confluence FALL 2017
An annual publication of The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
FROM THE FACULTY DIRECTOR:
Magnes on the Move Dear Friends, It has been another stellar year for The Magnes. During the past twelve months, we have fielded exhibitions on the Moses Mendelssohn family, the history of Italian Jewry, Jewish meditation art (shiviti), photographs by Roman Vishniac of East European Jewry before World War II, American Jewish education as reflected in the cover art of the magazine, World Over, and, most recently, the work and life of the Polish Jewish artist, Arthur Szyk. Harnessing the curatorial and research talents of our staff, as well as Berkeley’s faculty and students, these exhibitions and programs illuminate both the common and the distinctive features of Jewish diasporic cultures. They fulfill our mission to safeguard and communicate the stories of Jewish peoplehood that inhere within our collection of over 15,000 objects gathered from throughout the global Jewish Diaspora.
Professor George Breslauer
magnes.berkeley.edu 2
Indeed, acquisition of the Arthur Szyk collection was the highpoint of the year. It was made possible by a $10.1 million grant from Taube Philanthropies, which allowed us to purchase the Collection from a private collector and to be able to incorporate, catalog, and digitize the collection over a 2-3 year period. The corpus includes some 450 works of art (including sketches) and the bulk of Arthur Szyk’s personal archive of documents, papers, and books. Henceforth, anyone seeking to conduct research on the life and work of Arthur Szyk will find The Magnes to be an indispensable asset. The Magnes will be the “go-to” place for such research.
All this was made possible by the generosity and vision of Mr. Tad Taube and his family. Their contribution has brought the Arthur Szyk Collection out of a private venue and into the greatest public university in the world! Here it will be studied, interpreted, and exhibited, both in person and online, for all to see. It will take us a few years to fully accession The Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection and to exhibit it in a climate-controlled space. In the meantime, though, we have mounted enlarged reproductions on the walls of our auditorium of some of Szyk’s most-famous artwork. Do stop by to enjoy it—as well as to view our newest major exhibition on Moroccan Jewry and our wall exhibition on Fiddler on the Roof. These are exciting times for us all. The Magnes continues to be “on the move”!
George Breslauer Faculty Director of The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
Front Cover Photo: Arthur Szyk (1894-1951), Portrait of Julia Szyk, Paris, France, 1926, watercolor, gouache, and ink on paper, The Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, University of California, Berkeley
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The Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection The Worlds of Arthur Szyk Acquired by The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life in 2017 thanks to an unprecedented gift from Taube Philanthropies, the most significant collection of works by Arthur Szyk (Łódź, Poland, 1894 – New Canaan, Connecticut, 1951) is now available to the world in a public institution for the first time as the Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection. Born into a middle-class Polish Jewish family, Szyk lived a life framed by two world wars and the rise of totalitarianism in Europe. A refugee, he ultimately settled in the United States in 1940. Much of his work centered on these experiences. As a miniature artist and political caricaturist, he used motifs drawn from the Bible, history, politics, and culture to pair extraordinary craftsmanship with searing commentary on a diverse range of subjects, including Judaism, the American War of Independence, the Second World War, the Holocaust, and the founding of the State of Israel.
ON VIEW NOW
A display of enlarged reproductions of select collection items are now in the auditorium of The Magnes, presenting the public with an unprecedented insight into the many worlds of Arthur Szyk.
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The hundreds of artworks, sketches, and painstakingly assembled illustrated books, journals, archival documents, photographs, exhibition catalogs, and memorabilia that comprise this multi-faceted collection are in the process of being examined and catalogued so that they can be made available for research, exhibition, loan, and publication.
~ Francesco Spagnolo, Curator
DANIELLE MOSSE The great-granddaughter of Arthur Szyk, stands in front of Szyk’s portrait of his wife, Julia, at The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, May 10, 2017. Mosse grew up with Szyk’s art around her. She too built a career in art, continuing the legacy. She works at Christie’s as vice president and head of sales management of post-war and contemporary art.
