Feb.-March 2001 Adar 5761 Vol. 4 Edition 2
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LIFECYCLE ARTS Archive MUSIC Archive BOOKSHELF Archive DAY-BY-DAY PERSONALITIES Archive WEEKLY TORAH PORTION FREE GREETING CARDS |
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Enjoy
a webcast
interview with the artist Schwebel
I was
introduced to by the American-Israel artist Schwebel in the summer of
1996; he was at the time close to finishing his monumental series of
paintings and etchings on the material in Samuel and Kings, which was
published in Israel the following year under the title David. It is
a unique body of work. Like all great commentaries on the text, it moves
back and forth between the past and present; some pieces appear timeless
in background and dress, while many others are set in modern Jerusalem,
particularly downtown, in the Judean hills, and even in the Bronx of
Schwebel's youth.
The work
grew out of the tangled and tragic events of Israel's Lebanon war, but
war is not its prominent theme. What makes Schwebel's David series so
extraordinary, to my mind, is its emotional power - a power that well
matches the impact of text's own. While it was not the artist's goal to
connect with the purely religious dimension of the narrative, he has engaged,
in the tradition of Western classical art, with the profound character
studies found in Samuel. In his Sha'ul and David, we may find, not "modernizing"
portraits, but much of the richness of biblical characters in all their
pathos and complexity.
My live encounter with Schwebel's paintings, which in the main are quite large and prominently feature the use of color, had the effect of moving my work on The Early Protest immediately in the direction of Samuel. I was literally compelled to shelve my work on Joshua and Judges to concentrate on this one. For one who had previously received his impetus solely from the aural aspect of the test, this visual development was an unusual one, but it was occasioned by Schwebel's success in underscoring the book of Samuel's intense and deep humanity, and by his engagement with its geographical setting. I am grateful to him for his gift to the text and to me.
Paintings
reproduced permission of Schwebel.
Enjoy
a webcast
interview with the artist Schwebel. |
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