TH E DETROIT J EW ISH N EWS—Friday, Febru ary. 27, I959,-30

The Works of a Great Sculptor

Jean Cabries" Powerful French Novel
`Jacob' Is Masterful Story from the Bible Enrico Glicenstein's Name

Perpetuated in World of Art

the happy gleam which trans-
There has been a trend for domain of his uncle Laban, to
figured every line upon the
some time for novelists to deal whom he fled from the wrath
face, the smile which burst
As sculptor, painter and etcher, Enrico (Enoch) Glicenstein
with Biblical characters. The of his brother. He is industri-
from the shut lips! A strong
rose to great heights. He had enriched the art world with his
height of such efforts- was ous, he earns a wife, but his
agitation shook Jacob, drove great creations, and we might haye been blessed with many
tricky
uncle
stibstitutes
Leah
reached by the late Thomas
him, forward. A great weight
more of his gigantic sculptures were it .not for the automobile
Mann in the "Joseph and His the elder for the younger Ra- within his breast was loos-
accident that caused his death on Dec. 30, 1942, at the
Brothers" series. Now we have chel with whom Jacob was in
ened. He no longer knew
age of '72.
something comparable to it in love. Jacob worked seven years
what was happening to him.
He was born in the Polish village of Turek in 1870, son of
a great work by a French writ- for Leah. He proceeded to work
He
struggled
for
breath;
he
seven
more
years
for
Rachel.
a tombstone engraver. He received his early education 'with the
er, Jean. Cabries, whose "Jacob,"
wept. For the first time in his intention of becoming a rabbi in a Yeshiva, but at 17 he went
splendidly translated by Ger- But Leah bore him sons.' Rachel
to Lodz and began to earn his livelihood as a handicraft worker.
ard Hopkins, is a masterful was barren. This is part of the life he clasped a brother's
hands."
It was the beginning of his art career. He did wood carving,
story of the Biblical Jacob, his great tragedy enacted in this
In the final words lies the painted signs, carved chess pieces out of slate' and soon
brother Esau, his wives and his novel: tragedy marked by jeal-
lesson: the clasping of a broth- attracted wide attention with his skill.
children and his life under La- ousies and hatreds.
In 1895 and in 1896, he was awarded the Prix de Rome
Leah appears the shrewder er's hands!
ban, the father of his wives
of the two sisters. She learned
Leah and Rachel.
Cabries has deeloped his by the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich where he was sent
to study by a patron, and in 1897 he settled in Rome. He won
Published by E. P. Dutton Jacob's secret: his worship of a theme well. There are a few
many prizes. including the 1900 gold medal at the International
& Co. (300 4th, N. Y. 10). this god who had appeared to him blunders. For instance, by being
novel in the main follows the in a vision, who had blessed a bit more carefur he could I Exposition in Paris, the 1905 gold medal at the International
Biblical details. But the embel
- Jacob. She begins to pray to have avoided linking cream Exposition in Munich, knighthood in the Order of the Crown
lishments, the spirit it infuses that sunerior being. Rachel, on cheese with sausage in Jacob's of Italy in 1926.
He was professor at the Academy of Art of Warsaw in
in its characters, its interpreta- i the other hand, continues to meal. But this is very minor in
ive values, carry with them o worship her father's idols. But a splendid story by a non-Jew 1910. It would take pages - to list all of his creations. The
t
much weight that this "Jacob" Jacob's love for Rachel persists. who has caught the spirit of the subjects for his busts included Pope Pius XI, King Victor
emerges as a truly outstanding and in the course of time she Biblical character and who has Emanuel III of Italy, Paderewski, - Mussolini, Hindenburg,
narrative. gives birth to her Joseph. The
succeeded even in admonishing Gabriel d'Anunzio and many others.
story ends before the Biblical Israel that the vengeance of
He made his home in the United States in 1938, lived and
* * *
details of her death at the .Ishmael and Esau may yet lurk
worked here, became a citizen of this country, and began
This is the story of a schem- birth of Benjamin.
P.S.
new phases in his career. His bronze statue of Jeremiah is
in history.
* * *
ing mother, Rebecca, who want-
in the Cleveland Public Library. He made the head of
ed the blessing of Isaac for , Meanwhile, each wife gave British Drive for Israel
Lincoln for the Lincoln Museum, Springfield, Ill.
Jacob. It is the story of Esau Jacob a concubine. Leah her
He rebuked . the Italian Fascisti for adopting German Nazi
who vowed death rid vengeance servant Zitpa and Rachel her Has Whirlwind Start
Policies by returning to the Italian King the decoration with
against his brother. but who in servant Bilhah. Twelve sons and . LONDON, (JTA) — Six hun-
which he was knighted.
the end welcoMes him with a daughter are born to them. dred guests attending the open-
This is a greatly abbreviated reference to the life of
The manner of choosing their ing dinner of the Joint Pales- Glicenstein whose works are excellently delineated and his
open arms.
But the hatred b e t w e e n names is among the interesting tine
Appeal
for
1959
on
Satur-
day night pledged 250,000 artistry evaluated in a remarkably impressive book, Glicen-
brothers. as carried unto future , aspects of Cabries' story.
stein," published by Crown (419 4th, N.Y. 16). Many of Glicen-
The strength of character of pounds (S700 ,000) to get the stein's sculptures and drawings are reproduced in this splendid
generations, is implied by the
Is-
novelist's skill. Jean Cabries Jacob himself is the major fea- Anglo-Jewish campaign for Is- collection, and the artist's genius is described in the five-page
rael off to a whirlwind start. essay by Jean Cassou, curator-in-chief of the Museum of Modern
does not limit his introductory tore . of the novel. Jacob is able
-
th
i in
episodes to Isaac, Esau, the sub- to ontsmart even his shrewd un-
Art in Paris .
Cassou deals but briefly with Glicenstein's life. He
