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Press Releases
Israel Museum Celebrates a Century of Israeli Art
“This exhibition holds a special significance for us as it honors the man who, in both spirit and practice, became the founding father of the Israel Museum,' states James S. Snyder, the Anne and Jerome Fisher Director of the Israel Museum. "The exhibition follows the Museum's 40 th Anniversary, celebrated throughout 2005 with a yearlong exhibition series dedicated to the themes of Beauty and Sanctity'a fitting prelude for recognizing the man who aspired to become 'a high priest of art' and to create a visual language for a modern land of Israel." Boris Schatz: Father of Israeli Art provides a comprehensive view of Schatz's influence and achievement, bringing together the artist's own creations with a selection of work from the Bezalel workshops, produced in accordance with the artistic vision that Schatz himself developed and championed. As an introduction to the exhibition, the Israel Museum is displaying for the first time publicly a recently acquired handwritten document, which was later issued, with one additional sentence, as the Balfour Declaration . Prepared by a group of Zionist leaders and issued by the British Foreign Secretary on November 2, 1917, the declaration recognized the right of the Jewish people to a national home in the land of Israel. Considered a milestone in the history of the Zionist movement, this rare historical draft of the declaration contextualizes the work of Boris Schatz, who saw his own creations and those of other Bezalel artists as a subliminal expression of the emerging Zionist ideology and cultural vision. “Boris Schatz was a visionary whose goal was to establish, in Jerusalem, a cultural center for the birth of a new Hebraic art, "said Yigal Zalmona, the Israel Museum's Chief Curator-at-Large and curator of the exhibition. "Established in 1906, the Bezalel Academy gathered students from near and far, from the budding Zionist settlements and from the Jewish Diaspora, and continues to this day to promote Schatz's legacy and beliefs." Organized chronologically, Boris Schatz: Father of Israeli Art begins with a survey of his early career as a burgeoning artist in Warsaw, Vilna, and Paris. Through a selection of rare documents, photographs, and never before exhibited works of art, the exhibition examines Schatz's activities and artistic production in Sofia, in 1895, where he became a leading figure in the national effort to shape a new Bulgarian visual culture. The final chapter of the exhibition explores Schatz's artistic production during his Eretz-Israel period, his tenure as the director of the Bezalel Academy, and as the central figure of the first chapter in the history of modern Israeli art. The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual catalogue in Hebrew and English, including an essay by Yigal Zalmona, which reveals previously unknown research into the life and character of Boris Schatz. The exhibition and publication were made possible by The Schatz Foundation. Additional support for the publication was provided by the Israel National Lottery Council for the Arts.
Rising Sun, Melting Moon: Contemporary Art from Japan Jerusalem, December 2005 - The Israel Museum presents a wide-ranging view of Japanese contemporary art spanning various generations in the exhibition Rising Sun, Melting Moon, opening December 16, 2005, and on view through June 15, 2006. T he exhibition features approximately sixty works by eighteen artists in various media including painting, sculpture, photography, video, and on-site installation. Examples of traditional Japanese art are also juxtaposed as cultural and historical references to contemporary works on display.
Through the presentation of traditional artwork alongside works by contemporary artists, the exhibition seeks to spark a dialogue between old and new . Araki Nobuyoshi's photographs, featuring the female nude in various positions, are presented alongside traditional Shunga prints. Works focusing on personal perspective use dreams and memories which emphasize the spiritual dimension of life and the cycle of life, as depicted in Rieko Hidaka’s real-time records of the growing cycle of trees in her backyard.
