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Architect & Artists An inspired artistic team creates a masterpieceA collaboration for the ages Working under architect Albert Pissis, the Sherith Israel design team imagined the synagogue as a unified whole, the art and architecture supporting and enhancing each other. Their creation stands today, more than 100 years later, as one of the treasures of American synagogue design. Architecture – Albert Pissis, FAIA (1852-1914)  By the time prominent San Francisco architect Albert Pissis was commissioned to design a synagogue for Congregation Sherith Israel, he had already designed more than 25 major buildings, including the Stanford Medical Library, the Hibernia Bank Building, the Flood Building and the Emporium on Market Street (now Westfield San Francisco Centre). Pissis trained in Paris at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts. With clients and associates in the San Francisco Jewish community, the Catholic Pissis was able to land the plum Sherith Israel job, the only synagogue he designed.Stained Glass Windows – Emile Pissis (1854-1934)  The architect’s brother, Emile Pissis, designed many of Sherith Israel’s stained glass windows. Trained at the Julian Academy in Paris while his brother was studying architecture, Emile was a prominent member of San Francisco’s artistic community. One of his award-winning paintings, “Discovery of the Bay by Gaspar de Portola,” was recently discovered hidden away in the museum of the Society of California Pioneers when Sherith Israel began to research its artistic history. Despite living and painting into the 1930s, the only surviving work by Emile Pissis consists of the Sherith Israel windows, two paintings at the Society of California Pioneers and nine watercolors held by the Fine Arts Museums in San Francisco.Frescoes – Attilio Moretti (1852-1915)  The frescoes of Milan-born Attilio Moretti line the dome of Sherith Israel. Well known as a painter, Moretti also designed altars and memorial chapels. In an unpublished manuscript, Emile Pissis observed, "(Attilio) Moretti was busy painting saints and angels in the Catholic churches throughout the state." Moretti's obituary describes him as "... one of the best known men in his line in California." Among his last projects was a chapel in Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma under the direction of the late Archbishop Patrick Riordan, a close friend and admirer. Neither his Holy Cross decoration nor his painting in the chapel of Notre Dame des Victoires Church still exists. The Sherith Israel frescoes are believed to be the last examples of Moretti's prolific career.Thanks to Joan Libman and Ian Berke for researching Sherith Israel’s artistic history.
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