Moses Jacob Ezekiel (1844-1917)
The Moses Jacob Ezekiel Digital Exhibit is a collaborative project between the American Jewish Archives and author Samantha Baskind. Drawing on the AJA's collections, along with other archival sources, Baskind conducted extensive research for her book, Moses Jacob Ezekiel: Jewish, Confederate, Expatriate, Sculptor.
Introduction
Moses Jacob Ezekiel (b. 1844 Richmond – d. 1917 Rome) would have been lost to history if it were not for a few archives that hold an extraordinary amount of information about him. Chief among those is the collection at the Jacob Radar Marcus Center’s American Jewish Archives. Fundamental for a reconstruction of the artist’s life and oeuvre are his memoir; correspondence Ezekiel wrote from abroad to family, friends, and patrons; and ephemera. These allow access to campaigns for commissions and the working process of a figurative sculptor, and notably an expatriate who had to navigate the making of sculptures that would eventually travel across the Atlantic. Letters also provide information about his art––sometimes lost––as do comments in his memoir. From these sources, it can be determined that he executed around 200 sculptures.
Dozens of extraordinary late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century eight by ten photographs of his studio and living space have also been instrumental in establishing Ezekiel’s body of work, and are enormously helpful in conveying his sculpting method. Photographs disclose how many of the prolific artist’s sculptures are lost, plus what they looked like. This rare documentation allows one to see Ezekiel’s creative process, expression of his hand, and the changes he made to clay sketches before they were enlarged, plastered, and translated into either bronze or highly finished marble.
Sculptures
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