VUK DAUTOVIĆ
Art historian, Faculty of Philosophy, Belgrade
SEFARDSKE ŠTAMPANE KETUBE NA BALKANU
Vizuelna dekoracija kao odraz ideja bračne harmonije i privatno – javnog jevrejskog identiteta
SEPHARDIC PRINTED KETUBBOT ON THE BALKANS
Pictorial decorations as a reflection of the ideas of marital harmony and the duality of private and public in Jewish community's identity
Journal 8/2012 (Museum of Applied Art), pages 65-76
UDC:
763:392.5(=134.28)(497)”18/19” ; 763:26-555-534(497)”18/19”
ИД 195690508
Abstract (original language):
Jevrejski bračni ugovori – ketube, imaju mnogovekovnu i bogatu tradiciju vizuelnog ukrašavanja i iluminacije. Ketube nastale krajem XIX i početkom XX veka, postaju serijski štampani obrasci, podražavajući ideale savremenih građanskih država i modernog društva. Same jevrejske zajednice širom Balkana u ovom periodu prolaze kroz niz kulturnih i društvenih transformacija. Vizuelna dekoracija ketuba, stoga, ima privatno–javni karakter, uobličen prema običajnom jevrejskom pravu i konkretnim društveno državnim okolnostima. U dekoraciji balkanskih ketuba iz velikih sefardskih gradova poput Beograda, Sofije, Sarajeva i Soluna u periodu s kraja XIX veka i u prvim decenijama XX veka, koje su realizovane u litografskim štamparijama, jasno su izražene ideje bračne harmonije, kao i jevrejskog identiteta, uz koje se javljaju i zvanična državna obeležja. Likovnom formulacijom ketube, sadržajem i njenom strukturom, štampani obrazac postaje slika progresa jevrejske zajednice i savremenog, građanski shvaćenog braka.
Key words: (original language)
Balkan, Sefardi, ketuba, vizuelna dekoracija, jevrejska kultura braka, štampa
Summary:
Jewish community in the Balkans goes through a sequence of transformations during the 19th century. For Jews who live at the territory Serbia, changes begin with the process of liberation from the Ottoman rule, followed with the founding and developing of Serbian state. The community had to function firstly in the Principality and later on Kingdom of Serbia, as well as under the turbulent circumstances of dynastic changes at the beginning of 20th century that led to the formation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Each of these phases influenced the shifts in a shape of the cultural model, and directed the relation between communal privacy and public identity integral to the wider sphere of the society.
Ketubbot made by the end of 19th and the beginning of 20th century became serial printed prototypes, which support the ideal of contemporary civil state and modern society. They were produced all over the Balkans in lithographic printing offices. Their visual forms inherited the old tradition of representing the triumphal arch with symbolic decoration.
They carry Jewish symbols like Magen David, Decalogue, or menorah, but also include state symbols like Serbian coat of arms, as well as emblematic pictograms of civil marriage and marital harmony like Concordia Maritalis, then putto and symbols of love - hearts. The illustration of this thesis is the examples of ketubbot printed in large Balkan cities: Belgrade, Sarajevo, Sophia and Thessaloniki from the end of XIX century to the beginning of XX.
By replacing illuminated ketubbot with serial lithographic prints, Balkan Jews were participating in the contemporary social trends, but also creating their own visual culture, according to their personal needs. Holding on consistently to the emphasizing of an outstanding identity, they enriched visual decoration of ritual items by incorporating novelties in the manner of actual styles and contemporary achievements of Fin de siècle. The acceptance of social norms of wider community and civil concept of marriage, influenced the choice of visual representations, which found their place on ketubbot, bridging the gap between traditional and contemporary on the turn of the century.
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