Picture in Focus: The Prophet by Ben-Zion

July 24, 2016

Picture in Focus: The Prophet by Ben-Zion

My featured American printmaker this week created powerful images that expressed the anguish of American Jews coming to terms with  the horrors of the Holocaust in the aftermath of World War II. The son of a third-generation cantor in one of the largest synagogues in what is now Eastern Poland, Ben-Zion emigrated to the U.S. in 1920 but his work was always deeply rooted in the rich Jewish cultural heritage he had left behind, all but obliterated in the  Nazis' systematic destruction of Europe's Jewish community. In the 1950s, Ben-Zion created three portfolios of prints devoted to the Hebrew Scriptures. One of his favorite themes was the venerable prophet who pleads with God on behalf of his people or reminds them, as in this week's art offering, of the divine presence even when the heavens are pitch black. This new etching/aquatint joins others on biblical themes in the gallery of the Ben-Zion profile page in the Sacred Artists section. (John Kohan)