The Lubar Institute for the Study of the Abrahamic Religions closed in June 2016. This web site will not be updated, and remains online as part of the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s public archive.
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Children of Abraham - Phillip Ratner

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LISAR is pleased to announce the permanent installation of Phillip Ratner's sculpture, "The Children of Abraham." A gift of the artist, it became a permanent addition to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Photos of sculpture and dedication (Click to enlarge in a new browser window)
Children of Abraham preliminary sketch

 

Adorned with renderings of "Abraham" lettered in the scriptural languages of Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic, as well as Latin, the "Children of Abraham" evokes the historic, theological, and even consanguineous connections between Jews, Christians and Muslims. The sculpture was dedicated on November 8, 2007, at the Chazen Museum of Art and permanently installed in the courtyard of the Mosse Humanities Building.

Phillip Ratner After taking degrees at Pratt Institute and American University, Phillip Ratner earned an international reputation for his sculptures, paintings, etched glass, tapestries, and drawings. His work is represented in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, the White House, the Statue of Liberty, West Point and Ellis Island, as well as in England and Israel. In 1984, he opened the Israel Bible Museum in Safed; in 2006 it moved to Be'ersheva, a site traditionally associated with Abraham. With his cousin Dennis, he also runs the Ratner Museum in Bethesda, Maryland.

Phillip Ratner's lifelong fascination with artistic interpretations of scripture informs much of his work and inspires this celebration of Judaism's, Christianity's, and Islam's common heritage. The Lubar Institute is hugely honored that its mission has so resonated with such an accomplished artist that he has seen fit to bestow this gift on the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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