Paper-cutting

An art form from days long past

By Arlene Stolnitz

Do you remember those paper cutout snowflakes we made when we were children?

Those cutouts were much like the popular Polish folk craft of the 1800s called wycinanki (vee-cee-non-key). Known as folk art in other countries also, (for example, papel-picado in Mexico, scherenschnitte in Germany), the art of cutting designs into bark, parchment, fabric and paper was widely practiced among other cultures for thousands of years. Polish art works were popular in decorating the houses of non-Jewish peasants and often consisted of older Slavic traditions of protective plaques and symbols. Colorful decorative arts were most important in the cultural life of the Polish people.

The Polish Jewish population, a highly literate people, created their own style of paper-cuts, but theirs were strictly religious in nature. Although there are some legends that trace the origin of Judaic paper-cutting back to the 13th century, very few can be dated with certainty before the latter part of the 18th century. Most items we know of today range from the 19th to the early 20th century. According to one legend I read, there was once a rabbi who wanted to rewrite the Torah but had problems with cold weather. Even the ink froze, and he couldn’t continue his work. He came up with a better idea and started cutting out letters for the Torah, and so the first Jewish paper-cut was created!

Jewish paper-cuts were created mainly by the poorest members of the Jewish community, countrypeople, who could not afford expensive religious plaques. Many were created by soferim and rabbis as a way of earning additional funds. The papercut’s function was mainly symbolic. We know paper-cuts were quite common in Ashkenazic Jewish homes, although relatively few survived. It is certainly understandable due to their fragile nature and vulnerability of the material.

Paper-cuts included items such as mizrach (directions for prayer) and shiviti (meditative prayer), ketubot (Jewish marriage contracts), yahrzheit lists (lists of deceased family members), omer (calendar listings), megillot (scrolls of book of Esther) and documents for religious ceremonies and observances. Paper-cuts were usually decorated with traditional symbols found in Judaism and often included animals and birds as well as calligraphic inscriptions in Hebrew. Paper was cheaper to use than wood or metal and was easy to get, especially after the introduction of cheap woodpulp paper in the mid-19th century. The simplest of tools could be used ... paper, pen and ink, pencil, penknife, watercolors and colored crayons which were readily available. If a mistake was made, it could easily be replaced, just start over! According to Giza Frankel, whose study of Jewish folk art has spanned five decades, paper-cuts were made mainly by men and schoolboys. However, one researcher claims to have spoken to a woman who remembers having learned the art as a girl.

Jewish immigrants arrived in America from Eastern Europe in great numbers in the late 19th century and brought with them the art of papercutting. As I have written in prior columns, Baruch Zvi Ring, my husband’s grandfather, came to Rochester, New York from Vishay, Lithuania, in 1902. His earliest known paper-cut had been created in Europe when Ring was only 10 years old. According to experts, it shows his love of intricate patterns and clarity of composition.

The artist's signature appears in the lozenges (diamonds) attached to the lower roundels (medallions): "My handiwork in which I glory (Isaiah 60:21) From me, Baruch Zvi son of Jacob.”

Although much of the traditional art form has been lost, there has been a rebirth of interest in the art form by young, accomplished artists in this country. It is my hope that Americans will come to know something of the arts of the Jewish people as practiced in the past.

Arlene Stolnitz, the “Jewish Music” contributor to Federation papers the past eight years, is starting a new series focusing on Judaic folk art. A native of Rochester, New York, Stolnitz is a retired educator and lives in Venice, Florida.