Opposite: Arthur Szyk (1894-1951), My People. Samson in the Ghetto (The Battle of the Warsaw Ghetto), New York, 1945, watercolor and gouache on board, Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, University of California, Berkeley This Page: Arthur Szyk (1894-1951), Sulamith (from Song of Songs), Paris, 1925, France, watercolor, gouache, and ink on paper, Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, University of California, Berkeley
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A Q&A with Tad Taube Bringing Arthur Szyk’s Masterpieces Back to Life Confluence spoke with major supporter of The Magnes and San Francisco Bay Area philanthropist, Tad Taube, Chairman of Taube Philanthropies, about why it’s so important that the Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection become publicly accessible. The Foundation’s $10.1 million grant, which made the acquisition of the 450-piece collection possible, is the largest single monetary gift to acquire art in the history of the University of California, Berkeley.
Q: Mr. Taube, thank you for sitting down with us. To begin, why was it important to you that Arthur Szyk’s work become available to the public? Tad Taube: You have to see Arthur Szyk’s work in order to understand the incredible detail, the fine artistry, and the complexity of his themes which he crafts in miniature. His vast trove of art covers some of the world’s most important events of the 20th century, as he lived through them, including the founding of the State of Israel and World War II, as well as Jewish religion, political commentary, and historical events such as the American War of Independence. In recent years, his work has flown under the radar, but with his art now part of a major research university at Berkeley, it can be archived, studied, and sent on loan to museums across the country and around the world.
Q: What does his work mean to you?
Tad Taube, the chair of Taube Philanthropies with his wife, Dianne Taube at the Taube Family Arthur Szyk Collection Preview at The Magnes
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TT: Like Szyk, I am also a Polish Jew, and I too fled the Nazis just before they invaded our shared homeland in 1939. Soon after, in New York, my family met Szyk and his family, and we were introduced to his work and its powerful themes. Szyk recognized the danger of Nazi Germany, and he became a self-proclaimed anti-Nazi propagandist. His masterpieces served to urge the Allied nations to fight to save the Jews. His commitment to use his craft for the sake of humanity is impressive. Szyk became a patriot for the United States, his adopted home, while never losing his love for his native Poland, and Israel. He had an amazing ability to express that devotion through art, and he will undoubtedly be considered among the most impactful 20th century artists and illustrators.
Q: What was the significance of Szyk’s work in his time – and going forward? TT: Szyk presented intricate detail and historic, religious and political themes in a form that could be universally understood: by the schoolteacher in Oakland, by the assembly-line worker in Detroit, and by the doctor in Baltimore. That accessibility to ordinary people is hugely significant. Szyk once said, “Art is not my aim; it is my means.” His unique interpretations of the history happening in his midst were invaluable. At a time when Hitler was still in power, Arthur Szyk boldly used his craft to vilify Nazi Germany, portray the brutality of the Holocaust, and promote the cause of the Allies. But his work wasn’t only political. One of his most famous contributions to contemporary art is the Szyk Haggadah, an ornate illustrated manuscript that tells the Passover story. One can see the influence of medieval art and the Renaissance in his work as well.
Pictured above from left to right: George Breslauer, Shana Penn, Tad Taube, UCB Chancellor Emeritus Robert Birgeneau, Francesco Spagnolo, Mary Catherine Birgeneau, and Danielle Mosse
Q: What do you hope the public gains most from the collection? TT: Artists have the power to influence public opinion. In an age when images and text bombard us, too often we are inclined to devalue the cultural and political importance of art and its ability to bring people together. Arthur Szyk’s collection is an important reminder of this. I was committed to helping bring this collection to The Magnes because I was determined that Szyk’s work not disappear once more behind closed doors. The Berkeley community, scholars and the larger public have so much to gain from access to Szyk’s messages.
