Wishing you and your family peace and joy this holiday season:
Happy Easter!
Blessings for Ramadan!
A Zissen Pesach!
With love,
Beth and the New York Arts Exchange
Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Thursday, April 1, 2021
Spring 2021 Greetings - Happy Holidays
Charles Ethan Porter, Peonies in a Bowl, 1885
Happy Passover
and
Happy Easter
Sending you best wishes for the Spring -
May you enjoy good health and holiday pleasures
Love and hugs,
Beth and the New York Arts Exchange
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
Spring Greetings: A Libra Super Moon, Passover and Eastertide
Touched With Fire, acrylic on canvas, 54 x 54"
"My work for many years has been partly a tool of self transformation. The single disc paintings are very much evidence of a higher level of integration." - Lester Rapaport
The Full Super Moon in Libra portents endings, releasing the past, and entering into new, fresh beginnings. There is no doubt, whether you follow astrology or the daily news, that we already entered the new path suddenly and unexpectedly. What each of us decides to do on this new path is personal. However, this path begs us to choose fellowship and selflessness. We need each other. May you find this challenging period in confinement a fruitful pause, a moment to cherish the blessings we each have, and a time dedicated to reaching out to your family, friends and community, while physically separated by the enforced "shelter in place."
For my part, I believe that art is soothing, affirming and hopeful. So here, on this blog for the New York Arts Exchange, I will present a few digital exhibitions and art history essays to lift your spirits and, hopefully, help you move along your new path, wherever it takes you.
Today, I am introducing Lester Rapaport: Toward a Spiritual Beyond, in honor of the Full Pink Super Moon in Libra and our quest for spiritual awakening amid the painful losses and hardships visited upon us because of Covid-19.
En-lightened, acrylic on canvas, 54 x 54"
"Born in 1947, I became a child of the 60s’ very messy counterculture, which, in my twenties, gave me an easy opportunity for extended experimentation with consciousness-expanding plants and chemicals. Eastern philosophy became important to many of us in that counterculture, often because of such experimentation. Since those heady days, all the phases of my professional artistic development have been concerned with higher and deeper levels of awareness, and my work has always reflected my emotional spiritual journey.". - Lester Rapaport
Yesterday Tomorrow, acrylic on canvas, 54 x 54"
"The world is always with us, and even the purest, the most reductive, the most spiritually driven of abstract artists reflect their time, if only by speaking the particular symbolic languages of their era. The pioneer non-objective painters of the modern era, from Kandinsky and Mondrian to Hilma af Klint, very deliberately articulated their inner visions, driven as they were by a Victorian propriety and mystic faith in science. The abstract expressionists hewed to a more reactive gesture, a theatrical sweep that existentially conflated personal and public turmoil. Today, in the face of ecological doom and the loss of faith in institutional integrity, abstract art often seems empty and exhausted; but its most vital practitioners serve as exemplars not of ennui and despair but of forthrightness and rigor. The recent paintings of Lester Rapaport manifest such clarity and honesty. They come from deep inside the artist, but they speak to the world around him with both anger and charm, fright and resolution, loss and rediscovery." - Peter Frank, Lester Rapaport: Meditations in an Emergency, November 2018
Affirmation, acrylic on canvas, 54 x 84"
"The now-decades-long gradual surrender of our mid-20th-century national belief in a new, science-informed, ever-more-reciprocal common future - to a science-ignorant, future-blind, other-hating fear of change, does continue. But so does the increasing protest in support of fairness, honesty, decency, and an economy that respects what the natural environment is showing us. I, however, have returned to simply sharing, as best I can, the kind of truth and beauty I see and feel throughout our seven-hundred-year-old, socially evolving western painting tradition, by expressing my personal spiritual journey in acrylic paint on canvas." - Lester Rapaport
Waking Up For Leontyne Price, acrylic on canvas, 54 x 84”
"In 2016 I received a diagnosis of prostate cancer. I was advised, convincingly, to take the mainstream medical approach of radiation therapy, and thanks to our contemporary science, I’m now cancer-free. (What a charged phrase that is.) But I also, simultaneously, adopted a complementary alternative approach – a new, very strict anti-cancer diet, plus a daily supplements program and a vigorous exercise regimen – all for the rest of my life. And it turns out that the alternative approach has brought a wonderful new clarity to my awareness, and joy in my physical being. These are interesting times."
