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)
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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.
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.