Pictured above from left to right: George Breslauer, Francesco Spagnolo, Chancellor Carol T. Christ, and Tad Taube
Arthur Szyk’s work demonstrates strength and hope, even amid tragedy. Szyk knew that oppression is a distortion of the human experience, and that art can be an antidote. I am now hopeful that through Szyk’s works of art, many will have the opportunity to learn how to better appreciate our common humanity.
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Highlights 2016-2017 Magnes 360: A Story of Storage
Thanks to “Magnes 360,” the public can now view The Magnes galleries and collection storage in stunning 360-degree video footage. Visitors can download the app at venueguidecms.com, find the signs in the galleries, and travel “through the glass,” behind the scenes of the museum. This project was created by Aiko Gonzalez and Clayton Hale (Undergraduate Research Apprentices) in the context of the research project, Digital Bridges: (In)Visible Archives and Public Repertoires, directed by Francesco Spagnolo. Funding provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, through the Digital Humanities Project at UC Berkeley.
Middle School Visits at The Magnes What really goes on at The Magnes? Ask a 6th grader. During spring 2017, The Magnes welcomed 6th grade classes from Berkeley Unified School District’s Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, with a behind-the-scenes look at The Magnes as a site for research, exhibitions, and collections. The students discussed different types of exhibitions, how cultural objects are studied, and how historical artifacts are preserved. The students even got to go into the climate-controlled storage spaces of The Magnes.
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Highlights 2016-2017
On February 27, 2017 the Israeli superstar David Broza (left) performed with musician Ali Paris (right) at The Magnes. Broza is considered one of the most vibrant performers in the singer/songwriter world. Ali Paris is known for accompanying Broza with the Qanun, a rare 76-string zither that dates back to the 14th century. The event was in partnership with the Berkeley Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies.
Pictured from left to right: Zoe Lewin, Mara Vishniac Kohn, and Francesco Spagnolo
Mara Vishniac Kohn, daughter of the late Roman Vishniac (1897-1990), being interviewed at The Magnes on February 7, 2017, by Curatorial Assistant Zoe Lewin and Curator Francesco Spagnolo. The event celebrated Mrs. Kohn’s donation to The Magnes of twenty of Vishniac’s celebrated, black-and-white photographs of East European Jewry before and after World War II, including the projected photograph.
The fall opening on September 6, 2016, for the exhibition I-Tal-Yah: An Island of Divine Dew: Italian Crossroads in Jewish Culture, marked the 500th Anniversary of the founding of the Venice Ghetto (1516). 9
Meet the Undergraduate Students Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP) Under the direction of The Magnes Curator, URAP students are trained to research the geographical and historical context of objects within the Collection. In addition to learning about Jewish culture and history, the apprenticeship offers a unique chance to develop skills about collection research, exhibition preparation, program planning, and online publication. The knowledge base generated by the students also contributes to exhibitions and programs open to the community.
Parker Bohls URAP 2017. Assisted recording refugee interviews and digitized their narratives on a dynamic web map for ‘What We Carry With Us: A Refugee Storytelling Lab.’
Clayton Hale URAP 2016-2017. Worked on making The Magnes Flickr site more accessible for public searches and co-created Magnes 360: A Story of Storage.
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Adah Forer URAP 2017. Inventoried and catalogued postcard collection; assisted with refugee project.
Sarah Klein URAP 2015-2017. Undergraduate Curatorial Assistant for The Invisible Museum and I-TalYah exhibitions, and assisted with collection and exhibition digitization projects.
Aiko Gonzalez URAP 2016-2017. Assisted with the Braunstein collection on the Spanish inquisition and on Jews in Latin America and co-created Magnes 360: A Story of Storage.
Agnes Shin URAP 2015-2016. Assisted with inventorying circa 300 historical posters on Jewish themes, printed during the 20th century across Europe, Israel, and the Americas.
Meet the Graduate Students Aparna Dhole Graduate Collections Management Intern Spring 2017
Dhole is a graduate student in the Museum Studies program at San Francisco State University. At The Magnes, she helped with the rehousing of flat-files.
