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"Until recently, relatively little was known in the United States about the creative work of European immigrant Jewish folk artists. The destruction of the material heritage of Eastern and Central European Jews during World War II has made it very difficult to trace the European precedents for American Jewish vernacular artistry. The physical remnants of that heritage - among them, the types of papercuts, gravestones, and woodcarvings featured in this volume - can only suggest how extensive the traditions of Jewish folk art in Eastern and Central Europe once were." "Jewish craftsmen skilled in the elaborately crafted arks and bimahs found in the carved and painted interiors of Eastern European synagogues arrived in North America in the late nineteenth century, where they soon flourished and became the creators of some of America's greatest folk art. When these artisans came to the United States, they encountered a society more interested in what they could produce than in what religion they practiced. So, they not only continued to carve religious artifacts for the new synagogues serving fellow immigrants but also created wooden trade figures, carnival figures, and some of the greatest carousel animals the world has seen." "A principal purpose of this volume and the exhibition that it documents is to recapture a sense of awe and appreciation for a nearly lost tradition. The book and exhibition return to the Jewish people, and to world culture, a visual tradition of great beauty and decorative complexity."--BOOK JACKET.