• Friday, °doter 1; 1943

THE JEWISH NEWS

sively that the boy had been
falsely accused. Friedlander was
released.
Isac Friedlander, One of the Most Noted Jewish Artists,
Isac Friedlander left his cell a
Disciplined Himself Under Adverse Circumstances
promising artist but a young sav-
age. Ordinary human behavior
in Czarist Russia
was alien to him. He was uneasy
By JOSEPH KAYE
with people, unable to adjust
himself to the associations which
(Copyright, 194?, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
had formerly been his. He was
One of the most noted Jewish Friedlander disciplined himself both rude and crude, and he
artists in this country is Isac to continue the studies which had shunned people. The prison walls
Friedlander. He is an etcher and most interested him in the outer were still around him. ,
maker of wood prints, and his world—art and mathematics. He
Found Refuge in Art
work is bold, strong, extraordi- drew constantly, and the life he
It was a long time before he
narily dramatic and powerful.
led influenced his work.
was able to walk freely in the
Graphic artists like Friedland-
Reserved After Six Years
free world. During this transi-
er, dealing as they do in shades
After he had served six years tionary period he sought refuge
of black and white, often develop his mother, weeping for her son
in art, which he had now decided
a tendency toward the dramatic; who had been condemned to a
was to become his life work.
but Friedlander's artistic concep- living death, conceived a plan of
Through the help of a friend he
tions stem from grim and terrify- rescue. In St. Petersburg there
went to Rome, and there for a
short time he had the advantage
of formal art study. He lived for
awhile in Capri, where a group
of political exiles had clustered
around Maxim Gorki. Slowly he
emerged from the prison he had
left. He became an accomplished
artist. Because he had no money
to buy paints and canvas he took
to making wood blocks and etch-
ings. Some of his prints were
bought by the curator of prints
at the Gallery Corsini, in Rome,
and he began to establish a repu-
tation. He was befriended by an
elderly lady patron of art, and
she helped him more than any
other to adjust himself to his new
life of freedom.
Friedlander was in Italy four
years, until the Czarist regime
was overthrown. The Kerensky
government arranged to pay for
the transportation of all Russian
political exiles who wished to re-
turn home, and Friedlander was
among those who were repatri-
ated. He first went to St. Peters-
berg, then to Vitebsk, where he
taught art in the high school.
GHETTO, 1942 By Isac Friedlander After the Bolshevik revolution he
came to Odessa, and was first put
ing personal exxperiences. His was a famous Jewish lawyer, Os- in charge of adult art education,
most formative years were spent sip Grusenberg. Grusenberg had then made director of all art ac-
in a prison cell, and during part
tivities for the district. He re-
of this period he was in solitary defended Mendel Baylis, and mained in Russia for over a year
confinement.
Grusenberg's name had become and then returned to his native
Friedlander was born in a vii-' a symbol to Jews. If Grusenberg Latvia, where he taught art to
lage in Latvia, when that country had saved Baylis, could he not teachers of the high schools and
was part of Russia. Early in his save this young man Friedlander lower schools. In 1929 he emi-
youth, like many youngsters of who was innocent of any crime grated to the United States,
his time, he felt keenly the in- but that of wishing to remove where he has remained.
justices inflicted by the Czarist the shackles from the enslaved?
His Exhibitions
regime and rebelled against them
The mother journeyed to St. Pe-
Friedlander has held exhibi-
by taking an active part in agita- terberg. She saw the great man
tions in Rome, Paris, Riga and in
tion to abolish oppression.
who has saved Mendel Baylis, several cities in America, par-
Arrested in Russia
and she told him her story. Gru- ticularly in New York, Philadel-
When he was 16, Friedlander senberg listened to her, believed
phia and Los Angeles. He has
was arrested on charges of anti- her when she said her Isac was
been widely recognized as a re-
Czarist political activities and innocent, and promised to help.
markable graphic artist, and has
sent to prison. He left the world Shortly after he asked the War
received many awards. In most
of his family and his friends; the Ministry in St. Petersburg, which
of his work the spirit is the same.
world of education, of human held the records of the Fried-
He draws -the attention of the
companionship; the world of sun- lander trial, for a review of the
world to the miseries which op-
light and sky, and . entered a case. And when the evidence was
press humanity. In whatever he
world limited by four dank walls re-examined he proved conclu-
does he sees the poignant. Even
enclosing a tiny area of stone
floor. In this new world he saw
no one but his jailer and a few
members of his family who, were
allowed to visit him. Here, be-
tween these four walls, he grew
up. Here he became 17 and 18
and 19 and 20. When he reached
the age of 21 he was taken from
the solitary confinement cell and
transferred to confinement which
gave him more contact with hu-
manity. But he was still in a
cell, and his world had expanded
by only a small fraction.
To prevent this new world of
darkness from destroying him,

An Artist Speaks for Israel

—

Page Thirty seveii

-

in the root of a tree, which forms
the subject of several of his
prints, there is a gnarled agony.
Jewish subjects have drawn
from Friedlander a number of
moving studies. here is a dra-
matic figure of a wandering Jew
called simply "Wanderer" which
is a condensation of Jewish suf-
fering; a Jewish funeral in a Lat-
vian village titled, "The Last
Journey," is a deeply stirring
tragedy, not of the death of the
person whose body was loaded
onto the creaking, primitive wag-
on, but the procession of multi-
tudes of bowed people mourning
their miserable lot.
His Creations
While in this country, Fried-
lander has created a number of
remarkable prints of Negro life.

Three of them were inspired by
stage productions. They are "Ex-
odus" (taken from "The Green
Pastures," "Rhapsody in Black" '
(from the revue "Blackbirds")
and "Run Little Chillun" (from
the play of the same title, recent-
ly revived on Broadway).
One of his latest wood block
prints, "Spiritual" 'won the Mil-
dred Boericke Prize offered an-
nually by the Philadelphia Print
Club.
Isac Friedlander lives in New
York. He is an industrious work-
er, and attaches no ceremonials
to his profession. For many hours
each day he can be found at a
large, heavy wooden desk, Which
he himself made, graving a new
document out of a block of wood
or a plate of copper.

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