Magnes graduate students conduct research based on source materials in The Magnes Collection and perform other duties to support research, instruction, exhibition projects, and public programs at The Magnes.
Alan Elbaum
Yosef Rosen
Graduate Research Fellow
Graduate Research Fellow
Spring 2016 - Spring 2017
Fall 2015 - Fall 2016
Elbaum is a third-year medical student in the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program. While at The Magnes, he researched Egyptian Karaite manuscripts in the collection.
Rosen is a doctoral candidate in Jewish Studies at UC Berkeley. While at The Magnes, Yosef researched the Shiviti amulets in the Collection.
Rosie Hanrahan
Noam Sienna
Graduate Collections Management Intern
Graduate Curatorial Intern
Summer 2016 - Spring 2017
Spring 2017
Hanrahan will be a graduate student in the Museum Studies program at San Francisco State University in the Fall of 2018. At The Magnes, she assisted the collections staff with various projects.
Sienna is a PhD student in Moroccan Jewish History and Museum Studies at the University of Minnesota. He assisted with research for cataloging, and curation of the upcoming Morocco exhibition.
Rebecca Levitan
Michelle Sohnlein
Graduate Student Curator
Graduate Collections Management Intern
Spring 2017
Summer 2016 - Fall 2016
Levitan studies the art and architecture of the ancient Mediterranean world. While at The Magnes, she researched ancient coins in the collection.
Sohnlein is a graduate student in Museum Studies at San Francisco State University. At The Magnes, she assisted the registration team with the 2016 exhibition, ‘I-Tal-Yah’.
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Exhibitions 2017-2018 The Power of Attention: Magic & Meditation in Hebrew “shiviti” Manuscript Art On View: Jan. 24-Dec. 15, 2017 The exhibition highlights a selection of shiviti manuscripts, books, amulets and textiles from The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life. The display is accompanied by new media art created especially for this project by Professor Greg Niemeyer, as well as by resources and quotations that allow viewers to penetrate the elaborate textual and visual elements, while also experiencing the inherent power of the unique cultural objects on view. Created from the early-modern period and into the present, shiviti manuscripts are found in Hebrew prayer books, ritual textiles, and on the walls of synagogues and homes throughout the Jewish diaspora. Wrestling with ways to externalize the presence of God in Jewish life, these documents center upon the graphic representation of God’s ineffable four-letter Hebrew name, the Tetragrammaton, and associate it with words and imageries that evoke mystical powers, protective energy, angels, and key places and characters in Biblical and Jewish history. Deciphering the content of a shiviti manuscript, or simply classifying it within the realm of Jewish cultural production, is a fascinating puzzle for today’s scholars. Research on these documents encompasses the analysis of biblical and prayer texts, magical formulas, visual motifs, and various types of cultural objects across the Jewish world. The very presence, and use, of the shiviti in such varied contexts as individual and communal prayer, the celebration of life-cycle events, and the production of (and demand for) amulets for personal and household protection, opens new paths in the understanding of the role of text in Jewish culture. The persistence of these documents in Jewish life attests to ongoing belief in the power and efficacy of magic and meditation that accompany the more normative aspects of Judaism as we know it.
