On view August 25 – October 28, 2010
Richard McBee
Artist's Statement: Hearing Sarah
The Biblical stories of Sarah, Abraham, Hagar, Ishmael and Isaac lay the foundation for the creation of the Jewish people. The stories, along with their variations and commentaries, are held sacred by Jews, Christians and Muslims and have shaped much of Western thought throughout the millennia. In these paintings, I have relied both on the Biblical text and on rabbinic "midrashim," interpretations of the Biblical text, which have been a part of Jewish tradition for centuries.
Sarah and Abraham's marriage is complicated: Sarah introduces another woman, her servant Hagar, into her marriage bed, and as a husband Abraham is self-centered and non-communicative with his wife Sarah. When God tells Abraham to take Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice, Abraham gets up early and leaves home without telling Sarah what he is about to do with her only son. According to an early rabbinic interpretation, Sarah's death — which is mentioned in the Biblical text immediately after this incident — is a result of shock when she finds out what occurred.
Why would Abraham treat his wife in this way? What must Sarah have felt and how did she react?
In these sixteen paintings, 8 diptychs, I have attempted to understand some of these complications by seeing the narrative from Sarah's point of view, imagining her as a modern woman, inhabiting a world familiar to us, and hearing her voice in the imagined paraphrases that accompany the images.
Richard McBee, 2010
Do you have an interpretation of the story of Sarah and Abraham?
The Laurie M Tisch Gallery is collecting midrashim in its many forms—artwork, poetry, text and new media. Please email mwhitman@jccmanhattan.org for details.
Gallery exhibitions made possible in part with a generous grant from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.
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