As it were ... So to speak

Abstract

The book features images of the museum’s galleries reconstructed as rooms in a fictive house—the music room, the boudoir, the analyst’s office—formed of objects from the permanent collection. These staged spaces are intertwined with fragments of text and images drawn from intellectuals, artists, and authors, both historical and contemporary. Ranging from the charming (Torah pointers tipped with tiny hands, poised above a piano keyboard; silver spice containers shaped like peaches and pears) to the poignant (an empty, worn velvet case for a shofar horn; a Nazi playing card created from a defaced Torah), each object is infused with profound significance.