Lehmann Memorial Master Workshop in the History of the Jewish Book: Katrin Kogman-Appel

The Twelfth Annual Manfred R. Lehmann Memorial Master Workshop in the History of the Jewish Book
The Jewish Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania, in conjunction with the University of Pennsylvania Library and the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, are pleased to announce the twelfth annual Manfred R. Lehmann Memorial Master Workshop to be held on May 20-21, (Sunday-Monday), 2012, at the Katz Center. The topic is Jewish Book Art in the Late Middle Ages. This year's workshop will be led by Dr. Katrin Kogman-Appel, the Evelyn Metz Memorial Research Chair at the Department of the Arts at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, and one of the world's foremost historians of Jewish art. She has published four major books and numerous articles on virtually every aspect of medieval Jewish art in both Ashkenaz and Sefarad. This spring Harvard University Press will publish her newest book, A Mahzor from Worms: Art and Religion in a Medieval Jewish Community.
The workshop will be devoted to Hebrew illuminated manuscripts of the fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries and to the ways in which current methods in art history and related fields can be fruitfully applied to them. Among the subjects to be treated will be issues of patronage, function, historical context, reception, mediality and visuality, and cultural interaction. Specific sessions will focus on the illustration programs of Ashkenazi Mahzorim; the Sephardic Bible within the framework of Judeo-Arabic culture; the Sephardic Haggadot with particular stress on cultural exchange and patronage; Jewish-Christian collaborations in late medieval manuscript workshops; and strategies employed by Ashkenazi book producers like the fifteenth century scribe-artist Joel ben Simeon to make the haggadah accessible to wide audiences from different social strata. The final session will deal with the persistence of manuscript culture after the invention of the printing press with a discussion of the work of some early modern printers.
No art historical background is expected and some basics of visual analysis will be taught. Iconographic method implies the study of text, and since not all texts to be discussed exist in English translation, participants should be able to read Hebrew.
The workshop is open to professors and independent scholars, professional librarians in the field of Jewish and related studies, and graduate students in Jewish Studies. Attendance at previous workshops is not a prerequisite for admission.
For faculty and professionals, tuition is $250. In addition to attendance and all materials for the workshop, the tuition includes two or three nights in a hotel (double-occupancy) for the nights of May 19 and 20 (with the option of May 19), and all meals and refreshments (all kosher) during the course of the workshop.
Graduate students may apply for a full scholarship to the workshop. To apply for the scholarship, a graduate student should write us giving the details of his or her academic program and a brief statement explaining how the workshop will further his or her academic studies. S/he should also ask a faculty advisor to write us a letter of recommendation on the student's behalf.
Attendance is limited.
If you are interested in attending the workshop, please notify us immediately. Full payment must be received by March 1, 2012. Make checks payable to Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. A registration form is available at: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jwst/registrationLW2012.pdf
Please address all correspondence to:
Please address all correspondence to:
Lehmann Workshop
c/o Jewish Studies Program
711 Williams Hall
255 S. 36th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305
jsp-info@sas.upenn.edu
215-898-6654
The Manfred R. Lehmann Memorial Master Workshop in the History of the Jewish Book has been made possible by a generous contribution from the Manfred and Anne Lehmann Foundation along with grants from Mr. Albert Friedberg, the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation, Andrew H. Cohn, Esq. C'66, and the University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation