Thursday, January 05, 2023
Star of David on Friedrich Gauss Tombstone
Saturday, October 22, 2022
Star of David as Seraphim
The proper and accurate name of this symbol known under many different names is actually “the Icon of Seraphim”. To understand why you need to look into the etymology of the word “seraphim”. The picture I am sending you is taken in the capital of Latvia, Riga on Gertrudes street. The building is old and the plate says it is a library “Lada”.
Thursday, November 04, 2021
Wednesday, November 03, 2021
Monday, August 23, 2021
Holocaust Icons in Art by Batya Brutin
Published in the book
Holocaust Icons in Art: The Warsaw Ghetto Boy and Anne Frank by Batya Brutin, 2020
Fig. 80: Jennifer Gottschalk, Yellow Badge / Warsaw Boy, 2008, digital art, 42 × 59.4 cm. Courtesy
of the artist.
Jennifer Gottschalk, a Jewish artist (b. 1975) born in South Africa and living in
New Zealand, depicted the Warsaw boy in a particularly Jewish manner. In her work
Yellow Badge / Warsaw Boy, created in 2008 (Fig. 80), [44] the dark shadow of the
Warsaw boy and the yellow Star of David on his chest are seen. Above the shadow,
close to the right edge of the work, there is a cut-off yellow Star of David and in it the word Juif (French for “Jew”). On the left side, there is a large yellow Star of David, filling
about two-thirds of the work and in it the word Jude (German for “Jew”). The image of
the boy, the yellow stars, and the background comprised of 1,700 names of Holocaust
victims (to commemorate at least a few of them) of different ages and places, were
taken from Yad Vashem’s victim database. Although the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto
did not wear a yellow Star of David but a white armband with a blue Star of David,
through the image of the Warsaw boy with the prominent yellow Star of David the artist
tried to represent all the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. By means of the full yellow
Star of David with the word Jude and the partial yellow Star of David with the word
Juif, the artist wished to teach us that the Holocaust happened not only in Germany but
in other countries, such as France. Through the partial star in the top right corner that
symbolizes continuity, the artist also conveyed the wide reach of the event.
Gottschalk employed a technique reminiscent of micrography in ancient Hebrew
manuscripts, but instead of words that explain the biblical text while creating shapes
and images, she uses the names of Holocaust victims to create her work.
[44] The initiative to create this work came from Zeev Barkan of Jerusalem, a researcher of the
Star of David and the author of the Star of David Album <a href="http://magendavidalbum.blogspot.co.il/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">magendavidalbum.blogspot.co.il/</a>
(accessed in December 2014), who suggested to the artist that she create the shape of a Star of
David and, employing a digital technique, fill it with names of Holocaust victims. The author’s
correspondence with Jennifer Gottschalk, January 2009.