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Metadata
Artist |
Bezem, Naftali |
Object Name |
Lithograph |
Title |
Untitled, from Immigrants |
Date |
1970 |
Medium |
Lithograph with hand-coloring |
Edition |
XXIX\L |
Dimensions |
13 x 19 in. (33 x 48.3 cm) |
Accession Number |
853.0.0 |
About This Work |
Naftali Bezem explores themes of emigration, resettlement and collective memory of the Holocaust using symbols that include candlesticks and often boats, which represent the immigrant's journey. His frequent portrayals of figures seated at a table recall the final Sabbath the artist spent with his parents before he immigrated to Israel as a teenager and they subsequently were murdered in Auschwitz. The title of this print, from the series Gates of the Immigrants, refers to a central processing camp for immigrants to Israel shortly after it became an independent state. At lower left, the couple, seated at a sparse table set with a plate and Sabbath candlesticks, crane their necks to look up as a large, mythic bird soars above a walled city. Sporting the distinctive crest of a peafowl, the fantastical creature with "eyes" on its feathers casts a long shadow. Below the city, a leafy tree is abruptly cut off. Rendered in a monochrome black and white, the couple are isolated from both the landscape and the domestic setting. The European-style cupboard evokes the lost world of the artist's parents. It contains a grid of fractured images, representing Bezem's memories-a boot, a face, a fish-a personal lexicon of visual symbols whose identities and meanings are enigmatic. At lower right, the Hebrew letters lamed and vav refer to the 36 righteous souls living in every generation who are privileged to see the Divine presence and responsible for the fate of all the world. |
Search Terms |
Grosvenor Gallery |
Legal Status |
The artist or artist's estate retains all copyrights to their work. |