The Jewish Art Salon proudly presents an exhibition by artist Richard McBee at the Jerusalem Biennale 2026.
The exhibition opens September 24 at the Former National Library at Givat Ram, which is the main exhibition space at the Jerusalem Biennale.
Sderot Wolfson 9, Jerusalem, 9190401, Israel.
Opening Hours Sept. 24 – Nov. 12
Sun, Tues, Thurs- 16:00- 20:00 Mon- Wed- Fri- 10:00- 14:00
Curator: Yona Verwer, Jewish Art Salon.
After completing 100 paintings on the Akedah over 35 years, McBee has concluded that “after the Holocaust, we Jews are all Isaac.”
A new series of six paintings opens mid-narrative, responding to Isaac’s unsettling question: “Where is the lamb?”
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“Out of the depths I call You, O Lord. O Lord listen to my cry; let Your ears be attentive to my pleas for mercy” (Psalm 130).
The biblical figure of Isaac and God’s command to his father, Abraham, to sacrifice his son have served as the artistic inspiration for many of Richard McBee’s paintings.
McBee: “And God tested Abraham…commanded him to slaughter his beloved son Isaac and eradicate all future generations. I know this well because after 100 paintings in 35 years, one thing I have concluded is that after the Holocaust we Jews are all “Isaac.” We have faced total annihilation as victims and survivors; the most recent October 7, 2023. We are all Isaac and the modern world turned its back on Israel.”
After completing 100 Akeida paintings in 35 years, McBee concluded that “after the Holocaust we Jews are all Isaac”. History, for McBee, had seen the Jews face total annihilation as victims and survivors; the most recent example being October 7, 2023. In his own words: “We are all Isaac and the modern world turned its back on Israel.”
This series of 6 paintings opens in mid-narrative answering Isaac’s unnerving question: “Where is the lamb?”, to which Abraham replies: “God will provide.” Abraham then carefully binds his son Isaac to the altar, a sacrifice, when an angel suddenly appears and physically restrains Abraham’s murderous obedience. Defeated, Abraham begins to walk away, but Isaac is suspended atop the altar, abandoned by his father. Now under a Divine cloud, Isaac turns furiously back to his father’s retreat. Finally, Abraham has brutally left his son and decided to return home, rejoining Ishmael and his servant Eliezer. Isaac is left on the mountain where he was to die. He is totally alone. “For yours is the power to forgive, so that You may be held in awe” (Psalms 130:4).
Some of us manage to walk away from the terror, we…at least some of us, can survive the depths. Nonetheless, we find ourselves after such cruelty, again, alone.
Givat Ram’s main hall features 10 exhibitions from more than 40 artists.
Other Jewish Art Salon members at Givat Ram exhibitions: Ruth Schreiber, Andi Arnovitz, Elkana Levi, David Sperber, Ori Soltes, Mel Brown, Susan Schwalb, Lenore Mizrachi-Cohen, Stacy Leeman. More about these exhibitions in the following weeks.
The Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University is home to a landmark of Brutalist architecture; the former National Library of Israel, which served as the country’s central library for over sixty years. During the 2026 Jerusalem Biennale, its spacious halls and open courtyards serve as major exhibition venues, including the celebrated Ardon Windows complex, creating a vivid dialogue between contemporary Jewish art and one of Israel’s leading centers of scholarship.