terfuge, the mess of pottage and cle Laban. He gets the best of of the campaign pledges reach `fit
the sale of the birthright, Ja- him in the final deal, when ed a total of 700,000 pounds devotes his evaluation to the man's works. "In Glicenstein,"
cob's disguise as Esau. He in- he decides to leave him replete (51,960,000).
he states, "we. recognize. as Rodin did, a kindred spirit born
* Sir Simon Marks, who was to express human suffering, a heart in which suffering found
troduces also Ishmael. By link- with flocks of cattle. When La-
ing Ishmael with Esau—the two , ban's sons pursue him. Laban to have presided at the dinner a great echo" The "outburst of emotion" in his sculptures
who were wronged, the two who finally releases him and Jacob, but was unable to attend be-- are always instructive," and the drawings are . praised as
bore grudges against Abraham his. wives, children and his ac- cause of illness, made a con-
bursting forth from the aritist's forcefulness:' M. Cassou
-
and Jacob—we can almost Nis- quired flocks and worldly goods tribution of 130,000 pounds adds:
ualize an admonition of evil are
, on their way to Canaan, Ja- ' ($364,000) in behalf of his fam-
"Vigor is .natural to him, vigor of line. which speaks to
' ily. Some contributions an- 1 • us- of the virility of his feelings . . . He employs no model
portent: is it the story-teller's cob's original home.
warning to Jewry that those , Then comes the reconcilia;pounced to the dinner showed a , f or
or he does not want a too real. too human intermediary
who were wronged may arise toi tion. Jacob went to meet his i tenfold increase over last year.
between his emotion and his creation. The intensity of his
Speakers include Israel Am-
emotion and the vibrant, lucid image within him from , the
curse Jewry: Esau in the form , brother. He expected vengeance.
of the non-Jewish world. Ish- As.the two approached. "Jacob's bassador Eli a h u Elath, Sir
outset become captives of the imperious material; they' are
mael in the specific Moslem dry and burning eyes could Francis Evans. former British
at the same time a challenge and a plastic necessity."
I make out two pupils. and these Ambassador to Israel. and ;
All of his work, M. Cassou writes. "shows an animation
garb?
Rabbi Israel Goldstein of New which is tightly compressed, compact in the mass, in immobile
This may or may not have pupils lit up Esau's face . . ..
York. ; masses cut in an inner geometry barely emerging from; the
been the intention of the author :
"Oh, that face' It showed
of "Jacob". But the introduc- ' not a trace of hatred. It - Mr. Elath denied that Israel • block . . . When the artist is not attacking stone, he enjoys
tion of Ishmael does not spell
was quite close. It leaned for- would need additional land to expressing himself in wood . . . Wood is the ideal material
absorb current or future waves for Glicenstein's rugged temperament, for his k vibrant sensitivity
out happily in the story. It is
ward, so near that it could
almost like an image of doom.
not now withdraw, could not of immigration, describing Is- and his religious spirit — religious in the most profound sense.
* * *
I flee away, close, radiant, rael's expansion as "vertical . For he was inspired, prophetic, bound to the destiny of
and not horizontal—in depth nature and swept by the oracles of nature. Wood compelled
Jacob himself is an 'interest- ■ glowing, impossible to refuse. and not in area." him to bring forth figures which are images of love and pity
It was impossible to refuse
- ng character. He reaches the
Glicenstein's sculpture is so utterly self-assured that light
is an integral part of the whole, a necessary and constant force
within the organic entity. His works command the light; compel
it to manifest itself at concerted points."
"One is easily persuaded." M. Casson declares. "that
Glicenstein's heart must have been stirred by the same sense
of fatality, by the same storm as those of the most passionate
writer of great tragedies. Yet, his works, though charged
with tragedy. do not represent tragedy. The tragedy has
found its boundary in them, has been constrained by them.
They are. in truth, objects. Powerful objects. And when an
object encloses within itself such constrained might, one
may speak of style. The artist has achieved style. The circuit
has been completed. Proceeding from its ardent center,
emotion has•fu.sed with form, a self-asserting form. Nothing
can go further. The form is there, it fulfils its mission
which - is to contain and to arrest; it exalts itself through
its constrained ern-of-Ions and it fortifies itself by its extreme
restraint."
Illustrative of the immensity of the works evaluated are
the reproductions of sculptures in this fine book — Glicen-
stein's "Ecco Homo" and "Defense." his two :carvings of "Eve,"
the three interpretations of "The Wounded." "Mother and
Child," "Solitude" and the others in the collection of 37
sculptural creations.
Then there are the 19 drawings, in pen, and pen and-brush,
all deeply moving -- his "Vision", "The Bride," "War Scene,"
"Motherhood" and the others in Atte collection.
THE JEWISH NEWS
, For the second time in a short period, Crown Publishers
17100 W. SEVEN MILE RD.
have issued art works of great immensity. Both, "Glicenstein"
DETROIT 35, MICHIGAN
and "Painter's Self-Portrait" by James N. Rosenberg. are valu-
able contributions to art collections and to literature. Both
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will enrich libraries possessing them and make the finest
imaginable gifts. —P.S.
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British Archaeologist Puts Garden of Eden at Bahrein

NEW YORK, (AJP)—Accord- Gulf island of Bahrein was
ing to an Associated Press re- once the city of Bilmun men-
port from Bahrein, Persian tioned in an ancient epic as the
Gulf, a British archeologist, Dr. original abode of Adam and
Geoffrey Bibby, told a group of Eve. The general view is that
newsmen that it was "over- Lebanon is the site of the
whelmingly likely" the Persian original Eden.

