Updated July 2010: We’re pleased to announce that this photograph is a new acquisition to the Museum’s permanent collection.
Good relationships can be hard to find, but a relationship that has continually proven to be rewarding is that of American synagogues and contemporary artists, architects, and designers. An example of this successful collaboration is clearly visible in the current exhibition, Modern Art, Sacred Space: Motherwell, Ferber and Gottlieb, which features Abstract Expressionist art commissioned for a modern synagogue in 1951. In conjunction with the exhibition, The Jewish Museum has borrowed a related contemporary piece, a large-scale color photograph of Beth Sholom Synagogue in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania. Opened in 1959, Beth Sholom was the only synagogue designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and the last project completed before his death. The photograph, on loan from Sonnabend Gallery in New York, is by German artist Candida Höfer.