Exhibition archive - Jewish Life in Ancient Egypt - Norton Museum of Art - West Palm Beach Florida

Jewish Life in Ancient Egypt: A Family Archive from the Nile Valley
1/24/2004 - 4/11/2004

This exhibition assembles an array of sculpture in stone, wood, and precious metals, jewelry, and funerary items that bring to life the story of a single family as described in eight papyrus scrolls that were discovered in 1893 on Elephantine Island in the middle of the Nile River in Upper Egypt. They constitute the oldest surviving documentation that the diaspora settling of scattered colonies of Jews after the Babylonian exile of the 5th century BCE--brought some Jews back to their Egyptian "homeland." There they peacefully worshipped, married, raised families, and transacted business alongside neighbors of various national or ethnic backgrounds, belief or religious systems. Artworks and other texts of Egyptian, Persian, or Greek origin, as well as 19th-century photographs, provide context for the scrolls which illuminate a fascinating and virtually unknown episode in both Egyptian and Jewish history. Jewish Life in Ancient Egypt is organized by the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

The local presentation of this exhibition has been generously underwritten in part by the Mr. and Mrs. Hamish Maxwell Exhibition Endowment and Mr. Irwin Levy.

Media support is provided by the Palm Beach Daily News and WXEL 90.7 FM.

The Norton Museum of Art is a major cultural attraction in Florida.
The Museum is internationally known for its distinguished permanent collection featuring
19th and 20th century European and American art, Chinese, contemporary art and photography.
From its founding the Norton has been famous for its masterpieces of 19th century and 20th century painting
and sculpture by European artists such as Brancusi, Gauguin, Matisse, Miró, Monet, Picasso
and by Americans such as Davis, Hassam, Hopper, Manship, O'Keeffe, Pollock and Sheeler.
View special exhibitions and attend lectures and exhibition programs for both children and adults.

THE NORTON MUSEUM OF ART
1451 S Olive Avenue, West Palm Beach FL 33401 Florida

The contents of this site, including all images and text, are for personal, educational, noncommercial use only and may not be reproduced in any form without the express permission of the Norton Museum of Art

site by tangled spider

web hit counter