Part I: Jewish traditional texts have a lot to say about the place of arts and artists within the historical tradition. We chose a few that illustrated some of the ways the creators of the texts thought about the vividness and multi-disciplinary nature of art, connections between art and life, and even one story with a wink to contemporary conceptual art.
(35) have been endowed with the skill to do any work—of the carver, the designer, the embroiderer in blue, purple, crimson yarns, and in fine linen, and of the weaver—as workers in all crafts and as makers of designs.
אמרו כי מלך אחד הטיל על שני אומנין ציור קירות היכלו והמה קבלו עליהם וחייבו ראשם לגמור מלאכתם ליום נועד וחלקו מלאכתם לחצאין זה נוטל שתי קירות סמוכות וזה נטל שתים כנגדן והנה האחד היה איש מהיר במלאכתו נזדרז אל המלאכה וכלה אותה טרם המועד אשר יעדו. והשני היה מתעצל טומן יד הולך ושובת עד כי אפסו לו הימים עד בלתי השאיר לו תשע או עשור. ויהי בראותו כי כלאה לו הרעה מאת המלך חרד בלבו חרדה גדולה וצעק על חרפתו וכלימתו צעקה גדולה כי ראה חבירו יוצא בשם ותהלה כשם הגדולים והוא יהיה לקללה ולשנינה כאחד הנבלים ובחזקתו ותעצומו בבכיתו וצערו צלל בעומק רעיוניו ועלתה במחשבתו משיחה נפלאה מסוגלת לצחצח ולזכך האבנים עד שיהיו מזוככים ונמרקים כעין נחשת קלל וימהר לעשות אותה ויקח את המסך ויפרוש בבית מזוית לזוית להבדיל בין מלאכתו למלאכת חבירו וטח שתי קירותיו בטיח האמונות טיחה זכה ונקיה יותר נאותה לפי המלאכה ואח"כ שפשף אותם היטב וימשח אותם בשמן המשחה עד אשר היו כמראות של זכוכית המקבלות המראות קבול נאות וחזק. ויהי היום ויבא המלך אל היכלו לראות מלאכת עבודתו ויבאו עמו כל גדולי מלכותו וימצאו שתי הקירות אשר עשה האומן הראשון מעשה מפואר כל מלאכת חרש וחושב וירא והנה טוב מאד וישמח המלך עליו וצוה לתת לו שכר משלם. וישאל גם את השני לאמר מה מלאכתך ויאמר יבא אדוני המלך מעבר הוילון וביתה ויעבור וירא והנה שתי הקירות חלקות ומצוחצחות מבלי שום ציור ופתוח ויכעס עליו המלך לאמר מה עשית וימהר האומן טרם תעלה חמת המלך ויסר את המסך המבדיל בין שתי המלאכות והנה כל הפתוחים והציורים אשר עשה חבירו בשנתים ימים או שלש כלם נתחקו כמו רגע בצחצוח הקירות אשר תיקן באופן נפלא מהיופי והנעימות שאין הפה יכולה לדבר מלבד מה שהוכנו לקבל כל שאר הצורות והפתוחים אשר ישימו לפניהם מזולת פתוחי הקירות אשר כנגד' ממה שנמצאי' פה היום ומאשר יבואו אחרי כן ויוסיף המלך שמחה גדולה במלאכת הזאת האחרונה מבראשונה וכל אשר עמו נפלאו מאד מהמראה ויאהב המלך את האומן ויוסף את שכרו ויכבדהו וינשאהו מן הראשון.
(8) A king commissioned two artists to decorate the walls of his throne room, setting a time limit for completion of the task. The first artist, true to his reputation, set to work immediately and completed beautiful murals in good time. The second artist allowed most of the allotted time to elapse without even commencing the work on his side of the throne room. When he finally realised that time was running out on him, and that he could not hope to match his colleague, he decided to polish and silver the walls he had been commissioned to paint so that they would reflect the images portrayed on the walls that his colleague had decorated. He hung a curtain across the room, and when the king inspected the work of the first artist he was favourably impressed and profuse in his praise. When the second artist took the king to inspect his handiwork,- the curtain still dividing the two halves of the room,- the king became noticeably angry, failing to be impressed by polished blank walls. Thereupon the artist removed the curtain, and suddenly those two walls were filled with the perfect reflection of the murals of the first artist. The king rewarded the second artist even more handsomely, having been impressed by that artist's genius and the circumstances that occasioned it. This illustrates that although the work of the first artist was undoubtedly the superior accomplishment from the standpoint of originality, the latter had required the greater effort in order to achieve a similar image. The king realised that only careful groundwork had enabled the second artist to project a major mural on to his walls instantly. The reward paid him was in recognition of his inventiveness as well as his effort to compensate for his former laxity.
Part II: Sefaria's texts can be a fascinating and useful resource to explore as part of the research process in creating artistic projects. With many thousands of texts, there is a lot to dig into for projects that specifically address Jewish themes as well as to investigate how Jewish authors approach larger topics. Asylum Artists have created projects engaging with migration and diaspora, jasmine, the etrog, borders and fences, and miscarriage - all themes that one could explore using the tools of Sefaria to find relevant and (hopefully!) inspiring texts.
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We hope that Sefaria can open up new sources for research and exploration - please be in touch with us if you have any questions. If you want to brainstorm about art-related searches, please contact [email protected], and if you are somehow stymied by Sefaria or want expert advice, please be in touch with Sara Wolkenfeld at [email protected]. If you come across something fabulous or fascinating or super useful, we would love to hear about your experience as well.