Israel Museum Announces Unprecedented Gift of $12 Million To Endow Photography Department Jerusalem, October 26, 2005 -The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, announced today that longstanding patrons Harriette and Noel Levine have made a gift of $12 million through their foundation to the Museum's department of photography. This extraordinary gift-the largest single monetary gift for photography at a museum-will support acquisitions, research, exhibitions, publications, and departmental operations. In recognition of the couple's exemplary generosity, the Museum's photography department, which holds over 55,000 works reflecting the evolution of the medium from its earliest days, is being named "The Noel and Harriette Levine Department of Photography." "We are deeply grateful to Harriette and Noel Levine for this unprecedented gift, which ensures the growing strength of our program in the history of photography," said James S. Snyder, Anne and Jerome Fisher Director of the Israel Museum. "As one of the first encyclopedic museums to establish an independent department for photography, the Israel Museum has become a leading international institution in this field today. Harriette and Noel’s gift guarantees that the department will continue to grow, through important acquisitions, research, and programming, enabling us to realize our commitment to the medium.” Avid patrons of the arts, Harriette and Noel Levine have developed an outstanding photography collection that ranges from vintage 19 th-century photographs through contemporary works. The New York-based collectors are actively involved in the American Friends of the Israel Museum and have been supportive of the Museum for many years. Among other contributions, in 1994, the Levines generously gave the Museum a collection of eighty-five signed works by noted American photographer and photojournalist Andre Kertesz (1894-1985) . "We are proud that our gift will help advance the Israel Museum's emergence as one of the premier venues in the field of photography," said Noel Levine. "Photography as a means of artistic expression is a subject of very special interest for Harriette and me, and it is gratifying to support an institution that is a leader in the collection and study of this art form." In addition to the Israel Museum, Harriette and Noel Levine have gifted photographic works to The Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has named a gallery in their honor. They participate in many charitable endeavors and serve as board members and trustees to a number of cultural and arts institutions. The President of Troon Management, a real estate and equity management firm, Noel Levine is currently a Trustee of the Caramoor Center for Music & the Arts in Westchester County, Vice Chairman of the Council for Canadian American Relations, and Chairman Emeritus of the National Trustees and board member of the National Symphony Orchestra. He is a Life Member of the Chairman's Council of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a member of the Photography Council of the J. Paul Getty Museum. Harriette Levine is a trustee at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and the Friends for the Preservation of Art in Embassies in Washington, D.C. She is also a member of the Photography Committees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern Art. The Noel and Harriette Levine Department of Photography Since its opening in 1965, the Israel Museum has been devoted to the exploration and exhibition of photography. By the early 1970s, New York photographer Arnold Newman had begun acquiring works for the department, which was formally established in 1977, thanks to the efforts of a group of dedicated supporters. Today the department's encyclopedic collection includes works from the earliest days of photography to contemporary times. Featuring in-depth representations of such historically significant artists as Man Ray, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, and Andre Kertesz, the collection places the Israel Museum among the leading world institutions in the field. Over the years, the department has developed several areas of expertise, including important examples by the medium's pioneering 19 th-century practitioners-for whom the holy sites of the Near East offered unique subject matter-and photography of the Dada and Surrealist movements. The 1998 gift of The Vera and Arturo Schwarz Collection of Dada and Surrealist Art added works of unequaled importance to the Museu's existing holdings. As part of its commitment to collecting and preserving Israel's photographic heritage, the Museum has acquired comprehensive bodies of work by some of the most important practitioners who photographed in the region, among them Mendel John Diness, a Jewish-born photographer who converted to Christianity and captured images of Jerusalem in the mid-19th century, and Yaakov Ben Dov, Yaakov Jack Rosner, and S. J. Schweig, the early 20 th-century European photographers who emigrated to Palestine before the founding of the State of Israel. The Museum also holds over 20,000 negatives of Alfred Bernheim, one of Israel's noted architectural and portrait photographer. A recent major acquisition relating to the Museum's focus on vintage Near Eastern photography is a unique album of eighty-seven photographs by Scottish photographer James Graham, compiled together with Graham's handwritten notes from 1853 and 1857. Featuring some of the earliest photographic images of the Holy Land, the album was gifted in May 2005 by Katja B. Goldman and Michael W. Sonnenfeldt jointly to the Israel Museum and the Center for Jewish History in New York. The department also promotes contemporary Israeli photography through an active program of acquisitions as well as through individual and group exhibitions dedicated to the work of Israeli photographers. In addition, the department awards two prestigious photography prizes, the Gerard Levy Prize for a Young Photographer, and the Kavlin Photography Prize.
