Jewish Folk Ornament by Solomon Yudovin

Solomon Yudovin (1892–1954) was one of the most important modern artists to devote a significant part of his work to Jewish ornament. He not only documented and reproduced the creations of Jewish folk masters, but also developed his own interpretations of traditional motifs, seeing himself as a conscious participant in the centuries-long development of this artistic tradition. The book commemorates the endeavors of collector Tsilya Mengeritsky (1925–2020), who preserved a substantial corpus of Yudovin’s works, and was initiated and supported by her daughter, Galina Mengeritsky.

The book offers the most comprehensive presentation of Yudovin’s engagement with Jewish ornament. Published here, for the first time, are his drawings of tombstones and ritual objects produced during the An-sky ethnographic expedition in 1912–1914 in Ukraine and during his fieldwork in Belarus in the 1920s, as well as his layout and sketches for the unpublished project “Jewish Folk Ornaments” preserved in the Tsilya Mengeritsky Collection at the Israel Museum and the Kazovsky Family Collection. Well-known materials from the An-sky album “Jewish Artistic Heritage” and the 1920 Vitebsk Portfolio are presented here as integral components of Yudovin’s continuing attempt to develop a modern Jewish ornamental language. The essays situate his work within both modernist art and the broader traditions of Jewish folk creativity.

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