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June 28, 2002
Images of a lost world
Exhibit from Wosk collection on view at Zack Gallery.
PAT JOHNSON REPORTER
For Rabbi Yosef Wosk, collecting art is a responsibility as well
as a privilege. Wosk spoke of his commitment to collecting at the
opening of a remarkable new exhibit of artifacts from his personal
collection. The exhibit, titled Textured Images: Vintage Photographs
and Picture Carpets from a Vanished Jewish World or Two, opened
June 20 at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery at the Jewish Community
Centre of Greater Vancouver. The exhibit includes a large number
of extremely rare photographs by some of the most noted early photographers.
E.M. Lilien, said to be the first artist to dedicate himself to
Zionism, was one of the founders of the Bezalel School of Arts and
Crafts in Jerusalem which, beginning in 1906, was intended to create
a new indigenous arts movement in the Yishuv. Just as the kibbutzim
were intended to instil an agricultural infrastructure for the intended
Jewish state, the Bezalel school was meant to resurrect the culture
of the nation as Jews returned from exile. Examples of Lilien's
work included in this exhibit are images of Sephardi Jews from the
turn of the 20th century. Lilien was the photographer who took the
photo of Theodor Herzl on the bridge in Basel, probably the most
famous picture of the Zionist patriarch.
Another noted photographer, Roman Vishniac, took the photograph
"Jewish Elder at Window," in which an old man in typical
shtetl garb stared out a window, while a reflection on the pane
wends up from his forehead, giving the impression of a neshamah,
a spirit, emerging from him.
An anonymous silver print photo from about 1923 depicts Jewish educators
and students in a Moroccan cave: the only safe place at the time
to pass on Jewish knowledge from generation to generation.
From the same era is a collection of prints by Nachum T. Gidal,
depicting Jewish life in Poland.
The Bezalel school was noted for its Persian-style carpets depicting
Jewish or biblical themes. Because the carpets were not always viewed
as art and sometimes served as floor mats, well-preserved examples
of this craft are rare.
Most carpets were not hung on walls as we do today, said Wosk. Even
when they were, it was often to provide added protection against
the elements in a drafty home, which caused other damage from the
cold or damp.
Wosk, however, has a number of exceptional examples of Judaic carpets,
some of which are included in this exhibit.
"The Tower of David" is one, dated 1908-1912, from the
Bezalel school. The craft remains alive, thankfully, and Wosk has
a 1975 wool and silk carpet of King David, created by Iranian weavers
before the revolution that deposed the shah. The several carpets
Wosk owns from this era were woven almost exclusively by Muslim
artists who were supplied with Jewish images on which to base their
work.
Wosk, who is enthusiastic about sharing his passion for the arts,
spoke of how he began collecting, while in a yeshivah in Jerusalem
in 1974.
He kept looking at the rich variety of art available in Jerusalem,
but was not yet ready to commit himself to purchasing any, because
he believed that, with ownership, came commitment.
"What is the responsibility of owning art?" he asked.
Part of the commitment, he has concluded, is sharing his collection
with others, as he is doing in the current exhibit, he said.
Wosk dedicated the opening event to his late mother, Dena, and to
his father, Morris J. Wosk, who passed away 10 weeks before the
exhibit opened, and to "the too many victims in eretz Yisrael."
The exhibit continues until Aug. 15.
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