RUTH BADER GINSBURG
For over a decade, Jac Lahav has painted Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Beginning in his 48 Jews series (2008 - Present) Lahav has been thinking about the strength and resilience RBG embodies as an icon and a leader.
Lahav’s relationship with RBG goes back even earlier when Lahav’s mother was friends with the woman early in their legal careers. Lahav’s mother is a feminist icon herself, a pioneer in constitutional law, and one of the first female law professors at Boston University. Being raised by such a strong woman has filtered into Lahav’s painting and curatorial work. Since they first painted RBG, Ginsburg has grown into a full-blown cultural icon.
Here are a few of the RBG paintings Lahav has completed over the years.
Legend, 10” x 12”, Gouache, Flashe, Acrylic, 24k Gold Leaf on panel, 2020
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Print : Collection Jewish Museum Milwaukee
JUSTICE 4 ALL
(RBG Portrait Painting, Oil on Canvas, 48” x 72”, 2019)
WORKS ON VELVET
Velvet RBG, 24” x 32” (each) - Printed Velvet and Acrylic, 2020
PRINTS AVAILABLE : Contact for Prices
Left Image: RBG succulent (Collection Mount Holyoke Art Museum)
Right Image: RBG Mistletoe (Private Collection)
These two small paintings are gouache and flashe on panel.
Both exhibited at the SpringBreak Art Show 2020 (Private Collection)
Above: renditions of Ruth Bader Ginsburg painted for the Lahav’s 48 Jews series. The most recent Ruth is in red on the right.
Above: Not quite a diptych, these works are part of the Great Americans series and feed off each other. Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the left and Sandra Day O’Connor on the right, both standing on angular montages of Raphael’s Justice and both have elements of painter’s pallets emblazoned on their shirts.
It is interesting that O’Connor was the first woman on the Supreme Court, yet RBG has become the renown feminist icon. Furthermore, O’Connor had to leave her position on the supreme court early to take care of her ailing husband. He passed away a year after she left her position. How would we view her legacy if she had remained?
RBG FACTS : Fashion Icon, Feminist Superhero, and Inspiration. Young RBG went to Cornell University and married Martin D. Ginsburg, becoming a mother before starting law school at Harvard, where she was one of the few women in her class. Ginsburg went to Columbia Law School, where she graduated first in her class. RBG’s husband was Martin D. Ginsburg, an American lawyer who specialized in tax law. Ruth Bader Ginsburg died September 18, 2020, at the age of 87. Ginsburgs cause of death was complications due to metastatic pancreatic cancer.
"Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time." - RBG quote