Rare Hebrew Manuscripts from the Vatican Library On View in Israel for the First Time Jerusalem, September 2005 – In honor of the Israel Museum’s 40 th Anniversary, the Vatican Library will loan four illuminated Hebrew manuscripts from its collection, which have never been shown to the public in Israel. Among them is a magnificently illustrated 15 th-century manuscript of the Mishneh Torah, the text which was written in the 12 th century by the Rambam (Maimonides). Opening on September 28, 2005, and remaining on view through January 27, 2006, these manuscripts are part of the Israel Museum’s “Timeless Masterpieces” series of international loans in tribute to its three curatorial wings – Art, Archaeology, and Judaica and Jewish Ethnography – on the occasion of the Museum’s anniversary year. “Crowning our 40 th Anniversary, this special presentation of rare illuminated manuscripts has religious, as well as cultural and diplomatic, significance,” states James S. Snyder, Director of the Israel Museum, “and it therefore holds special meaning for our Museum in this celebratory year. We are grateful to the Vatican Library for the loan of these truly unique treasures, which is emblematic of the strengthening cultural ties between the Vatican and the Israel Museum.” The Mishneh Torah, written by the Rambam, the greatest rabbinical figure in Medieval Spain, consists of fourteen books that systematically organize the vast corpus of rabbinic legal rulings relating to different aspects of secular and religious life. Featuring the first five books of the Rambam’s monumental work, this beautifully illuminated 15 th-century manuscript testifies to the reverence of later generations for the 12 th-century thinker and his codification. With its lettering and illustration beautifully detailed in color and gold leaf, the Mishneh Torah illuminates Jewish customs of the time, laws and practices of the Sabbath and such holidays as Sukkot and Purim. A contemporaneous manuscript also on view is an illuminated copy of the Arba’ah Turim, Rabbi Jacob ben Asher’s renowned medieval text of Jewish law. Like the Mishneh Torah, this codex of the Arba’ah Turim features notably realistic miniature illustrations depicting such scenes as wedding ceremonies or trials in Jewish courts. Both manuscripts, created by highly skilled and well-known non-Jewish artists of their time, are typical of the Northern Italian school of illumination. Accompanying these monumental works are a complete Hebrew Bible codex and a book of Psalms, both produced in Rome in the 13 th century and greatly prized by Jewish scholars since that time. Decorated with intricate and highly colored floral and zoomorphic motifs illuminated in gold, these are among the earliest such manuscripts in existence. “Produced in Italy, these four treasures exemplify the two distinct and highly significant moments in the history of illuminated Hebrew manuscripts, during the late Middle Ages and then the Renaissance,” says Daisy Raccah-Djivre, Chief Curator of Judaica and Jewish Ethnography. “They comprise some of the earliest known examples of illuminated Hebrew codices as well as works from the last great era of Hebrew manuscript illustration on the eve of the invention of the printing press.” The exhibition is curated by Daisy Raccah-Djivre, Chief Curator of Judaica and Jewish Ethnography, and Rachel Sarfati, Curator in the Department of Judaica. This exhibition is made possible by Merryl and James Tisch, New York, with special assistance provided by the Pave the Way Foundation.
Design for Thought: Contemporary Product Design from Britain
Presented in two chapters, Design for Thought traces a cohesive image of the innovative present and future of England's product design industry. The first part of the exhibition, "Found/Made/Thought: The Work of Industrial Facility," surveys the output of a cutting-edge London-based studio, co-founded by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin. The second part, "Pop Noir: Critical Designs Selected by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby," features works by the latest generation of London-trained designers.
"Pop Noir: Critical Designs Selected by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby" focuses on the future of industrial design through an impressively sizeable grouping of young designers, most of them graduates of the Royal College of Art in London. Their seventeen projects map out new territory, offering an alternative vision of design practice that is concerned with human behavior, therapy, and the ethical and psychological consequences of emerging technologies. For example, the products of "Sweet Dreams Security" by Matthias Megyeri attempt to change our perception of physical security in everyday life by adding humorous elements to their locks, chains, fences, and other implements of physical security. The exhibition is made possible by the donors to the Museum’s 2005 Exhibition Fund; Les Amis Français du Musée d'Isra ë l à Jérusalem; British Friends of the Art Museums of Israel; British Israeli Arts Training Scheme; and the British Council.
