Vision of Spinoza : As a descendant of Marranos, Spinoza understood the tyranny of prejudice and religious fanaticism. He was born in Amsterdam, into a city surrounded by water, where the ships of the Dutch East India Company came and went.

I imagine Spinoza flying above the rooftops of Amsterdam, free from the intellectual limits that bound his community, loving the beauty and order of science and logic. In such a flat land, the sky is huge, and the light is great, reflected by water all around, like a huge lens. I like to think that Spinoza knew that eventually the world would catch up with him.

Spinoza and van Leeuwenhoek: One of the great discoveries of Spinoza’s time was made by Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, who was born within a month of Spinoza. Like Spinoza, van Leeuwenhoek was a lens grinder. He created the first microscope and discovered microscopic life while examining a drop of water. I imagine these two great minds, surrounded by water, which van Leeuwenhoek found to be teeming with life at a microscopic level, challenging the orthodox view of life as they knew it. I imagined Spinoza standing (literally) upon the discoveries of van Leeuwenhoek, while embodying a Tree of Knowledge.

I picture the Jewish elders in the dark, behind a wall, while Spinoza sails over their heads, buoyed by his own ideas. Despite the cruel isolation they imposed on him, the rabbis had to admit that Spinoza lived an exemplary life of personal charity and humility.

Judith Joseph is a Chicago based printmaker, painter and calligrapher. She exhibits widely in solo and group shows internationally, including the Kraft Gallery at Columbia University in New York, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Golda Meir Library, the Zack Gallery, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, and the Spertus Museum, Chicago, Illinois.

Joseph’s work may be found in hundreds of private and public collections, including the Chicago Public Library, Respect and Tolerance Foundation (Czech Republic), Milwaukee Public Museum, North Shore Congregation Israel, KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation and Family Service of Oak Park/ River Forest, Illinois.

Joseph has done numerous artist residencies culminating in commissioned works of her art, for schools, synagogues and public buildings. She is an active member of the Jewish Art Salon, an international group, and participates regularly in group exhibitions in New York and elsewhere with them. She is Managing Director for the Jewish Artists Collective Chicago (JACC).

Joseph’s work has been featured in several books about art and many newspaper and magazine articles, academic journals, zines and radio features. She has received numerous awards, including the Illinois Arts Council Artists' Fellowship Award (1998 and 2004). She was chosen for a fellowship at the Midwest Jewish Artists Lab at Spertus Institute, Chicago, Illinois.