Jacob Bornfriend 1904-1976
framed: 54 x 46 cm
Succoth refers to the Jewish autumn religious festival of Sukkot, or double thanksgiving. The Bible refers to ḥag ha-asif (Feast of the Ingathering, Exodus 23:16), when grains and fruits were gathered at the harvest’s end, and to ḥag ha-sukkot (Feast of Booths, Leviticus 23:34), recalling the days when the Israelites lived in huts (sukkot) during their years of wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt. The festival is marked by the building of outdoor huts that practitioners construct following Yom Kippur, which are composed of at least three walls and roofs made with branches or thatch. During the course of the festival, practitioners are encouraged to eat and sleep in the huts.
This work is one from a series of lithographs celebrating Jewish Festivals that developed from a mural Bornfriend was commissioned to create for Jews' College London (then at 11 Montagu Square). His work in this period used semi-abstract motifs in stylised repeated patterns and rhythms rather than literal representations.