The holiday of Passover is based on the biblical story of the Israelites who, under the leadership of Moses, left slavery in Egypt in search of freedom. Among the earliest biblical references to the observance of Passover is Exodus 12:11, which describes how and why you shall eat.
In Part I which relates the story of Passover, the extant Jewish art objects include wall paintings, Haggadot in Hebrew illuminated manuscripts, etchings, lithographs, repousse metalwork, and paintings, both wall and easel size. The works cover the period from the third century of the Common Era to contemporary times. In Part II, which addresses the symbols of Passover, Seder Plates are the most frequent example. However, examples of the cup of Elijah, Matzo and Afikomen bags, Passover towels and banners, and paintings, all contribute to the visual richness of the holiday. These objects cover the five hundred years, from the 15th to the 201st centuries. The holiday of Passover ends with the beginning of the counting of the Omer, and these calendars are shown.
Part I
The roman garrison town of Dura-Europos, now in Syria, holds the earliest known images from the story of the Exodus. This city, which included people of many different religions, was conquered by the Persians in the third century and not discovered by archaeologists for nearly 1700 years. A synagogue boasted wall paintings of Moses as the leader and various views of the narrative.
The oldest extant Haggadah, or book to tell the story, is the “Birds Head” Haggadah from Northern Germany in the 13th century. It is so titled because the figures, which perform human tasks, have bird’s heads, in order to “technically” avoid the issue of depicting people. They also wear the conical hat required of Jews at that time.
Of the early 150 extant Hebrew illuminated manuscript Haggadot, the “Golden” Haggadah is the most elaborate. Created in Barcelona in 1320, each panel has a golden background. A “Sister” to the Golden Haggadah depicts the interior of a Spanish synagogue during Passover. The most familiar Hebrew illuminated manuscript is called the “Sarajevo” Haggadah because that is where it was discovered in 1894. Other examples of this period are from France, Spain, Germany, and Italy.
The earliest printed Haggadah, from wood blocks, is from Prague in the early sixteenth century, followed shortly thereafter by others from Italy and Amsterdam. By the eighteenth century, this type of Haggadah was widely available and artists began depicting various other aspects of the holiday. In the nineteenth century, visuals of the holiday were even produced in periodicals and portfolios.
In the early twentieth century, artists reinterpreted this ancient story within the aesthetic idiom of the day. Perhaps the best known exponent of this is Marc Chagall. Aliyah to Eretz Israel in those years also created Haggadot reflecting the modernists visual approach, such as Zeev Raban and a painting by Reuven Rubin. In the United States, Ben Shahn created a Haggadah with his unique images and Arthur Szyk painted a Passover Seder that hearkens back to medieval manuscripts. Even the survivors of the Holocaust created a Haggadah for use in Germany in 1946. To complete this section, Larry Rivers made a three part mural depicting the history of the Ashkenazi Jews in his “History of Matzah.”
Part II: COMING SOON!
