Tu B’Av, the Jewish Holiday of Love ❤️
The Jewish holiday Tu B’Av begins Sunday, August 6 at sundown and lasts through sundown on Monday, August 7. In ancient times, Tu B’Av was a time of joy that served as a matchmaking day for unmarried women in the Second Temple period (late 6th century B.C.E to 70 C.E.). Nearly forgotten for many centuries, the minor holiday was rejuvenated in the 20th century, especially in the modern-day state of Israel. Today, Tu B’Av is considered the Jewish Day of Love, similar to Valentine’s Day.
Tu B’Av is said to be a great day for weddings, commitment ceremonies, renewal of vows, and marriage proposals. The day of romance is often celebrated through giving flowers to loved ones, singing, dancing, and — like all Jewish holidays — studying. In recognition of Tu B’Av, these works from the Jewish Museum’s renowned collection recall the spirit of the holiday through the themes of love, weddings, and romance.
In 1977 Robert Indiana (American, b. 1928) created a Hebrew version of his 1960s LOVE sculpture for the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Aleph, hey, vet, and hey, the four letters used to spell ahava (“love” in Hebrew), were placed in the same iconic two-over-two composition used for the original LOVE. This work on paper in the Jewish Museum’s collection was created after the monumental sculpture was completed.
The history of art is ripe with tales of artists and muses. Alex Katz (American, b. 1927) found his inspiration in his wife and model Ada Del Moro (American, b. 1928). Their romance began in October 1957 when they met at the opening of Katz’s show at Tanager Gallery on East 10th Street. An instant and deep connection was formed, and they married the following February. In an interview with The New York Times Style Magazine on the occasion of the Jewish Museum’s 2006 exhibition Alex Katz Paints Ada, Katz revealed that perhaps it was actually the muse that chose her artist, as Ada did not have much intention of getting married. He continued, “I believe there were probably three guys in New York she could relate to. So I just got lucky. I fit what she wanted.”
Since then, Ada has been the subject of over 250 portraits by Katz. Many, like Red Smile (Study), are large-scale paintings with dramatically cropped faces. Unprecedented in their focus on a single figure over so many decades, his paintings of Ada have attained an iconic status, revealing the continual examination of the relationship between a great artist and his lifelong muse.
Tu B’Av is a popular day for weddings in Israel and Jewish communities around the world. This painting features many elements of a traditional Ashkenazi wedding celebration, including the garb worn by the male attendees, the celebratory circle dancing, and the wedding canopy, depicted at the top of the painting. The artist, Leo Schutzman (American, b. Russia, 1878–1962), was self-taught and did not begin painting until he was in his seventies.
Most traditional decorated ketubbahs — Jewish marriage contracts — use ornamental motifs as framing devices for their written Aramaic text. This example, by the prolific artist Ben Shahn (American, b. Lithuania, 1898–1969), is a marked departure from this model with floral and foliate decorations integrated within his lyrical Hebrew calligraphy, the predominant design element.
Shahn’s update results from his changing stylistic and subjective concerns. He was fascinated with letters, both Hebrew and English, which became essential elements in his work. The expressive style of Shahn’s Hebrew characters changes with the meaning of each theme he depicts. For this ketubbah, which is presented at the joyous celebration of marriage, he develops a commanding but elegant Hebrew appropriate to the legal nature of the document and the solemnity of the moment.
Gay Block (American, b. 1942) and Malka Drucker (American, b. 1945) collaborated on A Recontextualized Ketubbah, which appropriates an image of an 18th-century Italian ketubbah (marriage contract) from the Museum’s collection. In their reworking, the couple superimposed a portrait from their 1989 wedding to provide a new context for the traditional Jewish ritual object. The background of the photograph is a detail of the fabric from which the couple’s matching wedding garments were made.
Originating in the 14th century, the “house ring” features the depiction of a house possibly symbolizing the establishment of a new Jewish household. This modern example was designed by Moshe Zabari (Israeli, b. 1935). Renowned for his exquisite silver Judaica, he was an artist-in-residence at the Jewish Museum for nearly three decades.
Nan Goldin (American, b. 1953) made her reputation in the 1980s with her candid examination of disarmingly intimate moments shared between her friends. In contrast to her usual preoccupation with drug culture and sexual relations, this tender portrait of her parents dates to an introspective period in Goldin’s life. She comments, “For many years, it was hard between me and my parents. But I got clean, and matured, and now I really appreciate them.”
Lowell Nesbitt (American, 1933–1993) was a realist painter known for his large-scale images of flowers that seem a little ominous. Though not as traditional as a dozen red roses, Jerusalem artichokes would make a beautiful and dramatic bouquet to gift loved ones on Tu B’Av. Despite its name, the Jerusalem artichoke is actually a species of sunflower native to eastern North America.
Happy Tu B’Av from all of us at the Jewish Museum!
Explore more works in the Jewish Museum collection related to love online.
— Grace Astrove, Senior Development Officer for Exhibitions