Waking Up Waking Up, acrylic on canvas, 54 x 84”
Education:
1963-67 Hunter College, B. F. A.
1967 William Graff Scholarship for graduate study
1967-69 Hunter Graduate School, M. A. Program
1967 William Graff Scholarship for graduate study
1967-69 Hunter Graduate School, M. A. Program
Solo Exhibitions:
2019 David Richard Gallery, NYC
2016 Art Mora Gallery Ridgefield Park, N.J.
2014 Weil Cornel Medical offices, New York City
2010 Paris Health Club, New York City
2009 Paris Health Club, New York City
2007 Paris Health Club, New York City
2004 Verlaine, New York City
1996 Planet Thai, Brooklyn, New York
1987 Wiesner Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
1983 Westbroadway Gallery, New York, New York
1982 Westbroadway Gallery, New York, New York
1981 Westbroadway Gallery, New York, New York
1973 Pollock Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Recent Group Shows
- 2018 Carter Burden Gallery, NYC, NY
- 2018 Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
- 2017 Anthony Philip Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
- 2017 Gallery Giordano, Brooklyn, NY
- 2016 Art Mora Gallery, NYC, NY
- 2016 Carter Burden Gallery, NYC, NY
- 2016 Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
- 2015 Newark School of the Arts, Newark, NJ
- 2015 Two person show at Carter Burden Gallery, NYC
- 2015 Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
- 2014 Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
- 2013 Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
- 2012 Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
- 2011 Rush Gallery, NYC
- 2010 Sideshow Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Wishing you a healthy and peaceful Passover and Easter -
Beth
Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.
Director and owner
New York Arts Exchange
Friday, April 19, 2019
Best wishes for Passover and Easter; Last Call for Hilma af Klint
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Spring Bouquet, 1866
Wishing You a Joyous Passover
and Easter Holiday
and
Guggenheim Museum
Fifth Ave between 88th-89th Streets
Don't forget that the exhibition of works by Swedish visionary artist Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) closes on Tuesday, April 23rd. Extra hours for viewing have been added by the Guggenheim:
April 19–23: Extended Holiday Hours
Museum, 10 am–8 pm
Guggenheim Store, 9:30–8:30 pm
Cafe 3, 10:30 am–7:30 pm
Guggenheim Store, 9:30–8:30 pm
Cafe 3, 10:30 am–7:30 pm
Please visit their website for details.
Wishing you a blessed weekend,
Beth
Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.
Director and owner
New York Arts Exchange
Thursday, April 2, 2015
Paschal Greetings 2015
Spring is here, or so we are told - as snow, rain and sleet have been on the menu this past week. Has there been a mix-up in the Vernal Equinox? An unannounced delay?
Nevertheless, the spring holidays are definitely on the way, whether you wear Canada Goose or only an Easter bonnet for the festivities.
Nicole Eisenman, Seder, 2010
At the Jewish Museum, Nicole Eisenman's painting, Seder, is on view through August 9th. This solemn image, based on Norman Rockwell's Freedom from Want, 1942-43, is a bit off-putting in its expressionist colors and emphasis on the red beet-flavored horseradish, an acquired a taste. Perhaps, one acquires a taste for Eisenman's style in due time as well. I'm working on it.
Mark Podwal, Spring, 2011
I much prefer Mark Podwal's Spring - and all its iconographic implications: growth, vitality and beauty flourishing from the illuminations of faith (here a menorah sprouts flowers where candles usually cast their glow).
 |
| Leonardo da Vici, The Last Supper, late 1490s. |
Was the Last Supper a seder? Questions remain unanswered in this inquiry. Several scholars doubt the occasion was a traditional seder. Rather, it might have been a meal taken during the week of Passover, as declared in the Gospels of Mathew, Luke and specifically in Mark (14:12): "the first day of the unleavened bread."
Master of Perea, Last Supper, late 15th century, Spain
In Master of Perea's painting of the Last Supper, this anonymous Spanish artist seems to believe the gathering was indeed a seder, for he covers the table with ritual dishes circa 1492 (before or after the expulsion of the Jews?). Historians often doubt that the seder performed during the life of Christ looked quite this way. Others point out that the seder, as we know it, requires the Haggadah developed during the Middles Ages. (The oldest fragments of a Haggadah date to 200 CE/AD and many medieval haggadot survive from the 13th through 15th centuries.)
