PURELY COMMENTARY
DON'T CRACK UNDER PRESSURE
The Work Of Gustave Dore:
Beautiful Bible Art
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor Emeritus
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34 FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1992
or more than a cen-
tury, possessors of
books relating to the
Bible have been fascinated
with pictures of related texts
by Gustave Dore. For more
than 130 years, lovers of the
Bible have been nurtured by
notable inspirations
depicted by this great por-
trayer of events in the holy
texts.
The tributes come from
Christians as well as Jews
for the pictures Mr. Dore
provided for them. For the
Jewish Bible lovers there is
the specific separation that
makes the name Gustave
Dore revered in scriptural
evaluations.
This theme leads to special
veneration for a volume that
becomes dominant in re-
ligious bibliography. Har-
bour Press enriches us with
Pictures of the Bible, the Old
Testament and the Books of
Maccabees.
Added to the title are the
Hebrew words Temunot Min
Hatanah B'Tsofot Sifrei
Hahashmonaim. The reason
for both languages is that
the artist used many Heb-
rew references and appen-
dages with his pictures.
In spite of the overwhelm-
ing presence of the Dore
works in religious art, it is
most regrettable that too
little has been published
about this great Christian
personality. We are for-
tunate that the Universal
Jewish Encyclopedia pro-
vides the facts we need. Here
is a sketch:
DORE, GUSTAVE,
French Christian painter
and etcher, b. Strasbourg
1833: d. 1883. His fame
rests upon his illustra-
tions of the Bible, in-
cluding both the Old and
the New Testaments,
which were first issued in
1865. In 1874 his drawings
were published in connec-
tion with the Bible trans-
lation of Ludwig Philipp-
son; his Bible remained
extremely popular for
decades. Dore made the il-
lustrations for Eugene
Sue's Wandering Jew. In
1935, his Bible illustrations
_ were reissued under the ti-
tle The Bible in Pictures
(New York: arranged for
the first time in > chrono-
logical order).
The publication of this
great work is so significant
MOSES PRESENTING THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
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And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses,
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behold, the skin of his face shone. (Exodus 34:30)
that it is worth quoting the
announcement by Harbour
Press:
At last a Jewish edition
of Gustave Dore's classic
Pictures of the Bible. Har-
bour Press is proud to an-
nounce the publication of
the only complete edition
specifically for the Jewish
reader.
Many readers all over the
world have learned to ad-
mire Dore's work. Yet, the
Jewish reader could not find
a suitable edition. All
available editions included
the Christian New Testa-
ment, lacked Hebrew text,
and were not arranged in the
Jewish sequence of the Bible
books.
The only Jewish edition,
published in Israel many
years ago, was incomplete
and of lesser quality. Despite
its flaws, that edition
became extremely popular
in Israel.
It is imperative that an-
other note be added here.
Harbour Press notes:
The Harbour Edition of
Pictures of the Bible
displays the following
features:
• More than 150 spec-
tacular pictures depicting
stories of the Old testa-
ment, from Genesis to
Ezra.
• Additional eight plates
of the Book of Maccabees
which detail the story of
Chanukah.
• All the pictures are cap-
tioned with corresponding
quotes from the Bible, in
English and in Hebrew.
From the mid-19th century
to the last decade of the 20th
century we have been privi-
leged to benefit from the en-
thusiasm provided for us by
the Dore art treasures. The
wealth of artistry has
always been shared by
Christians and Jews.
Let the this publishing
venture continue the preser-
vation of and interest in the
permanancy of great art
works such as the historic
creations of Gustave Dore.
Robert Gordis:
Spiritual Genius
Few have inspired our
people as much as Rabbi
Robert Gordis, who died Jan.
3 at the age of 83.
For some three decades,
at educational functions
in our community, the an-
nouncement of a Gordis lec-
ture was certain to spell an
overflowing attendance.
It is heartening to welcome
the tributes published in the
fall 1991 issue of Judaism.
These essays by distinguish-
ed scholars will remain an ac-
claim to the Gordis genius. ❑