Final Exhibition in the Museum's 40 th Anniversary Series Explores the Genesis of Cult and Religion
“Completing our 40 th Anniversary series of exhibitions devoted to the theme of “Beauty and Sanctity”, In the Beginning examines the genesis of cult and religion through exceptional artifacts from the Museum’s comprehensive Neolithic holdings, highlighted by a very few artifacts of singular importance to the subject, on loan from international sources,” states James Snyder, the Anne and Jerome Fisher Director of the Israel Museum. “It seems fitting to close our Anniversary celebration with an exhibition devoted to the earliest material creations of mankind, among them some of the oldest ritual objects in the world, many of which have never before been on public display.” “In the Beginning leads viewers on a fascinating journey which explores the sources of religion and mythology through over two hundred artifacts discovered at archeological sites in our region,” states Debby Hershman, curator of Prehistoric Cultures at the Israel Museum. “These discoveries highlight the importance of the Land of Israel-the cradle of monotheism-as one of the first centers of organized religion thousands of years earlier.” Among the rare works on loan is the British Museum’s 10,000-year-old figurine of lovers from Ain Sakhri in the Judean Desert. Superbly crafted from a small calcite cobble and measuring a mere ten centimeters, the sculpture depicts a couple in the act of lovemaking. Sometimes referred to as “Adam and Eve,” the figurine was first discovered in the 1920s by a Bedouin of the Taamre tribe. It is regarded as the oldest portrayal of lovers in world art and one of the first works to express the importance of fertility, a rare theme in the symbolic repertoire of hunter-gatherer societies, but highly characteristic of agricultural societies. Other exhibition highlights include a collection of the earliest-known stone masks; a unique 16-meter reconstruction of the “Tiger Scene” from one of the first temples in the world located in the Negev; scepters and crowns from a cultic hoard found in a temple in Ein Gedi; a flattened silver cup depicting images inspired by creation myths; and, on view to the public for the first time, a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls considered to be the first version of Genesis. The exhibition is made possible by The Sam Weisbord Trust, Beverly Hills; the donors to the Museum’s 2005 Exhibition Fund; Les Amis Français du Musée d’Isra ёl à Jérusalem; an Anonymous Foundation, Israel; and the British Friends of the Art Museums of Israel.
THE ISRAEL MUSEUM PARTNERS WITH MARTIN-GROPIUS-BAU FOR FIRST MAJOR SURVEY EXHIBITION OF ISRAELI ART IN BERLIN Jerusalem, February 23, 2005 - The Israel Museum, Jerusalem announced today its partnership with the Martin- Gropius-Bau and the Berliner Festpiele in Berlin to produce the exhibition "The New Hebrews: A Century of Art in Israel," featuring over seven hundred works reflecting the diverse influences, styles, and media that have informed the evolution of Israeli Art over the past century. Commemorating the 40 th anniversary (1965-2005) of formal diplomatic relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Israel, this exhibition, on view from May 19 through September 5, 2005, tells the story of modern Israeli culture from its origins in the early twentieth century through the present day.Key archaeological objects from ancient times, such as the Temple Scroll, which have had an impact on the language of Israel’s modern visual culture, are also included. “We are pleased to work with the Martin-Gropius-Bau in the presentation of this momentous exhibition,” said James S. Snyder, Director of the Israel Museum. " The New Hebrews" is an important opportunity for the Israel Museum to mount in this major European venue an in-depth assessment of the development of the modern visual arts in Israel, beginning with their ancient antecedents. It offers an equally important opportunity to share this rich visual history with the German public in recognition of forty years of productive engagement, between the cultures of our two countries.” "The New Hebrews" surveys a century of culture as it has evolved in modern Israel. Over seven hundred works in such wide-ranging media as painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, graphic design, film, and documentary material, cover a broad spectrum of topics including: Zionism, the relationship between the Orient and the Occident; the Holocaust and its commemoration in Israel’s first, second, and third generations; Diaspora Jews and Israelis, and relationships between Israelis and Arabs. Sixteen contemporary Israeli artists are creating new site-specific works especially relating to the exhibition. The Temple Scroll, selected from among the Qumran scrolls found in caves near the Dead Sea between 1947 and 1956, is presented along with other major archaeological finds as an introduction to the exhibition. Serving as a bridge to the Jewish past, this archaeology links Biblical forefathers and modern-day Israelis. The Dead Sea Scrolls and their discovery-an event of global significance at the time-had a major impact on the fashioning of new Israeli culture, giving legitimacy to its identity and generating a sense of continuity from ancient to modern times. A three-meter section of the Temple Scroll is currently undergoing restoration for the exhibition, where it will be shown in Europe for the first time. “"The New Hebrews" is the first major exhibition on Israeli visual arts to take place in Germany and has been prepared by the Israel Museum, with the Berliner Festspiele as a partner,” said Gereon Sievernich, Director of the Martin-Gropius-Bau. “I am certain that there will be great interest in Germany in learning about the development of the arts in Israel over the last century. We are pleased to be the exclusive venue for this exhibition.” " The New Hebrews: A Century of Art in Israel" is organized by the Israel Museum in cooperation with the Martin-Gropius-Bau. It is curated by Doreet LeVitte Harten and co-curated by Yigal Zalmona, Chief Curator-at-Large at the Israel Museum. An advisory board of cultural historians and museum curators has participated in the project. A major German-language catalogue, fully illustrated and containing 600 pages and 20 articles by major Israeli writers and researchers, accompanies the exhibition.