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MGM/UA Communications Co, Mirisch Productions, Inc., & Cartier Productions, Copyright 1971, Fiddler on the Roof. Set (still) photograph FR-7326. [Topol as Tevye with Paul Michael Glaser as Perchik], silver gelatin print, gift of Mr. Arnold Picker
Sketching “Fiddler”: Set Designs by Mentor Huebner On View: Aug. 29, 2017-Dec. 15, 2017 The exhibition presents The Magnes’ set of original and working copies of storyboards and sketches created by Mentor Huebner for the 1971 feature film, Fiddler on the Roof, along with a small selection of set photographs. The film, directed by Norman Jewison, starred Chaim Topol in the title role (Tevye). Like the 1964 musical—one of the longest running productions on Broadway, with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein— it was based on the stories by Sholem Aleichem (born Shalom Rabinovitz, 1859-1916), a founding father of modern Yiddish literature. The combined dialogues, song lyrics, musical arrangements, and set and costume designs of both productions helped define the relationship between a new, post-war, generation of American Jews with their own history of migration, and with the traditions of the past, as they had been preserved in Eastern Europe. Mentor Huebner (Los Angeles 1917–Burbank 2001), a leading Hollywood illustrator, worked in both credited and uncredited roles on the design of more than 250 films, including Quo Vadis (1951), Forbidden Planet (1956), North by Northwest and Ben-Hur (both 1959), and, after Fiddler, King Kong (1976), Blade Runner (1982), and Francis Coppola’s Dracula (1992). He also designed popular venues such as restaurants and theme parks in the United States, Europe, and Japan. For Fiddler, Huebner created set design concepts and storyboard illustrations. The exhibition leverages Heubner’s sketches to explore the making of the 1971 film, in its attempts to visualize Sholem Aleichem’s fictional eastern european village (or shtetl), Anatevka, its roads, buildings—including its prominent wooden synagogue—and Chagall-inspired costumes.
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The Invisible Museum: History and Memory of Morocco On View: Aug. 29, 2017-June 29, 2018
Hanging Hanukkah lamp with rooster-shaped hamsa inlaid with six-pointed star, Morocco, 20th century, brass, Judah L. Magnes Museum purchase with funds provided by Seymour Fromer, honoring the 40th wedding anniversary of Fay and Sol Friedman, © 2017 Sibila Savage Photography
Since its inception in 1962, the former Judah L. Magnes Museum distinguished itself by directing its collecting efforts outside the focus on European Jewish culture and history that was prevalent among American Jewish museums at the time. During the 1970s and 1980s, its founders, Seymour and Rebecca Fromer, actively corralled an informal team of activist collectors and supporters. Together, they were able to bring to Berkeley art and cultural objects from North Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent. Their legendary “rescue missions”—collecting trips aimed at retrieving Jewish cultural objects in locations where Jews had once thrived—were further complemented by careful acquisitions carried out by exploring the catalogs of major and lesser-known auction houses, and especially by visiting art dealers in Israel, where Jewish refugees from the lands of Islam had resettled. These collecting patterns are particularly evident in the case of the stunning holdings that document the history and memory of Jewish communities in Morocco. Acquired in tourist shops across the Moroccan centers where Jews once lived—Tétouan, Tangier, Casablanca, Fez, and Marrakech—as well as through forays into the remote locations of the Atlas mountains that separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines of Morocco from the Sahara desert, the hundreds of ritual objects, textiles, illustrated marriage contracts, and manuscripts now at The Magnes are the bearers of a narrative that is at once very ancient and extremely modern.
Synagogue tile decorated with Moorish motif and inscribed with the Hebrew word atah (you), Morocco, 18th century, glazed terracotta with whitewash, gift of Dr. Elliot Zaleznik, © 2017 Sibila Savage Photography
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The Invisible Museum project started with a multi-year exploration of the Moroccan holdings of The Magnes. The resulting exhibition offers a probing insight into how cultural objects, once the cherished belongings of individuals, families, and communities, may often be abandoned in the process of migration, or sold by immigrants seeking to rebuild their lives in a new land, before they become part of a museum collection.
