Converted Masters: World Famous Masterpieces with a Jewish Twist Artwork by Esty Frankel-Fersel and edited by Barbara Bensoussan. Menorah Books Ltd., West Hills, CA, ©2016, ISBN 978-1-940516-45-5, p. 150, plus artists credits, $44.95
By Fred Reiss, Ed.D.
WINCHESTER, California – What would happen if we took some of the world’s greatest Christian artists, gave them a “yiddishe kup” and then ask them to paint Jewish themes: Torah, Shabbat, Mitzvot, and Kabbalah to name a few?
No need to ask. Frankel-Fersel and her team redrew some of the works of Vermeer, Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Warhol, Adams, and others, binding them into a beautifully laid-out, full-color, book arranged by Jewish content. Each original artist’s work is annotated with title and year, and Bensoussan pens an eloquent message linking the sense of the original with the Jewish themed artist’s conception.
For instance, in the section called Shabbat, Frankel-Fersel juxtaposes the seventeenth century Vermeer painting “The Milkmaid” with a modern rendition showing the same woman baking challah. In Yom Tov and Jewish Holidays, she puts a copy of Monet’s early twentieth century artwork, “Water Lily Pond, Harmonie Rose” with a drawing in the same style showing a group of Jews on a bridge over a flowing stream praying Tashlich. There is even a Yiddish expressions’ section with paintings depicting Yiddish terms from Bubba Meises to Ungepotchked.
Converted Masters art is whimsical and funny, its prose informative and erudite. It is more than just a table book; it is a real conversation starter.
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Dr. Fred Reiss is a retired public and Hebrew school teacher and administrator. He is the author of The Standard Guide to the Jewish and Civil Calendars; Public Education in Camden, NJ: From Inception to Integration; Ancient Secrets of Creation: Sepher Yetzira, the Book that Started Kabbalah, Revealed; and a fiction book, Reclaiming the Messiah. The author may be contacted via fred.reiss@sdjewishworld.com. Comments intended for publication in the space below MUST be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the United States.)