Since its foundation in 1965 the Israel Museum, Jerusalem has presented an encyclopedic collection of art and Biblical and Middle Eastern archaeology and is today the largest cultural institution in the State of Israel.
With collections ranging from prehistory to contemporary art and photography, with nearly 500,000 objects of fine art, archaeology, Judaica and Jewish ethnography, the Israel Museum represents the history of world culture from nearly one million years ago to the present day.
Following a partnership with The Bridgeman Art Library, many of the most significant images from the museum’s diverse collections of images have been catalogued and are available for licensing.
The images from the Israel Museum offer in particular an in depth examination of the Jewish experience, adding to an increasingly strong portfolio of religious and photographic works in the Bridgeman archive from collections including The World Religions Photo Library.
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Highlights The Museum holds many examples of Hebrew manuscripts from the Rothschild Miscellany, a richly illustrated Hebrew codex produced in Renaissance Italy, to the oldest biblical manuscripts in the world, the Dead Sea Scrolls housed in world-famous Shrine of the Book. A recent addition to the Museum is the Second Temple Era model of Jerusalem which reconstructs the topography and architectural character of the city as it was before the fall of the city in 70 AD Jewish ceremonial art Judaism is a rich tradition in which a complex set of rules govern the observation of rituals including what and how to eat, to lighting the Sabbath candles on any given Friday evening at sundown. The Israel Museum has a unique collection of objects of faith including Ketubbots or marriage contracts, Mezuzah cases which are protective ornaments displayed on the doors of Jewish homes, Seder plates and Hanukkah lamps. |
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European and Israeli modern and contemporary art Artists in the collection include international figures Modigliani and Pissarro as well as Israeli and Jewish artists such as Abel Pann and Marc Chagall. The work of Israeli artists Arie Aroch and Israel Hershberg provide examples of Israeli contemporary art. Photography As part of its commitment to collecting and preserving the photographic heritage of the country, the Museum has acquired several bodies of work by preeminent pioneers in the medium, such as Mendel (John) Diness, the first Jewish photographer to capture images of Jerusalem in the mid-nineteenth century; Yaacov (Ben) Dov, an early-twentieth-century photographer; Yaakov (Jack) Rosner; and S. J. Schweig and Alfred Bernheim, one of the great photographers of architecture in Israel. Photography of the Dada and Surrealist period is also strongly represented in the collection. |
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Andre Kertesz Largely unrecognized in his lifetime, Kertesz is now viewed as one of the seminal figures of photojournalism. Henri Cartier-Bresson once said of him in the early 1930s, "We all owe him a great deal". View all images from the Israel Museum Browse images within our Religion & Belief category search
Visit the Israel Museum at www.imj.org.il |
