Temple Emanuel Sanctuary Wall (Grand Rapids, Michigan)
1953
Lucienne Bloch’s thousand-square-foot mural covers the entire rear wall of Temple Emanuel, the building of which was designed by Erich Mendelssohn. Painted on lightweight wood panels in a palette favoring golden yellow, orange, and brown, the mural includes both abstract and representational motifs that include traditional biblical imagery such as wheat, grape vines, and crowns. Some of the panels with abstract designs represent the artist’s interpretation of the opening words of Genesis: the creation of light, heaven, and earth.
Credits
Courtesy Temple Emanuel, Grand Rapids, MI. Photo: Dave Kagan, Sensitography.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 9.
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Related Guide
Visual and Material Culture in the Mid-Twentieth Century
1939–1973
Jewish visual art flourished and diversified in the postwar period, reflecting the social and political transformations taking place in the world.
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