Call for Papers Ars Judaica, Special Issue: Artists and Artisans in Jewish Art and Material Culture.

Ars Judaica is a peer-reviewed journal on Jewish Art and visual culture. It showcases the Jewish contribution to the visual arts and architecture from antiquity to the present from a variety of perspectives, including history, iconography, semiotics, psychology, sociology, and folklore.

The planned Special Issue of Ars Judaica will explore the history of Jewish visual culture by focusing on its creators, from antiquity to the early modern period across various Jewish diasporas.

The history of Jewish art in ancient, medieval, and early modern times offers limited information about creators of architecture, sepulchral art, liturgical objects, illuminated manuscripts, printed books, and more. Therefore, the Special Issue will focus on the identities of forgotten artisans, artists, builders, and architects, their biographies, the training or apprenticeship processes, and how all these informed their work.

Suggested topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Artists, artisans, and workshops: analytical history, working processes, and techniques
- Personal stories of artists and their art-in-making
- Insights from artifacts about anonymous creators
- Folklore, legends, and letters about real or imaginary creators of Jewish visual culture and architecture
- Broader perspectives on Jewish artistic craftsmanship and training during specific periods or in certain regions

Proposals, including an abstract of approximately 100 words, author’s name, contact information, institutional affiliation and brief bio should be sent to zvi.orgadbiu.ac.il by February 15, 2025.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts (up to 10,000 words) is June 15, 2025.

Guest editors of the Special Issue,
Dr. Zvi Orgad, Department of Jewish Art, Bar-Ilan University
Dr. Vladimir Levin, The Center for Jewish Art at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem