The museum at Eldridge Street has commissioned artist Kiki Smith and architect Deborah Gans to create a new monumental east window for the 1887 Eldridge Street Synagogue. The synagogue is located in New York City’s Lower East Side and is a national historic landmark.
Smih and Gans are working on a design that will include the Star of David against a field of blue stars.
The final window will be unveiled in spring of 2010.
‘The Museum at Eldridge Street has commissioned artist Kiki Smith and architect Deborah Gans to create a new monumental east window for the 1887 Eldridge Street Synagogue, a magnificent National Historic Landmark located on New York’s Lower East Side. The commission marks the final significant component of the Museum’s 20-year restoration. The Museum will unveil the permanent stained-glass artwork in the last spring of 2010.
According to Bonnie Dimun, Executive Director, “With the commission of a new window, we return a sense of grandeur to the interior. After a long and considered selection process, we chose Kiki Smith and Deborah Gans’ design – not just for its beauty but because it was so respectful of what was already there. Smith and Gans intuitively created a design that is both strikingly contemporary but surprisingly in keeping with the 19th-century interior – its history, aesthetics, and enduring spiritual quality. Here old world embraces new. By establishing that continuum we ensure that this historic structure continues to be vital and relevant for new generations.”
The Museum at Eldridge Street East Window commission is being funded, in part, by American Express, the David Berg Foundation, the Richard Driehaus Foundation and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.’
