Visual commentary on the Scriptures by Jewish masters

Ben-Zion Weinman's intaglio prints transform stories of the Hebrew Bible.

In its first high-profile exhibit, Lifelink Memphis' upstart art space, Gallery 210, has secured a profoundly moving show of Biblical work by two 20th century Jewish masters.

Titled "Talmud: The Art of Ben-Zion and Marc Chagall," the collection of 42 lithographs and intaglio prints by the two seminal artists runs through Jan. 15 and is part of a traveling exhibit put together by national nonprofit visual arts organization CIVA (Christians in the Visual Arts) from the private collection of affiliated artist Edward Knippers.

Ben-Zion Weinman's intaglio prints transform stories of the Hebrew Bible.

Marc Chagall used saturation of colors in his pieces, like this one titled "Creation." The artist spent much of his life rendering religious scenes.

Curator Jess Erickson, a Memphis College of Art graduate student, says the CIVA show is a perfect fit both in defining 210's mission and in being the first of what she hopes will be annual touring exhibits at the gallery.

"We're kind of a local expression of that national (CIVA) idea of creating quality art for people of faith and nonfaith to come together to look at art," she says. "We hope we can continue to do this in order to encourage dialog with other artists in the community and also with artists of faith in the community."

Open since February, Gallery 210 is about "truth, goodness and beauty," according to Lifelink pastor Joey Noffsinger, who conceived of the space as an extension of the church's arts-oriented vision. "Eighty-five percent of our membership is engaged in the arts in some form or fashion," he says. "And for centuries the church led the way forward with the arts; (it) was the biggest patron, period."

The numeral in the gallery's name comes from azure's place in the color spectrum (210 degrees) and indirectly from Exodus 28:33, where God instructs that temple robes be adorned with blue, purple and scarlet pomegranates.

Interprets Noffsinger: "The cool thing is blue and purple pomegranates didn't exist in nature, and so it's sort of God giving His stamp to artistic freedom, even improving on something He Himself had made."

Marc Chagall (1887-1985) would no doubt agree, given the glorious saturation of color he used to instill a sense of the divine and divine creativity in the lithographs on display. The famed Russian-French artist spent much of his life rendering religious scenes, including magnificently conceived stained glass, and the 24 prints of "Drawings for the Bible" — from a 1960 edition by Mourlot, the commercial print giant that created lithographic work for Pablo Picasso and many others — capture Chagall's playful, imagination in luminous miniature.

By contrast, each of the 18 intaglio prints in Ben-Zion's "Biblical Themes" (published in 1952 by Curt Valentin) transform stories of the Hebrew Bible into austere, expressionist splashes of action and emotional extremes — Ben-Zion Weinman (1895-1987) was a founding member, after all, alongside Mark Rothko and others in 1935 of modernist group The Ten — and his work ripples with an avant-garde energy as a result.

As for the title, "Talmud" operates on several levels as a type of visual scriptural commentary, from the illustrations themselves to a kind of repartee that happens by juxtaposing each artist's work — the way each handles the subject of "forbidden fruit," for example, says as much about their respective views on sin as it does about their various techniques — to colloquy from viewers. That last part is especially pertinent to Noffsinger, who aims to start discourse of all kinds with his gallery.

"It's all about the conversation — the dialog across the board between different world views and different thoughts," he says.

'Talmud: The Art of Ben-Zion and Marc Chagall'

On display through Jan. 15 at Gallery 210 on the second floor of Lifelink Memphis, 1015 S. Cooper. Hours are 9 a.m.-noon Monday-Friday and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sundays; for more information, call 491-4012.

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