Exhibition: Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses: The Synagogue to the Carousel

Abstract

From gilded lions to high-stepping horses, the sacred to the secular, and the Old World to the New, "Gilded Lions and Jeweled Horses: The Synagogue to the Carousel" traces the journey of Jewish woodcarvers and other artisans from Eastern and Central Europe to America and the unsung role they played in establishing a distinct Jewish culture in communities throughout the United States. The exuberant artworks stand as a testament to a history of survival and transformation and provide a surprising revelation of the link that was forged between the synagogue and the carousel as immigrant Jewish artists transferred symbolic visual elements into this vernacular American idiom. The first major study of this important aspect of the Jewish contribution to American folk art, the exhibition features approximately one hundred artworks and objects, including rare documentary photographs of Eastern European synagogue arks and carved gravestones, sacred carvings, papercuts, and carousel animals.