Members of United Jewish Federation of Tidewater’s Center for Active Living, a group for older adults offering fitness, lifelong learning, and cultural programming, spent the morning of Tuesday, October 13 at the Chrysler Museum of Art. Attendees enjoyed a conversation on faith and community through the lens of Baroque art, paired with a guided tour of the museum’s Ilse Bing exhibit.
The morning began with Civic Salon: Faith, part of a museum series that uses works from its collection to prompt discussion about civic life. In a conversation moderated by Drew Lusher, Rabbi Michael Panitz and Father Noah Van Niel connected four biblical paintings to four themes that show up in secular community life.
The panel first addressed the topic of narratives – personal stories told and history – by looking at Jacopo Palma’s The Finding of Moses. Next was Bonifazio de’ Pitati’s Lot and His Daughters, which prompts the question of norms with its taboo subject matter. Then, the panel discussed habits through the lens of The Virgin and Child with Angels Appearing to Saints Anthony Abott and Paul, the Hermit by Paolo Veronese. The talk wrapped up with an exploration of rituals in the context of Giovan Filippo Criscuolo’s Adoration of the Magi, comparing rituals of the day to those practiced now.
Participants then toured Ilse Bing: Between Paris and New York led by Harry Graber, former UJFT executive vice president, who is a docent at the Chrysler Museum. The exhibit, which closed on Sunday, October 18, followed the German-born Jewish photographer, who began taking pictures as an art history student in Frankfurt and went on to work in Paris and New York with a handheld Leica. Graber guided the group through the exhibit, providing insight into her location throughout history and artists she worked with throughout her lifetime.
For more information about future events with the Center for Active Living, visit jewishva.org/Adults or contact Sarah Cooper at SCooper@UJFT.org.