The Karaite Canon: Manuscripts
and Ritual Objects from Cairo On View: Jan. 23-Dec. 14, 2018
An exhibition highlighting a selection from the over fifty manuscripts collected by The Magnes in Cairo, Egypt, in the 1970s. These materials, which offer a unique glimpse into the history and cultural networks of the Karaite community in Egypt, range greatly in language (among them: Hebrew, Arabic, Judeo-Arabic, and Italian), date (from the 17th to the early 20th centuries), and content. They include liturgical texts, communal records, Ottoman court documents, compilations of ritual rules, lists of magic spell and medical remedies, as well as poems and personal records of eminent members of the community, among them author, grammarian, and theologian Murad Faraj (1866-1956). Since the 9th century, Karaite Jews have shaped their communal lives and theological approaches as a return to Scripture (the Hebrew Bible) and a rejection of rabbinic Judaism as its authoritative interpretation. The manuscripts are accompanied by a variety of ritual objects—among them synagogue textiles, memorial and Hanukkah lamps, Torah pointers, prayer shawls and prayer shawl ornamented bags—as well as by original Ketubbot (marriage contracts), and poignant photographs taken in Israel in the 1980s by Ira Nowinski (b.1942).
Above: Ira Nowinski (b. 1942), The Karaite Jews, Cairo, Egypt; 1985, silver gelatin print, gift of Karl and Elsa Kraus
Right: Machzor for the Festival of Shavuot, Hebrew, 99 leaves, Egypt, 19th century, Karaite Manuscript Collection
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Fall 2017 Program Magic Spells A Weekly Performance Series Featuring Victoria Hanna (Jerusalem) and Hebrew Amulets from The Magnes Collection
© David Adika Photography
The Magnes Auditorium Tuesdays, 5:30-7:00 pm October 24, 31; November 7, 14, 21, 28; December 5
About Victoria Hanna (Schusterman Visiting Artist, Fall 2017)
Amulet, [Afghanistan or Yemen], 1810, silver, Judah L. Magnes Museum Purchase, Kimmel Collection
About Hebrew Amulets Jewish amulets are worn on one’s person or placed in the home, and used at moments of vulnerability and transition, like childbirth or marriage. They feature texts including biblical verses, psalms, divine names, and invocations of powerful figures like angels, and the biblical Patriarchs and Matriarchs. The Jewish mystical tradition, including Kabbalah, is central to these artifacts, which often feature unique imagery. 16
Jerusalem based artist, Victoria Hanna, is a worldrenowned composer, creator, performer, researcher, and teacher of voice and language. The daughter of an ultraorthodox rabbi, she has been greatly influenced by her childhood environment. In her work, she deploys a variety of vocal techniques in the performance of ancient and modern Hebrew texts, among them the Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Creation), an early Kabbalistic treatise. Victoria draws inspiration from the ancient Hebrew tradition, which relates to the voice, mouth, and Hebrew letters as tools of creation. Stylistically, her creations span from traditional Jewish music to new music and hip-hop. Victoria Hanna’s residency at The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, UC Berkeley, is supported by the Schusterman Visiting Artist Program of the Israel Institute.
Sheldon and Barbara Goor Rothblatt: Supporters of The Magnes for Almost 50 Years! We are proud to recognize Barbara Goor Rothblatt and Sheldon Rothblatt as annual Magnes Leadership Circle Members. In the 1970s the Rothblatts and their family created the first acquisition fund for The Magnes, and their continued generosity helps to underwrite a rich array of community programs and exhibitions. Barbara is active in the Jewish community, serving on the boards of The Jewish Community Foundation of the East Bay, The Magnes Museum Foundation, and The Magnes Director’s Community Advisory Council. She is a former president of the UC Berkeley Hillel and served on the Hillel board for Northern California as well as on the boards of several local synagogues. Sheldon, a longtime Berkeley faculty member, now emeritus, is a highly distinguished scholar, elected to membership in numerous academies in the United States, Britain and Sweden. He Sheldon Rothblatt and Barbara Goor Rothblatt served as Chair of the History department and Director of the Center for Studies in Higher Education. He was a member of The Magnes Board of trustees in its earliest history. Motivated by a love for Jewish history, culture and religion in all their multifaceted dimensions, the Rothblatts have also been generous to the Magnes-linked Berkeley Institute of Jewish and Israel Studies and the Center for Jewish Studies.
