Word: holocaustal
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Samuel Bak lavishly paints the memory of the Holocaust through a cascade of painful hues and poignant images in In the Presence of Figures. His vision of history unveils the Jewish experience through the eloquent layering of a complex iconography subtly placed within his landscapes and portraits. Bak is not only the creator of breathtaking work, but also a survivor of the Holocaust. The themes and variations of his artwork reflect the inhumane environment which he endured. Born in the Polish city of Vilna (present day Lithuania) in 1933, Bak felt the presence of danger throughout his childhood. His drawings...
...raised in a blind surrender. His back shelters him from the view of a man with a gun, his shoulders suspecting his doomed fate. Bak was about the same age as this child pictured, and chose to honor in his paintings this image of all children sacrificed in the Holocaust. The little boy, the symbol of the universal purity of the heart, is the main subject of over 12 pieces in the exhibit, each time pictured in the same pose. The desensitization of humanity is reiterated when the boy covers himself with what seems like a shield decorated with...
...time preserving his old age. The ancestors bless their descendents but stare toward the earth, without joy or life. It is as if these men have always been old, but one cannot tell which man is the oldest. Each generation, now with the knowledge of the atrocities of the Holocaust, will continue to age with experience and the memory of an inexplicably violent set of moments in history. The largest image of the old man towers behind other generations, filling the background of the canvas. Yet he is separated from each new generation by a fence or brick wall...
After waiting more than 50 years, the world is finally beginning to come to grips with some of the many waves of disruption and destruction visited upon the victims, survivors and heirs of the Nazi Holocaust. The latest effort at restitution -- based on good intentions but relying only on good intentions -- comes out of a Washington conference of 44 countries and more than a dozen Jewish, cultural and business groups. The conferees agreed on a set of guidelines to retrieve and return Nazi-looted art to rightful owners and also to return communal property -- from former synagogues and schools...
...Encouraging" may have been a more objective assessment. Holocaust victims have often been disappointed by past restitution efforts, and the latest emerging agreement contains no guarantees. "Certainly it is good that issues such as looted art are coming to the forefront," says TIME writer-reporter Jodie Morse, "but the guidelines have no enforcement mechanism." Still, with nations and companies opening their archives to public scrutiny as people are becoming more willing to speak out, the conference provides new hope for some sort of final accounting. At the very least, the meeting ended on an encouraging note: The Russian delegation delivered...