Main entry:

Kampf, Avram.

Title & Author:

Contemporary synagogue art : developments in the United States, 1945-1965 / by Avram Kampf.

Publication:

New York, Union of American Hebrew Congregations [1966]

Description:

vii, 276 pages illustrations 29 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-263).
The Synagogue: A house of prayer, study and assembly - Synagogue and ancient temple - A house of the people instead of a house of God - Worship by prayer and not sacrifice - Instruction and debate replace magical elements - New relation of individual to service - The origin of the synagogue -- Löw's Theory - From city gate to people's house to synagogue - The view of S. W. Baron - conditions for growth of self government in ancient Israel - The synagogue as institution adapted to survival of religious-ethnic group in many lands - The synagogue as house of instruction - Prayer as instruction - Psychological consequences of daily prayer - The synagogue as house of assembly - Community functions of the synagogue -Philo on the synagogue - The Interpretation of the Second Commandment: Strict and liberal interpretations of the second commandment - General retarding effect on development of plastic arts - Sculptures in the biblical temple - David Kaufmann revises historical view of Jewish attitude toward arts - The work of Leopold Löw -- Abraham Geiger's Responsum -- View of contemporary scholarship - The archaeological evidence of an ancient Jewish art - Liberal and conservative Talmudic views - Jewish craftsmen as makers of idols - The view of Maimonides - Art among the Jews of Italy and Poland - Philosophic considerations - Judaism's preference for the spoken word - Views of Grätz and Herman Cohen - The Jewish concept of God - Attitude toward images reflecting religious situations in the ancient world - Pervasiveness of a moral view of life - The American Synagogue Today: The return to the synagogue - The rise of the synagogue center - Jewish survival under conditions of freedom - The quest for Jewish identity - The expansion of synagogue activities - The quest for decorum - Demand for art coming from traditional sources and new conditions - The view of Dr. M. M. Kaplan - The idea of the Holy - The adoption of modern architecture - What should a synagogue look like? -- The view of Lewis Mumford - The need for reconciliation of function and expression in synagogue architecture - The failure of functional planning to satisfy psychological needs - The need for the work of art - relationship of art and modern architecture - the solutions to the problem of art in architecture by Sullivan, Wright, the International Style and the Bauhaus - Leaders in architecture build synagogues - The function of art in today's architecture - Percival Goodman's contribution to the problem - Collaboration among the arts - Aft for Today's Synagogue: The expression of the Jewish ethos - The communal art of a seventeenth-century synagogue - The breakdown of the traditional Jewish world view - Jewish theology today - The function of art in the reestablishment of Jewish communal and religious values - The artist vis-à-vis the community - The position of the architect - The role of the rabbi - The need for his education in the arts - art as an avenue of religious experience - Modern art for the synagogue - The expansion of the repertoire of Hebrew art - A monumental scale for Jewish Analytic, expressive, and decorative tendencies of contemporary art in the synagogue - The problem of communication in modern synagogue art - The Hebrew letter - Didactic art - Synthesis of the abstract and the concrete in synagogue art - synagogue art and the freedom of the artist - Existence of Jewish motives in contemporary art of which the synagogue is unaware - A genuine religious art for which the synagogue is a natural home - Younger American artist and their Jewish subjects - The place of the isolated work of art in the synagogue - Relation of Jewish community to Jewish artists - The case of Ben-Zion - Congregation B'nai Israel in Millburn, New Jersey: Contemporary artists in the service of the synagogue - Artwork integrated into exterior - Sculpture aiding architecture in expressing the building's purpose - The burning bush - Use of new materials and new techniques - A mural on the theme of the temple wall - Inscriptions on the walls of the prayer hall - A congregation remembers - Stones from destroyed synagogues - Torah curtains designed by artist and executed by women of congregation - The signs of the curtain - The reaction of the congregation - The aims and achievements of the artist - Artwork on Synagogue Exteriors - The pillar of fire in hammered bronze - The creation of the world and the liberation from bondage in sgraffito, terrazzo and metal - Eight relief sculptures on persistent ideas of Judaism -- "Not by might but by my spirit..." -- The use of Hebrew mythology for representation of spirit and might -- "On three things the world is founded" -- A bronze sculpture of Moses and the burning bush - A menorah designed in brick - The pillar of fire and pillar of smoke in concrete, and a menorah resembling a chariot - Five tile murals on Jewish ideas from the Bible - A sculptural metaphor on theme of the menorah -- Sculpture in wrought iron - The ladder, the Torah and the crowns - A sculpture in metal and glass - Artwork in the Vestibule: House of prayer, house of study , house of assembly, a mosaic mural on the contemporary synagogue - the burning bush and the Messianic hope - The yoke of Torah, a ladder to heaven - Jacob's dream - The Messianic theme, another version of a mosaic mural - The Miracle - Artwork in the Prayer Hall--Part I: The ark as receptacle for the Torah scrolls - Ark and bimah, two centers competing for attention - The bimah, from a small platform to an imposing structure - The representation of the ark in ancient Hebrew art - The enlargement of the ark's frame - The Torah curtains and the Eternal Light -- The menorah, a cosmic tree transformed as symbol of Judaism - The memorial light - The Torah ornaments - The commanding position of the ark today - The prayer hall embodying tensions within Judaism--the point of view of a Jewish theologian - The functions of the synagogue are indivisible - The need to evoke the numinous - The use of stained-glass windows - Different artistic conceptions of the prayer hall - The wall which shelters the ark - The ark, free standing and recessed - The impact of contemporary design and materials on the ark - The menorah today, search for depth and asymmetry - A variety of Eternal Light lamps - The memorial tables - The use of electricity questioned - Artwork in the Prayer Hall--Part II: Interiors designed by Erich Mendelsohn - The evocation of the Holy by darkness and emptiness - The bimah of Temple B'nai Israel in Bridgeport, Conn. -- The Beth El, Springfield, Mass. -- The primitive invades a modern synagogue - Evocation of time and mobility in the arks of the Hebrew Congregation in Indianapolis, Ind. -- Silver ark doors narrate the biblical story in Temple Beth El in Great Neck, N.Y. -- Sculptured lead doors which recall the Holocaust -- Human figures and artist's self portrait carved on ark doors - A modern carving of an old Hebrew fold motif - The winged ark at Brandeis University - The meeting of man with God - The bronze ark of Temple B'rith Kodesh in Rochester, N.Y. -- Stained-Glass Windows: Stained-glass windows - Man and community - The windows in Temple B'nai Aaron, St. Paul, Minn. -- Stained-glass walls at the Milton Steinberg House in New York City and at Temple Shalom in Newton, Mass. -- Jewish history in stained glass at Har Zion in Philadelphia, Pa. -- Aspects of American Jewish history at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh - Stained-glass windows as backdrop for the ark in New York City - Fragments of old stained-glass windows worked into a modern design -- the unity of man, god, and the universe - Abraham Rattner bases the design of a window on the cabala - Bibliography - Notes - Index.
Also issued online.

Subject:

Synagogue art, American.
Synagogue architecture United States.
Architecture synagogale États-Unis.
Synagogue architecture.
Synagogues United States History 20th century.
Jewish art.
United States.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 6318
Call No.: ID:85-B4751
Status: Available