THE ISRAEL MUSEUM CELEBRATES 40 TH ANNIVERSARY IN 2005 Collection Growth, Expanded Programming, Campus Renewal, and Greater International Presence among Major Accomplishments
“After a mere four decades-a short time in the life of an institution of our scale-the Israel Museum has emerged as one of the leading encyclopedic institutions of art and archaeology worldwide,” states James S. Snyder, the Museum’s Anne and Jerome Fisher Director. “Our collections and programs serve an impressive community of local and international visitors who enjoy both our campus in Jerusalem and our growing program of traveling exhibitions and other activities worldwide. Our standing as a repository for cultural treasures from all periods and all parts of the world has garnered local and international recognition, and it is gratifying to witness this response and to guide the Museum at this important juncture.” During its 40-year history, the Israel Museum, situated on a landscaped 20-acre campus, has emerged as one of the leading comprehensive museums worldwide. While its permanent collections-comprising nearly 500,000 objects-represent cultures from around the globe and from all periods of modern mankind, they also have special relevance to the Museum’s setting in Jerusalem. The Museum’s extensive holdings in the archaeology of the ancient Land of Israel and of the origins of the monotheistic faiths, as well as its comprehensive holdings of Jewish ceremonial art and ethnography, rank among the finest worldwide. Its fine art collections range from Old Masters to contemporary art, including Western, Asian, and Oriental cultures and the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, together with prints, drawings, photography, architecture, and design. The Museum’s campus, which has benefited from an ongoing process of growth and renewal, includes: the Shrine of the Book, designed by Frederick Kiesler to house the Dead Sea Scrolls; the Billy Rose Art Garden, designed by Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi; and a dynamic Youth Wing that organizes annual educational programming for children and adults. BEAUTY AND SANCTITY The exhibitions in the 40 th anniversary series highlight the Museum as a repository for cultural treasures which, because of its special standing in Jerusalem, in Israel, and in the world, hold particular importance. With its embracing view-beginning with the pre-historic archaeology of the ancient Near East-the Museum is able to interpret objects of art and archaeology from a perspective that begins with the earliest emergence of ritual practice and continues, in contemporary times, with the aesthetic ideals of the modern visual arts. Major objects collected throughout the Museum’s history will be shown together with recent acquisitions on view for the first time. “The Beauty of Sanctity: Masterworks from Every Age,” the central exhibition in the series, opens on March 29 and remains on view through October 29. Featuring more than 75 works from across the Museum’s collections, this exhibition examines how objects from ancient to contemporary times achieve sanctified status, through either ritual use or pure aesthetic quality. “The Beauty of Sanctity” begins with Neolithic masks reflecting the first signs of organized cultic practices and of man’s attempts to reflect upon himself in material form, leading to the emergence of the roots of modern monotheism. It will also feature for the first time the 2 nd-century CE Beth Shean Venus, the most significant life-size Roman sculpture excavated in Israel and newly restored at the Israel Museum, which exemplifies the early definition of classical Western beauty. The presence of accents of red, blue, and yellow pigment on its surface make this beautifully modeled and preserved Venus all the more exceptional in the history of classical antiquity. The exhibition also presents in a new context such masterworks as Nicolas Poussin’s “Destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem” (1625-26), a defining source for the modern visual interpretation of such motifs as the Menorah, the Second Temple, and the first moments of the Jewish Diaspora from the ancient Holy Land. Other exhibitions in the series include: “Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus: Saints in European Art,” on display through October 29, surveys the lives and miracles of the saints and other depictions of New Testament scenes, drawn from the Museum’s holdings in painting, sculpture, drawings, and prints. Works by the Italian masters Garofalo (Benvenuto Tisi), Salvator Rosa, and Bernardo Strozzi are among the highlights, as well as “The Martyrdom of St. Bartholomeo” (1618), a masterpiece by the Spanish Baroque painter Jose Ribera, recently gifted to the Museum. Exploring the subject of sainthood in its various manifestations, this exhibition reveals a previously unexplored dimension of the Museum’s European Art collection. “Beyond the Eye of the Beholder: Ideals of Human Beauty in Africa and the Americas,” on view from February 15 through December 