Melanie Thacker Nonmacher

Assistant Curator & Community Outreach Director Kaplan Museum of Judaica | Art Historian| Museum Educator| Bayou Bend Docent Program | Museum of Fine Arts

53 articles published

ROMAN PORTRAITURE

ROMAN ART, Variety is the Spice of LifeMarch 11, 202657Views 0Likes 0Comments

There are many ways to study the Roman Empire and its culture. One of the best ways to learn more about this timeframe is to study Roman portraiture and with all of its nuances and symbols. This was the first time in history that portraits were being made with the spectator in mind. These likenesses…

BORIS SCHATZ- MAN ON A MISSION

Art & Divine Imagination, Bezalel, Boris Schatz, Judaica, ReligiousMarch 10, 202681Views 0Likes 0Comments

Boris Schatz was born in Lithuania in 1866. An artist in his own right, he lived and worked in many different cities across Europe before settling down in Jerusalem in 1906. This is the year he started Bezalel. Sometimes more visionary than artist, Schatz admired Italian renaissance work and imagined Art Nouveau as a revival…

FOUNDING OF THE BEZALEL SCHOOL OF ARTS & CRAFTS

Art & Divine Imagination, Bezalel, Boris Schatz, Judaica, ReligiousMarch 10, 202654Views 0Likes 0Comments

In 1906, Boris Schatz founded the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem. Schatz named his school after Bezalel from the Bible who was the architect and artist of the Tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant. Schatz envisioned his school to play just as important a role. This school would teach all types of…

ART NOVEAU & THE BEZALEL SCHOOL OF ARTS & CRAFTS

Art & Divine Imagination, Bezalel, Boris Schatz, Judaica, ReligiousMarch 10, 202645Views 0Likes 0Comments

Art Nouveau, sometimes called Jugendstil, was a style of art popular from around 1890 to the first World War. This style coincides with what is known as the Belle Epoque. This is a French term that describes a time of cultural flourishing, peace, prosperity and artistic freedom. It is as easy to understand what Art…

IN DEPTH- SARCOPHAGUS DEPICTING A BATTLE BETWEEN SOLDIERS AND AMAZONS (WARRIOR WOMEN)

ROMAN ART, Variety is the Spice of LifeMarch 4, 2026105Views 0Likes 0Comments

Part I- Technical Analysis Sarcophagus created for Roman Military Commander- Funerary Art. Artist- Unknown Roman Date 140 AD- 170 AD (MFAH, 2023) Medium- Warm Cream Marble Dimensions- 40 1/2 × 91 1/2 × 50 1/2 in., 5511.5lb. (102.9 × 232.4 × 128.3 cm, 2500kg) Provenance- Private collection, Eastern Europe, 19th century; purchased by Pierre Sciclounoff,…

ROMAN SARCOPHAGUS

ROMAN ART, Variety is the Spice of LifeMarch 4, 202661Views 0Likes 0Comments

Although the exact date of creation for this sarcophagus is unknown, experts believe that it was made in the second century in Rome. This tomb falls under the category of “mythological sarcophagi” which means that the relief panels are taken from mythology instead of biographical information. This was a common theme among sarcophagi during the…

MARCUS AURELIUS ON HORSEBACK

ROMAN ART, Variety is the Spice of LifeMarch 4, 202663Views 0Likes 0Comments

The statue of Marcus Aurelius on horseback is beautiful to behold. It is lucky to have such a piece of history, and it is only through luck that we are able to enjoy it. This is because the statue at some point had been erroneously labeled as Constantine, the first Christian Emperor of Rome, and…

JUDAIC ART & ZIONISM

Art & Divine Imagination, Judaica, micrography, Rabbi Schmuel Schulman, Religious, zionismMarch 4, 202647Views 0Likes 0Comments

When speaking about Judaic art, you cannot start at the beginning. It would take too long! Instead, the best place to start will be near the end of the nineteenth century. This is the time in history that Zionism was beginning to gain real traction. Zionism is the belief that Jewish people have a God…

BEZALEL SCHOOL OF ARTS & CRAFTS

Art & Divine Imagination, Bezalel, Boris Schatz, JudaicaMarch 4, 202662Views 0Likes 0Comments

In 1906, a man named Boris Schatz created his life’s work with an art school in Jerusalem named The Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts. A Zionist, Schatz hoped to use the school to make items of Judaica that would further the Jewish cause to regain Palestine. He believed that the Bezalel school went hand…

THE TURNING ROAD OF FAUVISM

Andre Derain, Fauvism, Variety is the Spice of LifeMarch 3, 2026137Views 0Likes 1Comment

Andre Derain, a French painter and one of the founders of the short lived Fauvist movement, painted a color charged scene of the French countryside named “The Turning Road, L'Estaque” in 1906. This painting was created in what was the last few minutes of an art movement that lasted only between 1901 and 1906 and…

COL. JOHN TRUMBULL- EARLY CHILDHOOD

Trumbull, UncategorizedFebruary 25, 2026103Views 1Like 0Comments

John Trumbull. Jonathan Trumbull, Sr. (1710–1785), LL.D. 1779. Young Trumbull did have two incidents in childhood that bear mentioning. The first was that as a baby, he would suffer convulsions, often having three of four a day. By the time he was nine months old, the convulsions had been increasing in both number and severity…

COL. JOHN TRUMBULL- AUSPICIOUS BEGINNINGS

Trumbull, UncategorizedFebruary 25, 202659Views 0Likes 0Comments

. The Trumbull family had their roots in early America from the time the colonies began. There is a John Trumbull listed on documents starting in 1640 in Massachusetts who hailed from England, near the Scottish border. He was believed to be the first ancestor of Col. John Trumbull to live in America from their…