Exploring Art and Judaism

This series of paintings from 1996-1997 marks the beginning of my search concerning the relationship between Judaism and art. The text for the solo exhibition of these works at the Mishkan Museum of Art at Ein Harod (1998) began with these thoughts:

Shema – Hear O Israel – hearing vs. seeing.  While saying this prayer it is customary to cover one’s eyes in order to concentrate.  Seeing is troublesome, perhaps dangerous.  But the painting of this act is all about seeing, about the eye.

This is a meeting point and a point of conflict between two traditions: the Jewish tradition, at the center of which lies the text, passed on by reading, speaking and hearing (the Torah), and dictated physical acts (the commandments); versus the tradition of Western painting, at the center of which lies the eye and the world revealed to it, a tradition with roots in Christian Europe. Continue reading exhibition text.

Shema, painting by Ruth Kestenbaum Ben-Dov, tension between prayer and vision, Judaism and art

Shema, 1997, oil on canvas, 19 X 15 cm, collection of Linda Zisquit, Artspace Gallery, Jerusalem

Ruth Kestenbaum Ben-Dov, painting of hands covering face in blessing, tension between prayer and vision, Judaism and visual art.

Untitled, 1997, oil on canvas, 19 X 15 cm, private collection, Washington, D.C.

Ruth Kestenbaum Ben-Dov, Immersion 1, 1997, oil on canvas, 130 X 90 cm; image of woman immersing in ritual bath (mikve)

Immersion 1, 1997, oil on canvas, 130 X 90 cm, private collection, San Francisco

Immersion 2, 1996, oil on canvas, 44 X 32 cm` image of face of woman immersing in ritual bath (mikve)

Immersion 2, 1996, oil on canvas, 44 X 32 cm, private collection, Jerusalem

Immersion 3, 1997, oil on canvas, 45 X 44 cm; image of hands and body immersing in ritual bath (mikveh)

Immersion 3, 1997, oil on canvas, 45 X 44 cm, collection of Mishkan Museum of Art, Ein Harod