MEMORY AND INHERITANCE: PAINTINGS AND CEREMONIAL OBJECTS BY TOBI KAHN

The Museum at Eldridge Street proudly presented an exhibition by award-winning artist Tobi Kahn.

In his first solo show in New York City in ten years, Tobi Kahn contemplated ritual, tradition, and memory, both personal and collective. Kahn’s luminous paintings and his singular Judaica were shown in the Museum’s historic synagogue home, inviting reflection and meditation.

The exhibition featured 48 objects, including ceremonial art, which is central to his practice. Informed by American modernism, Kahn’s abstract, distinctively crafted works on Jewish ritual and tradition communicate spiritual meaning and the artist’s deep faith in a way that speaks to any audience. His Omer counter, SAPHYR IV, is a stunning sculptural presence that also represents the seven weeks between Passover and Shavuot. With a luminous seven-by-seven grid, the artist portrays the time from the exodus from Egypt to receiving the Ten Commandments. AHDYN is one of a series of paintings contemplating the boundaries between water and sky through a spectrum of blues. In the LKAH series, Kahn explores individual experiences of the Sabbath through a series of Sabbath candlesticks with unique forms, including flowers and the silhouette of a woman’s body. 

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This exhibition invited visitors to ponder the relationship between themselves and a larger spiritual community regardless of one’s faith and traditions.

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The Museum at Eldridge Street offered a series of related public programs and provided an audio guide narrated by Tobi Kahn through Bloomberg Connects. Scan the QR code below to access the guide. You will be prompted to download the Bloomberg Connects app if you do not already have it; if you do have it, scanning QR code below or clicking this link will take you directly to the audio guide.

Tobi Kahn is a painter and sculptor whose art has been shown in over 70 solo museum exhibitions. Works by Kahn are in major museum collections globally, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Phillips Collection, and The Houston Museum of Fine Arts. To learn more about Tobi Kahn, please visit tobikahn.com. 

Memory & Inheritance and related programs at the Museum at Eldridge Street are made possible, in part, by the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State  Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Special thanks to Ben Z. Post for lending his support to the production and publication of the Memory & Inheritance exhibition catalog. 

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