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| Baal
Shem Tov Artwork by Ferenc Flamm |
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| Click Here to see Ferenc Flamm's Artwork |
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In his
book "Souls of Fire", about the Chassidic master, Elie Wiesel writes that his
grandfather was "a fabulous storyteller, who knew how to captivate and an
audience, He would say 'Listen attentively, and above all, remember that true
tales are meant to be transmitted - to keep them to oneself is to betray
them.'"
The artist Ferenc Flamm
seems to have accepted this charge with his series of inspired lithographs,
"The Legends of the Baal Shem Tov", completed in May 1997. In a curious way,
Flamm's life can be said to resemble on to these chassidic legends.
The 15 stone lithographs in
"The Legend of the Baal Shem Tov" series represents a journey of two years,
during which the artist studied Chassidic philosophy and legend and the
writings of Martin Buber. The stories of the Baal Shem tell of small villages,
simple peasants rich men and learned rabbis, shepherds and angels. They provide
the dramatis personae for Flamm's images, recreated as semi-abstracted fluid
shapes in dream-like poses, whose shifting colors seem to move the clouds, now
revealing, now obscuring.
Born
in Budapest to parents who had been saved by Raoul Wallenberg, Flamm studied
there at the Art College and the Hungarian Academy of Applied Art. As the child
of survivors living in the anti-Semitic atmosphere of post-war Hungary, he and
his two brothers were taught to keep their Jewishness secret. But even when
very young, Flamm was aware that he owed his life to Wallenberg. "We have
almost inserted him into our prayers at home", he says. "I had learned early on
that that which is Swedish means hope and life." That may explain why, in
19776, Flamm emigrated to Sweden, where he now lives with his wife and four
children.
In 1987 Flamm suddenly
came face to face with his Jewish past. That year both his parents died in
Budapest, and his brothers sent him a small package which his mother had hidden
away: his murdered grandfather's kippah, tallit and siddur, together with a
pair of old Sabbath candlesticks, his mother's yellow star, and the two
Wallenberg protection passports. In a startling foreshadowing of the Baal
ShemTov's tale "The Prayer Book" which Flamm had not yet read, these precious
pieces emerging from years of obscurity became for Flamm what hi call his
"baggage for the journey back to the Heritage" - his passport "to a new
perspective" - the world of 17th century European Jewry.
Flamm began his spiritual expedition by organizing a
group of art lovers in his hometown of Gothenburg, 300 miles from Stockholm,
with a Jewish population of about 2,00, one of a few outposts of Jewry in
northern Scandinavia. Its Jewish community began over 200 years ago as Jews
from other European communities migrated there. The art group that Flamm
organized agreed to study Jewish religion and philosophy and to create art
works based on themes drawn from rabbinic literature.
Flamm created the sketches and compositions for the
lithographs in his studio in Gothenburg, but asked his brothers in Hungary to
seek out a fine quality art printer there. They found one in the small city of
Vac, near Budapest. When Flamm arrived there, he discovered that the street
where the print shop was located had been the Judengasse at the turn of the
century, and the print shop itself had been part of the ghetto during WWII.
Flamm regards this as a special divine gift - that he has been granted the
opportunity to crate his art in an old Jewish quarter in the heart of Hungary.
Upon completion of "The
Legends", Flamm realizes how much his life and the lives of his family and
friends have changed since he began his spiritual odyssey. The artist himself
believes he has come full circle: "I was permitted to recover images from the
dust of Jewish life and convert them to living witness of vanished time."
|
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| Sylvia Axelrod
Herskowitz Director, |
| Yeshiva
University Museum, February 1998 |
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| Click Here to see Ferenc Flamm's Artwork |
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Statement By Ferenc Flamm
Regarding His Work |
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If I were to paint my
self-portrait, I would do it against a background of recent European history.
It would portray the discovery of my identity on the brink of permanent loss
and the revitalization of my sense of artistic duty.
I am 51 years old, and it is approximately half a
century since a liberating Russian soldier tore off my mother's yellow star in
the Budapest Ghetto. Of my entire family only my parents and my two brothers
survived the Hungarian Holocaust.
 The name Raoul Wallenberg has learned
very early in my childhood; without his Swedish Protection Passport, my
immediate family would never have reached this relatively safe ghetto in
January 1945.
Like many
survivors after the Second World War, my parents were convinced that our
religion should be kelp secret. I received my education at the Art College in
Budapest as wall as the Hungarian Academy of Applied Art. I had become aware of
my Jewish inheritance. Both my parents passed away in the same year in
Budapest, and my brothers found a small packet including our murdered grandpa's
kippah, prayer shawl, and a prayer book, which our mother had hidden away
during all those years. All these belongings were sent to me, and I realized
that it was our hidden baggage in our journey back to our heritage. As I became
aware of a new perspective, my outlook on life changed both as an individual
and as an artist. Artistry offers a wonderful opportunity to take an
identifying trip in time and space. Since sometimes the idea of going forward
requires a step backward, I returned to those days when all my unknown
relatives were still around. I gathered strength by painting pictures of
longing.
During that period, I
found the path of continuity and transformed this longing to a wish, to recover
images from the ruins of European Judaism. Through books of Hasidic philosophy,
the Legends of the Baal Shem Tov and the works of Martin Buber, I encountered a
culture, which had been unknown to me during the years of my youth in Hungary.
It was inspiring to rediscover this work of beauty, a fascinating interlacing
of ancient teaching and the patterns of blossoming
folklore.
The Legends of the
Baal Shem Tov series is the result of two years work, assisted by a rabbi,
friends and my brothers, But the unexpected circumstances of the final printing
provided an almost mystical response to my ambition, I work on the drawings in
my studio in Sweden, but I created the lithographs on the stones in the small
Hungarian town of Vac. The print shop is located in the former Jewish quarter
right opposite the ruins of the synagogue, and the building itself was part of
the Ghetto during World War II. The circle is complete; I was permitted to
recover images from the dust of Jewish life and convert them to living
witnesses of a vanished time. |
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| Ferenc Flamm
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| Gothenburg, Sweden, 1998 |
| Click Here to see Ferenc Flamm's Artwork |
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| Click Here for
purchase information |
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