V&A Jewish Culture Month explores ritual, dress, photography, and performance
From late May through June, the Victoria and Albert Museum will host Jewish Culture Month, featuring an extensive program of tours, talks, and film screenings that delve into Jewish heritage and traditions. Notable attractions include the recently refurbished Gilbert Galleries, highlighting exquisite Torah finials from the late 18th century and a gold Torah crown from early 19th-century Vienna, part of Sir Arthur and Lady Rosalinde Gilbert's collection. Specialized tours will showcase 19th-century leather slippers from Turkey as well as the contributions of Jewish photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Diane Arbus, complemented by Danny Braverman's performance, 'Wot? No Fish!!'.
Key facts
- Jewish Culture Month at the V&A runs in May and June.
- Gilbert Galleries display over 500 works from the collection of Sir Arthur and Lady Rosalinde Gilbert.
- Silver-gilt Torah finials (rimmonim) from the Netherlands, ca. 1780, are on view.
- A gold Torah crown from Vienna, ca. 1825, is also exhibited.
- The rimmonim were first owned by Philip Salomons, then Reuben Sassoon.
- The Torah crown is thought to have come from Rabbi Israel Friedman's court in Ruzhin.
- A tour of Jewish material culture includes 19th-century embroidered leather slippers from Turkey.
- The Photography Centre tour features Alfred Stieglitz's 'The Steerage' (1907).
- Danny Braverman's performance 'Wot? No Fish!!' is based on illustrations by Ab Solomon (1926–1986).
- Jewish collectors like Ralph Bernal and Lionel de Rothschild contributed to the V&A's collections.
Entities
Artists
- Alfred Stieglitz
- Diane Arbus
- Joel Meyerowitz
- Lee Friedlander
- Garry Winogrand
- Danny Braverman
- Ab Solomon
- Laura Feigen
- Maya Benten
- Sir Arthur Gilbert
- Lady Rosalinde Gilbert
- Philip Salomons
- Reuben Sassoon
- Rabbi Israel Friedman
- Ralph Bernal
- Isidore Spielmann
- Lionel de Rothschild
- Siegfried Bing
Institutions
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- The Courtauld
- Gilbert Galleries
- Photography Centre
Locations
- London
- United Kingdom
- Netherlands
- Vienna
- Austria
- Ruzhin
- Ukraine
- Turkey
- Istanbul
- Izmir
- Iraq
- Morocco
- Yemen
- Algeria
- Mount Sinai
- East End
- Poland
- Britain