Albrecht Dürer’s Kabbalistic Gesture of the Heart
In loving memory of an unforgettable friend and collaborator John Slifko.
In his Imitatio Christi Self-Portrait (1500) Albrecht Dürer not only shaped his own image to fit the portrayal of Christ, but ingeniously fashioned a sign with the right hand to evoke his true devotion to Christ. This lecture explores Gershman’s newly discovered Shin Gesture inspired by the Christian Kabbalists during the period - specifically the writings of great philosophers Pico della Mirandola and Johannes Reuchlin.
Gershman will be joined by author Dr. Pinchas Giller.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER:
Zhenya Gershman is an art historian, artist and museum educator. As a co-Founder of Project Awe she has dedicated her scholarly and charitable work to examine the influence of Esotericism on the Arts. Gershman seeks to provide new dimensions to understanding and experiencing the cultural icons of Western European heritage.
Gershman’s specific area of study and expertise is in the life and work of Rembrandt and Dürer. In her pioneering article Rembrandt: Turn of the Key, published by Arion and featured by Huffington Post, Gershman was able to reveal the evidence for Rembrandt’s involvement with the early pre-Grand Lodge Freemason fraternity, bringing new light to understanding of this great master. She has worked for over a decade in the internationally acclaimed J. Paul Getty Museum, and has contributed to such exhibitions as Rembrandt's Late Religious Portraits and Rembrandt: Telling the Difference. Gershman’s groundbreaking discovery regarding the presence of a hidden Rembrandt self portrait was published by Arion, Boston University and was brought to European audiences by Le Monde. Her essay Dürer’s Enigma: A Kabbalistic Revelation in Melencolia §I showing the link between Dürer and Kabbalah was published by Brill Journal Aries in 2018.
Gershman was named an ambassador to Royal Talens North America and Blick Art Materials, and is the founder of Zhenya’s Art Academy, where she helps students of various ages take their art to the next level. She is also the creator and host of Invisible Museum Tours, an online free lecture series with a large international audience. In 2022, Gershman launched the art movement Brushes Over Bullets after her portrait, “First Face of War”, was sold for $100,000 at Heritage Auctions to benefit Ukraine. www.zhenyagershman.com/
Dr. Pinchas Giller was brought up in Cocoa Beach, Florida. He was ordained at Yeshiva University and received his doctorate at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. Rabbi Giller has written extensively on Judaism and his field of expertise, Jewish Mysticism or Kabbalah. He has written four books, The Enlightened Will Shine: Symbolism and Theurgy in the Later Strata of the Zohar (State University of New York Press, 1993), Reading the Zohar (Oxford University Press 2000), Shalom Shar’abi and the Kabbalists of Beit El (Oxford University Press 2000) and Kabbalah: A Guide for the Perplexed (Continuum Press; 2012). He has also edited Beur Moshe al ha-Torah, a Bible commentary by his great-great Grandfather, the Vilna grammarian Moses Reicherson. Dr. Giller is chairman of the Jewish Studies department of the American Jewish University, Los Angeles.
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