Wednesday 7 October 2009An Extraordinary Moment of Artistic Collaboration

Published by D Giles Limited in association with the Museum of Biblical Art, New York, Uneasy Communion: Jews, Christians, and the Altarpieces of Medieval Spain is a beautifully illustrated volume which provides a fascinating study of the production of altarpieces in late medieval Spain and the artistic overlap between the Jewish and Christian communities that this industry spawned

Religious art was a significant force in the economy of Aragon (the Kingdoms of Aragon and Valencia, and the region of Catalonia) during the 14th and 15th centuries, and this book and the accompanying exhibition demonstrate the interaction between Jews and Christians who worked either independently or together to produce art for both communities. In the multi-cultural society of late medieval Spain, Jewish and Christian artists collaborated to produce retablos (large multi-panelled altarpieces) as well as Latin and Hebrew religious manuscripts. The authors explore the methods of production, workshop locations and shop styles, and the relationship between Christians and Jews at this time, including their portrayal through dress and appearance

This volume also offers a significant investigation into the position of the Jewish community in medieval Spain against a backdrop of rising Franciscan and Dominican power and the growth of the Inquisition. The artistic images give an insight into the lives of these communities, whether reflecting the hardships of Jewish life in medieval Spain or offering a view of a future in which Jews and Christians would join in one faith.

The exhibition Uneasy Communion: Jews, Christians, and the Altarpieces of Medieval Spain runs at MOBIA February 19, 2010 through May 30, 2010

The Authors
Dr. Marcus B. Burke is Curator of Paintings, Drawings, and Metalwork at the Hispanic Society of America, New York, and has taught at Yale University, SUNY Purchase, and the University of Texas. Dr. Burke co-curated the 1990 exhibition, Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He has been a guest curator at the Art Museum of South Texas, the Davenport Museum of Art, Iowa, and the Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, New York. María del Carmen Lacarra Ducay is Professor of Ancient and Medieval Art History at the University of Saragossa, where she specializes in medieval art from Aragon and Romanesque and Gothic art from Navarre (from the 12th to the 15th centuries). She has served as consultant to numerous exhibitions, including The Splendor of the Renaissance in Aragon (2009–2010); The Journey of Cosimo III de’ Medici to Santiago de Compostela (2004–5); and Hispano-Flemish Gothic Painting: Bartolomé Bermejo and his Time (2003). Thomas F. Glick is Professor of History at Boston University. A historian of medieval science and technology, he has specialized in the impact of Muslim culture on Christian Spain. His books include Islamic and Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages (2nd ed., 2005) and From Muslim Fortress to Christian Castle (1995). He is co-editor of Medieval Science, Technology and Medicine: An Encyclopedia (2005). Vivian B. Mann is Director of the Masters Program in Jewish Art at the Graduate School of the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Curator Emerita of the Jewish Museum. Her latest book, Art and Ceremony in Jewish Life. Essays in Jewish Art History was published in 2005. In 1999 Mann received the Jewish Cultural Achievement Award in Jewish Thought from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. She is one of the senior editors of Images. A Journal of Jewish Art and Visual Culture.

UK£39.95/US$60.00, hardback
ISBN: 978-1-904832-70-6 (13 digit)
ISBN: 978-1-904832-70-9 (10 digit)
176 pages, 305 x 229 mm (9 x 12 in.), portrait
66 colour and 8 b & w illustrations
Text: Up to 73,000 words
Publication date: February 2010
Publisher: D. Giles Limited, London in association with the Museum of Biblical Art, New York

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