click on image to enlarge MIZRAH / artist unidentified / Ostrów-Masowiecka, Poland / 1890–1891 / ink on cut paper / 21 x 20 1/2" / The Gross Family Collection, Tel Aviv, 036.011.010 / photo by Ardon Bar Hama, Ra'anana

Eastern and Central Poland, with the largest Jewish populations, were also centers of Jewish papercutting. Made primarily by men and boys in all walks of life, most of the known Polish papercuts date from the second half of the nineteenth century, when paper had become relatively inexpensive.

Traditional Jewish papercuts were made by folding the paper and then cutting out designs with small scissors or a knife. Uncut areas of the paper might have been painted with watercolors to depict animals, plant motifs, and even the human form. The final image was then placed on a solid-colored sheet, which acted as a contrasting background visible through the open areas. The pierced paper resembles the filigree appearance of many carved Torah arks and also echoes their visual elements.

click on image to enlarge Top half of the ark of the synagogue in Druja, Lithuania, seventeenth century / photo courtesy Polska Akademia Nauk, Instytut Sztuki, Warsaw

Jewish papercuts were made mainly for domestic use
and placed in the home for prayer. Others were placed
in windows throughout Jewish quarters in celebration
of holidays such as the Omer, Purim, Shavuot, Simchat Torah, and Sukkoth. Papercuts were given as gifts to friends, inserted into devotional books, and sold from the packs of peddlers.

The tradition of papercutting flourished in the United States from the late nineteenth century through early decades of the twentieth wherever Jewish communities were formed.