The Light of the Revival: Stained-Glass Designs for the Restituted Synagogues in Ukraine, The Artist’s Statement
By Eugeny Kotlyar
Displayed here are historical photos and designs of synagogues, sketches of stained-glass windows, as well as photographs of completed works. Together, the artistic images in connection with the larger historical context unfold a broad perspective of how Ukrainian synagogues were reborn. Two early works shown here were the first samples of stained-glass designs for modern Ukrainian synagogues, and they set a new trend.
The exhibition is based on three sets of stained-glass windows, which were designed and partially implemented in Ukrainian synagogues in the period from 1995 to 2005. The first of them—the stained-glass windows for the Kharkiv Choral Synagogue (1995) on the theme of Jewish Holidays—was intended for the windows of the side façades and used wide decorative glazing of the prayer hall. The second project—an ensemble of stained-glass windows for the Kyiv synagogue in Podil (2002)—focuses Holy Places of the Land of Israel and the Tribes of Israel. They now adorn the east wall, creating a rich color and light frame of the old and restored Torah Ark. Finally, the third work Jerusalem and the Tribes of Israel, a part of the original design of the Torah Ark itself, including its pediment and side wings, was realized in the Galitska synagogue in Kyiv (2005).
These three projects offer different approaches to the use of stained glass in synagogue interior design and three different strategies for the sacralization of the prayer space by means of stained-glass art. What is created as a result is a new perception of sacred space and a new experience of self-perception. In my artistic vision, the stained-glass window projects the light, turns the metaphysical into the physical, materializes the speculative image, and, ultimately, fills the prayer with color and light.
As an artist and as a Jew, I have experienced this in full just recently. The full-scale Russian invasion forced me and my family to hastily evacuate from my native Kharkiv at the beginning of March 2022, first to Lviv, and then to Kyiv. That year, I experienced the High Holidays in the Kyiv synagogue in Podil, the synagogue for which I created the stained-glass windows exactly two decades earlier. For the first time in all these years, I looked at the stained-glass windows precisely in the same as the members of the community see them in prayerful union with the Almighty. The natural course of the day changed the light, which revived and renewed the images, creating a special mystical fullness of the space. I looked at my work and was infinitely delighted with and grateful for my participation in this world.
Jewish Art at Fordham: Showcasing Eugeny Kotlyar’s Synagogue Designs
by Magda Teter
In October 2022, the Henry S. Miller Judaica Research Room opened in Fordham’s Walsh Family Library. The room provides a unique space to present Jewish art and material culture alongside our more traditional Judaica collection that includes books, prints, and ephemera and serves as both a source and inspiration for student research.
When Russia started the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Fordham’s Center for Jewish Studies partnered with the American Academy for Jewish Research and the New York Public Library to offer a remote fellowship program for Ukrainian scholars in Jewish studies affected by the war. We supported twelve scholars. Eugeny Kotlyar, an artist, designer, curator, and scholar, with an impressive artistic and scholarly portfolio, was among them.
When I saw Eugeny Kotlyar’s vibrant and evocative stained-glass designs, I immediately wanted our Fordham community to see them. The opening of the Henry S. Miller Judaica Research Room made it possible. The artist generously agreed to select the artwork, share it as files we could print, and write introductory texts and captions. We hoped he was going to be able to join us in New York, but the current war made it impossible.
I am grateful to Eugeny Kotlyar for his willingness to have this exhibit, curated from afar, at Fordham. The exhibit showcased the impressive—though unfortunately never implemented—designs for stained-glass windows for the Kharkiv Choral Synagogue (1995). They focus on the theme of Jewish Holidays.
As the exhibit opened just before the High Holidays of 2023 and remained open until Hanukkah, we made them a centerpiece of our display.
The second project shown at the exhibit is an ensemble of stained-glass windows for the Kyiv synagogue in Podil (2002). It focuses Holy Places of the Land of Israel and the Tribes of Israel. Finally, the third work Jerusalem and the Tribes of Israel is a part of the original design of the Torah Ark itself in the Galitska synagogue in Kyiv (2005). In Kotlyar’s artistic vision, the stained-glass window projects the light, turns the metaphysical into the physical, materializes the speculative image, and, ultimately, fills the prayer with color and light.
Since the Henry S. Miller Judaica Research Room seeks to connect student research with our collection, I shared Eugeny’s powerful images with Mia Moody FCLC ’25, who was a summer research intern in the library. Mia, who had taken my class on east European Jewish history, is also an art history major. She chose images from medieval Hebrew illuminated manuscripts and placed them in conversation with Eugeny Kotlyar’s artwork.
When we started this project, I did not realize what turning an idea of an art exhibit into a reality—especially with a war raging—would require. I am therefore grateful to so many people who made it possible. We are especially grateful to Linda Loschiavo, the Director of Fordham Libraries, who has been supportive of the idea of having a Judaica Research Room and made it a reality. She has marshaled library resources to help us prepare the room for the exhibit. Gabriella DiMeglio and Vivian Shen at the O’Hare Special Collection helped with various logistic items and supported student research. Marjorie Coyne, Seth Knight, and Nicole Zeidan shepherded us through the mounting of the exhibit. This exhibition is made possible thanks to the generosity of Fordham Trustee Henry S. Miller, Mr. Bruce Beal, Mr. Eugene Shvidler GBA’ 92, and anonymous donors to the Center for Jewish Studies at Fordham. Through the generosity of Dr. James Leach Fordham is home to one of the most comprehensive collections of medieval manuscript facsimiles. The power of the illuminated Hebrew manuscripts is now on display together with Eugeny Kotlyar’s designs.
Eugeny Kotlyar’s exhibit is titled “The Light of the Revival.” His designs illuminate synagogues that were once neglected and left in sorrowful disrepair, providing light and inspiration. In this difficult moment of war and destruction, they provide hope for a renewal of life and a return of brilliant light after this dark war ends.
The catalogue to this exhibit can be downloaded here.
This exhibition is made possible thanks to the generosity of a Fordham Trustee, Henry S. Miller, Mr. Bruce Beal, Mr. Eugene Shvidler GBA’ 92, and anonymous donors to the Center for Jewish Studies at Fordham. The Center for Jewish Studies at Fordham is grateful to Fordham University’s Walsh Family Library and especially the O’Hare Special Collections for their support. We are especially grateful to Linda Loschiavo, the Director of the Walsh Family Library, and Gabriella DiMeglio and Vivian Shen at the O’Hare Special Collection. Seth Knight of Ram Print and Nicole Zeidan of the LITE Center were indispensable in mounting the exhibit.