Koret Foundation and Walter & Elise Haas Fund Make The Magnes Collection Accessible to All The Magnes contains a gold mine of art, objects, and archives from around the world and across the centuries. Collected over some 50 years, it has been on the vanguard of bringing into protection a broad array of Jewish cultural materials. But because much of the collection had to be kept off site in the old facility, Magnes curators were never fully able to inventory and catalog the items. In fact, The Magnes has only one-third of its 15,000 objects inventoried and digitized, and about 15 percent cataloged (which requires a deeper level of documentation). Until now. . . Thanks to funding from the Koret Foundation, The Magnes is making great headway on the Herculean task of fully documenting its collection. A grant from the Walter & Elise Haas Fund is providing resources to digitize the newly documented items and make them available to see online by anyone who has access to the Internet. The Morocco exhibition opening this fall is directly the result of this support. Thanks to these Koret and Haas grants, audiences will be able to view a range of objects that provide insight into the Jewish culture of this North African country both at The Magnes and online.
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The Magnes Leadership Circle & Friends of The Magnes For more than half a century, The Magnes has provided access to resources that have allowed each generation to find its own story in the rich texts, vibrant images, and unique sounds of Jewish culture. Your support allows the collection to thrive as a treasured resource that advances research, scholarship, and community programs. We are grateful to our many supporters, which
T H E M AG N E S L E A D E R S H I P C I R C L E LUMINARY CIRCLE ($100,000+)
Jean Colen | Sanford Colen
Leo B. Helzel | Florence Helzel
Herbert J. Friedman | Marianne Levee Friedman
Helzel Family Foundation Koret Foundation The Magnes Museum Foundation
Lisa & Douglas Goldman Fund
Dianne P. Taube | Thaddeus N. Taube Taube Philanthropies
VISIONARY CIRCLE ($25,000+) Walter & Elise Haas Fund
include The Magnes Leadership Circle, a special giving category for donors who generously provide The Magnes with annual gifts of $1,000 or more.
Join Us at Any Level You can give online at give.berkeley.edu/magnes or send your donation to The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, University of California, 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94720-6300.
PARTNER’S CIRCLE ($10,000+) Professor George Breslauer Oded Halahmy Foundation for Arts
Jan H. Kessler | Randall E. Kessler Susan S. Libitzky | Moses Libitzky Lumina Foundation George M. Rehm | Holly Doyne Mary Ann Tonkin
CURATOR’S CIRCLE ($1,000+) Joan Bieder Helen C. Bulwik
Hellman Foundation
Diana J. Cohen | William A. Falik
Fred Isaac
Sandra P. Epstein | Edwin M. Epstein
Barbro S. Osher | Bernard A. Osher Marian Scheuer Sofaer | Abraham Sofaer
DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE
($5,000+)
Amy R. Friedkin | Morton Friedkin Catherine B. Hartshorn | Richard M. Buxbaum Adele M. Hayutin
Debra Trubowitch Cohn | Barry W. Cohn
Lawrence B. Helzel | Rebekah S. Helzel
Vallery Feldman | Marc Feldman
Deborah Kirshman | David K. Kirshman
Michael L. Goldstein | Susan N. Bales Sally D. Goodman | Richard A. Goodman Lorrie Levin Greene | Richard L. Greene Joan D. Grossman Raymond Lifchez Maurice Amado Foundation in memory of Bernice Labé Amado (z’l), and her parents Theodore and Reina Labé (z’l) Barbara Goor Rothblatt | Sheldon Rothblatt Judith Yudof | Mark G. Yudof
