THIS WEEK'S TRIBUNE  THIS WEEK'S TRIBUNE Artist brings small-town Jewish Poland to life
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Artist brings small-town Jewish Poland to life |
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Written by Joanne Hill
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Tuesday, 29 June 2010 |
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TORONTO – The Al Green Gallery and The Ashkenaz Foundation held a private reception on June 23 to celebrate the opening of the exhibit, I am from here: the paintings of Maciej Frankiewicz, which runs till July 8. A public reception was held on June 24.
The vivid paintings on display at the gallery draw viewers closer to examine their topsy-turvy world-within-a-world depictions of small-town Polish Jewish life in the years before and during the Holocaust. Upon close inspection, even the seemingly straightforward images resonate with an unexpected depth and reveal layers of historical and emotional meaning. The work acquires greater significance when one learns that the artist, Maciej Frankiewicz, is a Polish Catholic man of modest means who also helped restore the Jewish cemetery in his hometown of Wierzbnik and serves as its caretaker.
Frankiewicz could not attend the opening of the exhibit last week, because he and his wife have 10 children and are expecting twins.
Peter Jassem, chair, The Polish-Jewish Heritage Foundation of Canada, described his reaction to the paintings:
“Some of these pictures are not directly Holocaust-related and yet you see this other layer. You see this sewing machine but there’s no one sitting behind it and there are those very strong shadows, as if the shadows of history were laying through the workshop....
“I see it everywhere: the uprooted house or the luggage with the town, which basically tells the story of Wierzbnik, something of which has been transplanted to Toronto forcefully. Each of these pictures has an upsetting story, yet it is shown in a very poetic way. In a way, I’m used to the sad story of the Holocaust and I appreciate that this is told in such a beautiful, artistic way. It’s a different story-telling."
Gallery director Lindy Green said the artist “discovered at a young age the history of this town, Wierzbnik, that he was living in. His town is the quintessential Jewish town in that it was thriving for hundreds of years. Before the war it had 17,000 inhabitants, many of them Jewish.... When the war came, they were ultimately all sent to (concentration) camps; there were very few survivors. Frankiewicz discovered this history and embraced it.”
Green said the gallery is philanthropically based and does not take a percentage of sales; rather, proceeds go to the artist and a designated charity. Proceeds from the sale of Maciej Frankiewicz’s work will be split between the artist and the Ashkenaz Foundation, which is also co-presenter of the exhibit.
Eric Stein, artistic director, Ashkenaz Foundation, first met the artist when Stein and his now-deceased brother David travelled to Wierzbnik in 1999 in search of their family history. Wierzbnik: Impressions of a Town that Was, the documentary of that visit, was shown at the opening of the exhibit.
Stein said the 2008 Ashkenaz Festival featured some of Frankiewicz’s paintings. Although many people wanted to purchase the paintings, they were not being offered for sale at the time. Since then, Stein has looked for an opportunity to mount a show and sale on behalf of the artist.
“When we met Lindy and started to share Frankiewicz’s work with her, there was an amazing enthusiasm and understanding about what the work was.... It's not just a professional venture: there’s something a lot more meaningful to it.”
Special guest speakers included Howard Chandler, chairman, the Wierzbniker Society; Piotr J. Wrobel, associate professor, Konstanty Reynert Chair of Polish Studies, University of Toronto; and Wojciech Dziegiel, vice-consul, Consulate General of the Republic of Poland.
For more information, visit www.thealgreengallery.com. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 July 2010 )
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