THE BOOK OF RUTH AT THE MORGAN
"The accordion-fold vellum manuscript measuring nine inches tall but an amazing eighteen feet long, was designed and illuminated by New York artist Barbara Wolff who worked on the project for two years (2015-17). The complete biblical text of the book of Ruth is written in Hebrew on one side and in English on the other, the work of Izzy Pludwinski. The Hebrew side features twenty colored illustrations and a continuous landscape, with accounts and lettering in silver, gold and platinum; the English side has forty images executed in black ink.
The manuscript is housed in a modern "treasure binding," a custom designed box covered in shot silk and decorated with 24-karat gold lettering that reads "Your people shall be my people and your God shall be my God" in Hebrew. The manuscript joins two other creations by Wolff on the Morgan's collection: You Renew the Face of the Earth: Psalm 104 and the Rose Haggadah, both gifts of Joanna S. Rose in 2014, which were the subject of the 2015 exhibition Hebrew Illuminations for Our Time: The Art of Barbara Wolff."
Colin B. Bailey, Director, The Morgan Library & Museum
"Famine and flight, emigration and immigration, the idea of being a stranger in a strange land—the story of Ruth is as much a biblical story as it is a story for today. It's also the subject of a new exhibit, "The Book of Ruth: Medieval to Modern," at the Morgan Library and Museum"
The Jerusalem Post, Maria Lisella
"Like the surrounding manuscripts, Wolff's masterpiece was entirely handmade. ...Majestic reds, blues and purple and greens as well as illuminated gold, silver and platinum, pop up from the Hebrew side of the parchment. Simple black and white, pen and ink drawings decorate the English text."
The Times of Israel, Catherine Prince
