Holy Cross' Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery Presents: Envisioning Jacob's Ladder: Religion, Representation, and Allusion in American Visual Culture, 1750 - 2000

WORCESTER, Mass. – Jacob’s Ladder — like the Garden of Eden, Noah’s Ark, and the Tower of Babel — can be counted among the oldest images of Western culture. Rooted in the oral traditions of Judaism of the second millennium BCE, the story of Jacob’s Dream at Bethel recounts Jacob’s flight from home, his pillow of stone, his dream of a ladder to heaven with angels ascending and descending, and God’s covenant with Jacob (Genesis 28, 10-22). Throughout the centuries, this story with its powerful image of a ladder to heaven has inspired interpretation in religious commentary and art.

The Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at Holy Cross will explore this phenomenon in the ever-changing, multifaceted context of American culture in an exhibition, titled Envisioning Jacob’s Ladder: Religion, Representation, and Allusion in American Visual Culture, 1750 – 2000, from Wednesday, March 10 – Friday, April 16.

Using a rich selection of art and material culture, the exhibition will document the history of the image from its European roots in colonial America to its varied renderings by contemporary artists. Historical objects will include 18th- and 19th- century illustrated Bibles and books for children; Masonic tracing boards and posters; a Jacob’s ladder quilt, coverlet, sampler, glassware, and toy; and images of Jacob’s Ladder in early 20th- century popular culture and tourism. Contemporary pieces present Jacob’s Ladder in a wide range of artistic styles and media, including painting, sculpture, tapestry, prints, and cloisonné enamel tiles.

The following gallery events are free and open to the public:

* Gallery Reception: Tuesday, March 16 5 – 6 p.m., Cantor Art Gallery * Gallery Talks by Curator David Hummon (all talks will take place in the gallery) Tuesday, March 16, 4 p.m.

Wednesday, March 24, 12 p.m.

Tuesday, April 6, 12 p.m.

* Gallery Program: Thursday, April 1, 7:30 p.m., Music/Images Program, Rehm Library

* Other special events to be announced.

Envisioning Jacob’s Ladder will highlight the continuing significance of Jacob’s Dream at Bethel within Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic traditions, examining the different ways that artists have sought to express the religious meanings of this story through their representations of the ladder.

At the same time, the exhibition will suggest how Jacob’s Ladder, by the 19th century, entered the public imagination as a cultural image and allusion in daily life. For example, Jacob’s Ladder, used to name an ever-widening array of objects, at once evoked its religious origins and invited visual appreciation of the ladder-like qualities of plants, toys, coverlets, quilts, and glassware.

Exhibit curator David M. Hummon is professor and chair in the anthropology and sociology department at Holy Cross. Trained as a cultural sociologist (Ph.D., U.C., Berkeley; B.A., Columbia College), he is currently writing a cultural history of Jacob’s Ladder that examines the changing relation of this enduring image to interpretive communities and modes of representation. His previous publications on American culture include work on the meanings of places and objects in everyday life and on issues of community and identity.

The hours for the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery are Monday–Friday, 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. (The gallery will be closed on Saturday, March 13 and from Thursday, April 8 – Monday, April 12 for Easter break.) Located in O’Kane Hall, 1st Floor, College of the Holy Cross, 1 College Street, Worcester, Mass., 01610. Admission to the gallery is free and open to the public.