31, examines ways in which shaping and decorating the human figure served both aesthetic goals and ritual practices in the cultures of Africa, Oceania, and Precolumbia. Through selected works from the Museum’s rich collections in the arts of these cultures, the exhibition explores non-Western interpretations of beauty and how they originate in the sacred rituals of these societies. “Lights: An Exhibition in Conjunction with the Adi Prize on ‘Light and Matter,’” on view from February 22 through August 13, surveys the ways in which light is featured in the recent work of Israeli and international artists to convey spiritual themes and experiences of spirituality. Works by finalists in the 2003 Adi Prize for Jewish Expression in Art and Design competition on “light and matter” are included, along with works drawn from the Museum’s holdings in Judaica, Archaeology, and the Fine Arts. “Sacred Beauty: Treasures of Judaica and Jewish Ethnography,” on view from March 11 through August 27, highlights recent acquisitions in the fields of Judaica and Jewish Ethnography, emphasizing the beauty of the material culture of religious and secular Jewish life. Many of the works on display have not been shown before, including the First Nuremberg Haggadah, a highly important and rare 15 th- century Medieval manuscript, handwritten and illustrated by the well-known Jewish scribe Yoel ben Simeon; a 17 th-century Esther scroll from the Netherlands; a richly embroidered 18 th-century Torah Ark Curtain (parokhet) from Bavaria, Germany; a pair of unique 18 th-century Torah finials from Iraq or Syria; and selected items on loan from the newly arrived Alan Slifka Collection of Bezalel School artifacts from the early 20 th century, including carpets, Passover plates, and exquisite silver filigree work. “Camera Sacra: Capturing the Soul of Nature,” from April 21 through July 16, surveys the use of photography as a means of recording and interpreting the spiritual dimension of nature. This exhibition, with over 100 works drawn from the Museum’s collection, some on view for the first time, follows the tradition of landscape photography from the invention of the medium in the early 19th century to the present day. These striking images emphasize both the actual physical dimension of the landscape and its qualities of beauty, and the potential of the medium for capturing the mystery and spirituality of nature. On view from April 12 through November 5, “Vanishing Point: Hidden Beauty in Contemporary Art” examines the aesthetic concept of the sublime as an experience of the unknowable, the limitless, the awe-inspiring, and the superhuman. The merging of the spiritual and the beautiful-an important subject in contemporary art-is explored through examples from the Museum’s rich holdings in this area. New acquisitions, including works by Absalon, Miroslaw Balka, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Olafur Eliasson, Catherine Opie, and Mark Wallinger, are shown along with others by Teresita Fernandez, Agnes Martin, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Richard Tuttle, Felix Gonzales-Torres, Anish Kapoor, and Paul Pfeiffer. “In the Beginning: Prehistory and the Origins of Myth,” the final selection in the “Beauty and Sanctity” series, opens on July 15 and remains on view through December 31. Using the Museum’s unique holdings of Neolithic artifacts, this show examines modern man’s earliest efforts to form an understanding of the world around him and to reflect that understanding in material form. Ancient cult objects shed light on the genesis of an important aspect of human life-cult and religion. Archaeological evidence suggests that the land of Israel, where the great monotheistic faiths began, played a key role in the evolution of organized religious practice. The unique objects and structures uncovered in the Neolithic sites of this region are the only clues to this unfolding religious journey. VISITING MASTERS PROGRAM The Museum’s 40 th anniversary year also includes important loans from major international museums recognizing each of the Museum’s three curatorial wings in Art, Archaeology, and Judaica and Jewish Ethnography. A special highlight will be a group of rare 13 th- to 15 th-century illuminated Jewish manuscripts, on loan to Israel for the first time from the Vatican Library, Rome. Among these is the Mishne Torah of Maimonides, written in Northern Italy in the 15 th century (on view September – December). Other highlights include: “The Giustiniani Stele” (5 th century BCE), from the Antiken Sammlung, Berlin State Museums (on view March through October); “My Distinguished Parents: Statueof a Couple from the Pyramid Age” (ca. 2465–2420 BCE), from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (on view March through October); and Rembrandt van Rijn’s “Heroine from the Old Testament (Esther or Bathsheba)” (1632–33), from the National Gallery, Canada (on view May through September).
Israel Museum to Enable Free Entrance to Israeli Children
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