Here are the sources I consulted:
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/The-last-supper-a-Passover-seder-348420
http://www.bibleinterp.com/opeds/2013/coo378022.shtml
The seder celebrates the Exodus from Egypt and freedom of all kinds. We are commanded to recline, rather than sit, like the free people of ancient Greece and Rome - symposium-style. For the seder is supposed to be like the symposium of yore.
Leonardo, however, gives us animation - they are responding to Jesus statement that one among them will betray him. "Are you talking about me?" they gesture. "Or him?" The tumult seems truly authentic. Seders are very noisy.
More important to consider: What did this gathering of men eat in 33 CE/AD? The answer may be in today's Discovery.com.
Adi Nes, The Last Supper, 1999
From my perspective: the Paschal Week brings Christianity and Judaism together to savor the first days of the spring and the promise of renewal - physically, mentally and spiritually.
Happy Passover and Happy Easter -
May you enjoy peace, love and art (Spring Tours begin next week: click on the website link below for our schedule),
Beth New York
aka Beth S. Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.
Director
New York Arts Exchange
www.nyarts-exchange.com
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Holiday Greetings - Historical Time Meets Biblical Time
Passover and Easter Greetings to you - may your celebrations be joyous and invigorating.
Today, our Jewish-Christian household is not celebrating Easter. We follow the "old calendar" that celebrates Easter on May 5, 2013. How is this possible? The Orthodox Christian calendar calculates Easter in relation to the full moon after March 21 of the Julian Calendar, which falls two weeks after March 21 on the Gregorian Calendar (aka "the Common Era). Here are the details which explain in all its complexity the date of Orthodox Easter.
All these calculations got me thinking about historical time versus biblical time.
Let's see what that means:
Leonardo da Vinci, Last Supper, c. 1498
Easter - 33 AD/CE
According to the Gregorian Calendar, Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, died and rose from his grave 1980 years ago. Today, marks the Resurrection. The Feast of the Ascension, also known as Ascension Thursday, falls 40 days later (this year on May 9th).
Holy Thursday, the Last Supper - 33 AD/CE
The Last Supper celebrated Passover (commanded in the Hebrew Bible, Exodus 13:8) in 33AD/CE, before the Haggadah was written.
published 2012
The Haggadah ("the telling") - not before 170 AD/CE
The Haggadah was written during the Roman Occupation of Judea, after the Destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD/CE. The Haggadah established the correct way to conduct a Passover seder. The word "seder" means "the order." In this case, it is a ritual meal with recitations, prayers, songs, activities and symbolic foods. It is based on the ancient Greek symposium: a drinking party with entertainment, discussion and frivolity.
The earliest Haggadot were probably composed during the 2nd to 4th centuries. Here are the details which hypothesize the evolution of the Haggadah. Parts of the oldest extant Haggadah can be found in the Rav Amram Siddur (a prayer book), c. 860, and the oldest Haggadah in its entirety dates to the 10th century - also within a siddur. The earliest separate books appeared during the middle ages. The traditional Haggadah was inspired by the illuminated manuscripts created in Spain and Italy during the 14th and 15th centuries.
Therefore, Jesus' Last Supper celebrated the Passover with a festive meal, but not as a seder in the modern sense of the term.
Mark Podwal, "The Bread of Affliction," from The Haggadah with comments by Eli Wiesel, 1993
The Passover - c. 1220 BC/BCE ?
The story of the Exodus as it is recounted in the Hebrew Bible has been researched over the last few decades. Theories abound and none can verify the narrative as it is written in the Tanakh (the Masoretic version of the Hebrew Bible, c. 400 BC/BCE). If indeed the Israelites fled Egypt during the reign of Ramesses II, the Exodus would have taken place between 1279-1213 BC/BCE or c. 2550 HC (Hebrew Calendar, now in the year 5773). Therefore, the Israelites did not build the pyramids (as some people erroneously claim), because no pyramids were built during Ramesses II's reign which was part of the New Kingdom in Egypt.
Does the historical record really matter?
No. Whether literally true or symbolically true, Passover and Easter celebrate the good that comes from sacrifice and promise of spring. Historians believe that the pascal sacrifice took place in nomadic cultures when sheep and goat herders met to celebrate the spring festivals.
Wishing you a sense of renewal during this holiday season and beyond -
Happy Passover and Easter,
Beth New York
Beth Gersh-Nesic, Ph.D.
Director
New York Arts Exchange
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