THE GOLDEN REIGN OF SPAIN

ORAH BUCK - ARTIST STATEMENT

Each of the 36 photographs in this collection, “The Golden Reign of Spain”, is important, precious and unique in its own right. Every image is bursting with Judaic, traditional, spiritual, historic and religious significance.

Before beginning this "shoot", I had to obtain the necessary permission from the Royal Palace Library to gain access to the Library. After numerous requests and perseverance by my Barcelona Jewish guide to various authorities, I was finally granted approval from the Library authorities to begin. Along with this approval came the prerequisite of only being permitted to take a total of 20 photographs of the Hebrew Bible as well as posting a hefty fee required for each of the 20 images. I was also required to sign an agreement regarding the copyright usage of the images, sign many Royal papers and agree to mail the photo negative copies to the library.

These photographs cannot be reproduced according to the copyright agreements I signed in Spain. This emphasizes the uniqueness of each picture in this collection.

Entering the Library involved passing through the strict “El Al” type of security. Once inside, my Jewish Orthodox guide and I commented on how pleased we were to have made it inside this extremely private area. We were inside a beautiful 17th century private Library room at the Royal Palace Library in Madrid! A library that is home to 300,000 books, 4,000 manuscripts, 2,000 drawings and prints, 3,500 maps and 3,000 volumes of music. I considered it a privilege to be to present in this area.

During the photo shoot, I was "guarded" closely by the curator who looked over my shoulder and counted and noted each "take" carefully. I was not allowed to touch the actual page or book. Any page turning was done by the curator herself. However, she did show some cooperation in helping me find certain illuminated pages that I wanted to photograph.

My second experience in the Barcelona Catalunya Rare Book Library was quite similar. I was granted permission to take 6 photographs of the famous Barcelona Hagaddah and 10 photographs of the Jewish Astronomer's handwritten book. However, in this Library I was allowed to touch the book's pages wearing cotton gloves and search myself for images I wished to photograph.

I cannot describe the feeling of intense awe and devotion I felt in the presence of these two special sacred books. This amazement remains with me years later.

With little time to prepare ahead for these photographic sessions, I decided to treat each image of the 36 photographs as a separate work of art. In some cases I arbitrarily chose illuminated art images as opposed to Scriptural contents. But I decided that each photograph was to have its own story to tell. Each one was treated individually as a hand painted work of art. Thus, the cost of printing each image was as a first run print (as opposed to printing off 100 of each image) which greatly added to the cost of the overall exhibit.

I chose to include in these photographs the gold leaf methods used by artists in the days of the original Barcelona bible. One third of the Hebrew Bible photographs are hand painted in gold leaf similar to the actual illuminated manuscripts. This special finishing technique added to the artistic production costs.

In framing the photographs, I decided to again treat each image on its own. Frames were chosen to enhance each image (not a standard one-for-all-metal frame) so that the completed framed photographs depended on what "looked right" and what complimented the need of each photograph. The Illuminated Bible photographs especially called for exceptional frames to enhance the ancient text and images.

As a final and important note, the Hebrew poetry included in each photograph is the basis for the entire exhibition idea. This poetry is taken from a treasured, small paperback book that belonged to my mother, Rachel Wigser z”l. I asked for and received permission to use the translated poetry text with my photographs. It is my belief that the poetry greatly enhances the images and gives special reverence to the images reproduced.