Haggadah for Passover
Artist: Ben Shahn (American, 1898-1969)
Publisher: Trianon Press, Paris & London
Date: 1966
Dimensions:
Case: 16 15/16 × 13 × 3 1/4 in. (43 × 33 × 8.3 cm)
Book: 15 13/16 × 12 1/8 × 1 1/2 in. (40.2 × 30.8 × 3.8 cm)
Page: 15 1/2 × 12 in. (39.4 × 30.5 cm)
Medium: Book with lithographs with stencil coloring, collotypes with hand-coloring, and letterpress. Clamshell cover: parchment with gilding; silver gilt clasp
Classification: Books
Credit Line: Purchased with funds given by Janet Rogolsky
Object number: 2007.15
Label Text:The Haggadah
The Haggadah (Hebrew for “telling”) is a book of remembrance and redemption. Composed of Jewish blessings and prayers with passages from the Bible, Mishnah, and Midrash, the Haggadah serves as a guide of symbols, rituals, and recital during the Passover Seder. Passover is a great historic festival of the Jewish people delivered from slavery in ancient Egypt and is celebrated in the home during the intimacy of a family meal. The memory of the nation is revived during its celebration and hope is renewed. As historian Yosef Hayim Yerushalami explains,“The ancient redemption of Israel from Egypt is recounted and relived, not merely as an evocation from the past, but above all as prototype and surety for the ultimate redemption yet to come.”
Ben Shahn and his family immigrated to the United States from Lithuania in 1906. Already convinced of his future life as an artist, the young Shahn worked as a lithographer’s apprentice during the day while attending high school at night. He continued to support himself as a printer until 1930, while at the same time attending New York University, City College, the National Academy of Design, and the Art Student’s League. It was perhaps this experience of working as a printer while studying that led to his belief that there was no distinction between commercial and fine art.
Shahn’s convictions ran deep and he is noted for his social activism and defense of the oppressed: “One thing I paint is the indomitable ability of the spirit of man to rise from the incredibly impossible situation of morass he’s in.” With this guiding principal, his choice to illustrate the story of Passover was a natural one.
The Haggadah (Hebrew for “telling”) is a book of remembrance and redemption. Composed of Jewish blessings and prayers with passages from the Bible, Mishnah, and Midrash, the Haggadah serves as a guide of symbols, rituals, and recital during the Passover Seder. Passover is a great historic festival of the Jewish people delivered from slavery in ancient Egypt and is celebrated in the home during the intimacy of a family meal. The memory of the nation is revived during its celebration and hope is renewed. As historian Yosef Hayim Yerushalami explains,“The ancient redemption of Israel from Egypt is recounted and relived, not merely as an evocation from the past, but above all as prototype and surety for the ultimate redemption yet to come.”
Ben Shahn and his family immigrated to the United States from Lithuania in 1906. Already convinced of his future life as an artist, the young Shahn worked as a lithographer’s apprentice during the day while attending high school at night. He continued to support himself as a printer until 1930, while at the same time attending New York University, City College, the National Academy of Design, and the Art Student’s League. It was perhaps this experience of working as a printer while studying that led to his belief that there was no distinction between commercial and fine art.
Shahn’s convictions ran deep and he is noted for his social activism and defense of the oppressed: “One thing I paint is the indomitable ability of the spirit of man to rise from the incredibly impossible situation of morass he’s in.” With this guiding principal, his choice to illustrate the story of Passover was a natural one.
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