Recently acquired by the Morgan: THE SONG OF SONGS
"The Song of Songs is a work of subtlety and sophistication, remarkable for its artistic control and elegant finish. The Song is set in springtime, in the city of Jerusalem with its outlying vineyards and pastures. The two lovers are recognizably the same throughout, as are the daughters of Jerusalem, the mother, the brothers and the watchmen. Eros is celebrated as the most powerful of human pleasures; other conceptions of love—as irrational and destructive, say, or spiritually improving—are not even contemplated."
From Commentary of their translation by Chana and Ariel Bloch"The Song of Songs begins with the intimacy of kissing, and immediately we find ourselves in the Garden of Eden, a paradise created by the young lovers’ delight. Yes, there are glimpses of hardship and disapproval from the outside, but on the inside when the two are together they find nothing but joy. They are caught up in a rapturous appreciation of each other, a taking-in of the beloved, an ingestion, a merging in the most intimate places of body and heart. There is no sin in this garden, no knowledge of good and evil. Everything is innocence and fulfillment."
Stephen Mitchell, from his foreward to the translation of Song of Songs by Chana and Ariel Bloch
The poem is divided into eight chapters. Each chapter opens with a full page quotation written in shell gold with facing full page illuminations using gold, silver, and platinum. The Hebrew script was specifically created by Jerusalem calligrapher Izzy Pludwinski to reflect the lyrical quality of the Song of Songs.
The vineyards of Jerusalem play an important role in Song of Songs. Since it is a favorite meeting place of the lovers, the Hebrew text is decorated with the stages of growth of the grapevine, from the appearance of the first buds to the ripe grapes.
The scheme of decoration for the English translation is based on the spices named in the poem’s text. Apart from pomegranates and fruit, the lovers’ fantasy orchard also contains saffron and henna, myrrh, cinnamon, cane and spikenard. Smaller paintings of the flowering spice plants adorn the English text. From the Joanna Rose collection of spice boxes are six different styles rendered as three-dimensional silver illuminations.
THE BOOK OF RUTH AT THE MORGAN
"The accordion-fold vellum manuscript measuring nine inches tall but an amazing eighteen feet long, was designed and illuminated by New York artist Barbara Wolff who worked on the project for two years (2015-17). The complete biblical text of the book of Ruth is written in Hebrew on one side and in English on the other, the work of Izzy Pludwinski. The Hebrew side features twenty colored illustrations and a continuous landscape, with accounts and lettering in silver, gold and platinum; the English side has forty images executed in black ink.
The manuscript is housed in a modern "treasure binding," a custom designed box covered in shot silk and decorated with 24-karat gold lettering that reads "Your people shall be my people and your God shall be my God" in Hebrew. The manuscript joins two other creations by Wolff on the Morgan's collection: You Renew the Face of the Earth: Psalm 104 and the Rose Haggadah, both gifts of Joanna S. Rose in 2014, which were the subject of the 2015 exhibition Hebrew Illuminations for Our Time: The Art of Barbara Wolff."
Colin B. Bailey, Director, The Morgan Library & Museum
"Famine and flight, emigration and immigration, the idea of being a stranger in a strange land—the story of Ruth is as much a biblical story as it is a story for today. It's also the subject of a new exhibit, "The Book of Ruth: Medieval to Modern," at the Morgan Library and Museum"
The Jerusalem Post, Maria Lisella
"Like the surrounding manuscripts, Wolff's masterpiece was entirely handmade. ...Majestic reds, blues and purple and greens as well as illuminated gold, silver and platinum, pop up from the Hebrew side of the parchment. Simple black and white, pen and ink drawings decorate the English text."
The Times of Israel, Catherine Prince
