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Ben Shahn, Silk Menorah Tapestry (Los Angeles)
| Ad Type: | Wanted | |
| Posted: | 2019-02-12, 10:17AM | |
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This extraordinary piece measures a substantial 85" x 66" and is absolutely beautiful to the touch. This is an as is listing with shipping based on your location. A brief history from the owner of the rug below. This work wasowned by my Niece's husband (age 79 at the time) who was a follower of Jewish faith. When he was alive, he didn't say much about this item except that it was expensive and he had great pride in owning it. The Tapestry was constantly stowed in a cool and dry storage room. In 2005 he wanted to show the tapestry. I was curious to seek the value and popularity of this item. For twelve years I searched the internet and called countless museums and art dealers about this tapestry. I found nothing. There are a number of works on different medias but nothing on this tapestry until two months ago. Two months agoI searched the web again and found a picture of a tapestry like this one. The web site is (removed for eBay rules) At this site, I saw the location of the tapestry and called the Rabbi,. The Rabbi told me that the Tapestry he has hanging in his museum was handed to his predecessor by Mr Ben Shahn himself. The Rabbi also told me that he believe there are a few other tapestries. He believed the tapestries were also personally given to the New York Museum and the Skirball Museum in Los Angeles by Mr Ben Shahn himself. That information in itself gives me the indication that these few and limited items were not placed for sale. The “Menorah Tapestry measuring 85" x 66" (7' x 5.5') with embedded hanger - A beautiful rare example of Ben Shahn tapestry art in shagged silk (0.5"warp), soothing to the touch, with gold inleaves and the Ben Shahn codex in the tapestry. Mr. Ben Shahn originally designed the menorah motif for the frontispiece of his famous Haggadah, which he began to work on early in his career. He completed eleven drawings, but could not find a publisher willing to print the book as he envisioned it – in color – and gave up the project. Thirty years later, Arnold Fawcus, of Trianon Press in Paris, offered to publish the Haggadah in a facsimile edition. Shahn’s original eleven drawings were, by that time, in the collection of the Jewish Museum in New York. He arranged to borrow them, and added ten new drawings illustrating the Chad Gadya song, plus a title page containing elements from his design for our Decalogue Ark, and the Menorah frontispiece. A very limited edition of tapestries of the Menorah followed, believed to be no more than five. We have been able to identify only one other example, Ben Shahn's own tapestry which he bequeathed to Rabbi Goldburg, who in turn gave it to the Congregation Mishkan Israel in honor of their 135th anniversary in 1975. The Tapestry is in Very good condition!
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