Shadow of the Black Eagle: Russia's Imperial Policy and its Impact on the Architecture of Jerusalem," Piotr Paszkiewicz, "Karl Friedrich Schinkel's Design for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Prussian Involvement in Jerusalem during the Nineteenth Century," Chana C. Schütz, "Jerusalem in Modern Jewish Art in Poland and Central-Eastern Europe," Jerzy Malinowski, "Chagall in the Holy Land: The Real and the Ideal," Ziva Amishai-Maisels, "Chagall's Jerusalem," Mira Friedman, "Beyond the Holy City: Symbolic Intentions in the Avant-Garde Urban Utopia," Igor Doukhan, "Behind the Walls: The Real and Ideal Jerusalem in Contemporary Palestinian Art," Gannit Ankori, "Jerusalem: Anti-Myth," Milly Heyd, "Reflections on my Work While in Jerusalem,"
                 As important a festschrift in the field of Jewish Art. Narkiss essentially created the Jewish Art History as an academic specialty. (71504)      $295.00

Rosenfeld, Morris [Ephraim Moses Lilien]. Lieder des Ghetto. Berlin, S. Calvary & Co., [1903]. Erstes Tausend. Quarto, tan cloth with blue lettering and designs in blue and white, gold spine lettering, decorative endpapers, 147, [4] pp., b/w plates, illustrated borders, small in-text vignettes. Hardbound. Very Good. Text translated from the Yiddish by Berthold Feiwel. Illustrated by E.M. Lilien. Along with El Lissitsky's "Had Gadya," one of the finest integrations of Jewish Art and Jewish Literature. This is the first trade edition. There was an edition of 50 numbered copies on China Paper which was likely published simultaneously.

Many of the full page illustrations from Lieder des Ghetto are well known. However, what makes this volume such a fine effort (and all of Lilien's books follow this model) is the complete integration of text and illustration. This is a sample page including text to make this aspect of the work manifest. (71540)     $300.00

















George Segal, "George Segal: The Multifaceted Sacrifice," Heyd, "Russian Jewish Artists in a Century of Change, 1890-1990, Jewish Museum, New York," Matthew Baigel, "Too Jewish? Challenging Traditional Identities, Jewish Museum, New York," Ziva Amishai-Maisels.

No comments: