Vivienne KOORLAND South African, b. 1957
TEREZIN PAINTING: Josef, 1991
Oil on linen set into wood mantel
139.7 x 152.4 x 20.3 cm
55 x 60 x 8 inches
55 x 60 x 8 inches
Koorland takes a found drawing by a child, Josef, made at the Terezin (Czech Republic) ghetto during WWII as the source of this work. Over four and half thousand drawings...
Koorland takes a found drawing by a child, Josef, made at the Terezin (Czech Republic) ghetto during WWII as the source of this work.
Over four and half thousand drawings were made by children of the ghetto, clandestinely taught by the avant-garde artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis (1898–1944), who was imprisoned there (Dicker-Brandeis, along with the majority of the students, were sent to Auschwitz in 1944 where they were killed in the gas chambers). These drawings, which were hidden by D-B in two suitcases, are all that survive and are a poignant reminder of the creativity which flourished under these extreme conditions.
Koorland’s crudely painted & drawn rendition of Josef’s drawing is made monumental by the artist She further sets it in a wooden fireplace mantle: a commentary not on the idea of the ‘hearth as home’, but rather a commentary on the physical “Frame” and our inability to leave an artwork alone.
Over four and half thousand drawings were made by children of the ghetto, clandestinely taught by the avant-garde artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis (1898–1944), who was imprisoned there (Dicker-Brandeis, along with the majority of the students, were sent to Auschwitz in 1944 where they were killed in the gas chambers). These drawings, which were hidden by D-B in two suitcases, are all that survive and are a poignant reminder of the creativity which flourished under these extreme conditions.
Koorland’s crudely painted & drawn rendition of Josef’s drawing is made monumental by the artist She further sets it in a wooden fireplace mantle: a commentary not on the idea of the ‘hearth as home’, but rather a commentary on the physical “Frame” and our inability to leave an artwork alone.