COLLECTORS CIRCLE ($2,500+) Ruth Arnhold Donald Chaiken | Frances M. Greenberg 18
John & Marcia Goldman Foundation
Carole S. Krumland | Ted C. Krumland George Leitmann | Nancy L. Leitmann Sachiko Minowa | John J. Riley Phyllis Moldaw Lee L. Pollak | Stuart R. Pollak Louise Adler Sampson Dana Bloom Shapiro | Gary J. Shapiro Valerie E. Sopher Sheila Sosnow | Richard Nagler Temple Isaiah The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust Kathryn Mickle Werdegar | David Werdegar
Honor Roll F R I E N D S O F T H E M AG N E S CONSERVATORS ($500)
SCHOLARS ($250+)
Joan Alexander | Stanford J. Alexander
Sophie A. Hahn-Bjerkholt | Eric H. Bjerkholt
Sherrill R. Laszlo | Janos Laszlo
Victor Alterescu | Karen B. Alterescu
Dale F. Block | Stephen E. Block
Eleanor Willard Miller | Howard J. Miller
Robin L. Berry | William W. Ringer
Judith L. Bloom
Anne Packer | Lester Packer
Denah S. Bookstein
Sydne Kogan Bortel | Allan G. Bortel
Constance M. Ruben
Judith F. Broude | Samuel G. Broude
Dorothy R. Saxe
Jerome S. Burke
Helen S. Schulak
June A. Cheit
Bruce W. Schwab | Theodora A. Schwab
Susan K. Coliver | Robert G. Herman
Michael L. Simon | Cynthia T. Simon
Ann A. Devereux | David A. Cheit
Barbara S. Spack
Judith Espovich | Jay H. Espovich
Elizabeth Spander | Arthur Spander
Lewis J. Feldman
Norma von Ragenfeld-Feldman
Maxine Brownstein Susan Epstein | William D. Epstein Harold G. Friedman | Jennifer L. Friedman Susan W. Goldstein | Andrew B. Kivel Marsha Guggenheim | Ralph J. Guggenheim Ruth Heller | Alfred E. Heller Joan M. Mann | Roger A. Mann Janet A. Martin Doris Marx Carol S. Mimura | Jeremy W. Thorner
Ednah B. Friedman Miriam J. Gauss | Arthur B. Gauss
Samuel Noily | Daphne Noily
Selma Graham
RBC
Ann Fingarette Hasse | Erich S. Gruen
Virginia Saftlas Vogel | David J. Vogel
Lorraine Honig
Marilyn Y. Waldman | Murry J. Waldman
Kenneth Kofman
Victoria Bleiberg Zatkin | Steven R. Zatkin
Marion R. Kramer
Names listed are for pledges, pledge payments, and gifts of $250+ made between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017
In-Kind Donations The Magnes Collection wishes to recognize this year’s in-kind donations: Mara Vishniac Kohn through the Vishniac Archive (International Center of Photography, New York City) donated twenty original photographs by Roman Vishniac, ca. 1929-1947 The Daniel Lieberman’s Estate donated two artworks: Saul Raskin, Wailing Wall, 1920 (oil on canvas); and A. Neimann, [Jewish Scholar in a Polish Village] (pastel) Marisa Scheinfeld donated her photograph, Prayer Book, 2015, from the series, The Borscht Belt (color photograph) Bill Skeehan donated a painting by R. Läbner, Olga Elizabeth Schuhmann, 1934 (oil on canvas) Nancy Henning donated a Bezalel napkin ring and a Passover Seder plate, ca. 1930 (silver) Bernard Osher donated a painting by Ruth Gikow, The Orange Turban, ca. 1965 (oil on canvas) Oded Halahmy donated three of his sculptures: A Place in the East, 1981 (nickel bronze cast); East and West in My Hand, 1992 (bronze cast); and Eden, 1977 (bronze cast) Roben Braeman donated a certificate from the Diskin Jewish Orphanage (Jerusalem, 1923) Ann Daniels donated fifteen Torah pointers Anita Levitch donated a Noah’s Bagels wristwatch, n.d. Aviva Black donated an Eretz Israel Map, 1946, in honor of Rabbi Barry Friedman
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Conuence 2017 Editor: Lisa Davis, Designer: Maria Ryan Photographers: David Adika, Deana Mitchell, Erik Nelson, Sibila Savage, and Laura Turbow