Book review: The architecture of modern American synagogues, 1950s-1960s by Anat Geva
Price, Jay M., 1969-
Price, Jay M., 1969-
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Issue Date
2024
Type
Book review
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Keywords
Architecture,Synagogues,Judiasm
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Citation
Price, Jay. Review of The Architecture of Modern American Synagogues, 1950s–1960s, by Anat Geva. Arris, vol. 35, 2024, p. 56-57. Arris, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/arr.2024.a942963.
Abstract
"In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:
Rooted in a career that explores the relationships between region, technology, spirituality, and architecture, Anat Geva has emerged as a key figure in the discourse and history of modernism in religious contexts. She has been a leader in the Forum on Architecture, Culture, and Spirituality, and her scholarship includes works such as Water and Sacred Architecture; Modernism and American Mid-20th Century Sacred Architecture; and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Sacred Architecture: Faith, Form, and Building Technology.1 Now, she takes on a case study of how architects engaged with modernism in synagogues in the United States in The Architecture of Modern American Synagogues, 1950s–1960s.
This is clearly a labor of love coming from a lifetime of experiencing Jewish sacred space. It is not a comprehensive assessment of the movement like that of Peter Blake’s An American Synagogue for Today and Tomorrow and Rachel Witschnizer’s Synagogue Architecture in the United States or, for that matter, a social history in the vein of Gretchen Buggeln’s The Suburban Church.2 Rather, the book is an intimate and thoughtful field trip to a handful of synagogues in order to explore how Jewish congregations saw modernism as the best expression of Jewish identity. The text is richly illustrated with striking photos, many taken by Geva herself, along with thorough descriptions of the locations covered. This is, at its heart, a conversation about design, art, and construction with a focus on principal worship spaces, notably sanctuaries and chapels.
This work builds on works such as Modernism and American Mid-20th Century Sacred Architecture in its analysis of a three-way tension between faith, form, and technology. Form may follow function, but when creating a sense of the holy is the overriding goal, light, massing, and how one moves through a space all contribute to the experience. For example, the era’s enthusiastic use of concrete once again plays a role in this book. Having written extensively about the role that light and water play in sacred spaces, it comes as no surprise that the treatment of light emerges as a central theme throughout . . . a “light-motif,” if one can excuse the pun.
These themes presented in the book illuminate numerous unique problems for the design of synagogues. There was no specifically Jewish-associated architectural language to emulate the way there was for Eastern Orthodox churches for example, which rendered modernism an attractive option. When architects started using Gothic-inspired modernism for church architecture, however, it became hard to determine whether these elements were part of a universal architectural language that transcended specific religious traditions or demonstrated how Jewish congregations were copying, yet again, the art and architecture of their Gentile neighbors.
Congregations in the United States found a freedom to experiment with what it meant to be an American synagogue, but, beyond a few specific requirements such as an ark or bimah, there was little to make a synagogue unique from an architectural perspective. Without specific works of art that represented Jewish identity, the architecture itself did not have any clear symbolic or iconographic elements to suggest that these buildings were synagogues at all. Therefore, Geva devotes considerable space to describing artwork based on theological or Biblical concepts, worship activities, Jewish [End Page 56] cultural touchstones like the Star of David, and historical references, most notably the Holocaust.
Finally, Geva chronicles the creation of what she describes as “cathedral synagogues” in this era, which were bold structures with a symbolic intent to proclaim a Jewish presence in the landscape. This was in contrast to architectural and social precedents in Jewish history—when synagogues, like the Jews themselves, were designed to keep a lower profile. Therefore, in traditional synagogue design, architects typically focused on internal spaces rather than external ones, and they often designed these buildings with an emphasis on horizontality as opposed to soaring vertical peaks. To make a monumental building, which would have..." (Provided by publisher)
Table of Contents
Description
Publisher
The University of North Carolina Press
Journal
Arris