Picture Postcards
Jews were active participants in "the postcard craze"
of the early 20th century, as documented in a new exhibit
at the Janice Charach Epstein Gallery.
A view of the Janice Charach
Epstein Gallery, located in the
West Bloomfield Jewish Community
Center: The 8,000 square foot
space has featured approximately
70 exhibits since its inception.
"This gallery is our love, and we
built it for the community so that
people do not have to go out
of town to see works by Jewish
artists or to meet Jewish artists,"
says Natalie Charach.
-
Left: This postcard depicts a
Jewish home after the pogroms
in Kishinev, 1904.
-
Inset: Gallery director Sylvia
Nelson: "We really don't have
to hunt for artists anymore."
working with pen and ink, airbrush and computer proj-
ects that now hang in public buildings and homes as he
earns his living in the music business in California.
Epstein, who starred going to art classes when she
was 8 years old, tried various media, including oils,
watercolors and charcoal. After graduating from Oak
Park High School and the Center for Creative
Studies (CCS), she spent a summer of intensive
study in Italy and moved on to classes at the
University of Michigan after marrying Stewart
Epstein, an area physician.
The couple were introduced by a woman the artist
met while attending the first adult bat mitzvah class
offered by Congregation Shaarey Zedek. The
Charaches are longtime members of Beth Abraham
Hillel Moses, now Beth Ahm.
Creating work in her own-studio, Epstein showed
many of her pieces at the now defunct Xochipilli
gallery in Birmingham and was surprised at the pace
and prices at which her paintings sold. Among the
awards she received were those presented by jurors of
the Michigan Fine Arts Exhibition at the Detroit
Institute of Arts in 1972, the Michigan Watercolor
Society Annual Exhibition in 1973 and the 30th
Annual Scarab Club Watercolor Show in 1973.
"We always noticed how special Janice's colors
were, and that's what art reviewers always said about
our daughter's work," comments Manny Charach, a
retired Panasonic executive. "My wife and I attend
every show and opening at the gallery, and people
who have not met us will come up and talk about
Below: Jewish women from
Bukhara pose for this exotic
looking postcard.
ak
SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News
shesyefoar the
scogm
ooindgwniew
pass
th
from family to family
through the use of greeting
cards, a traveling exhibit at the
Janice Charach Epstein Gallery
provides a glimpse into past
communications of similar wish-
es through the use of postcards.
"Past Perfect: The Jewish
Experience in Early 20th Century
Postcards," on loan Sept. 13-Oct.
31 from the Jewish Theological
Seminary Library in New York,
goes beyond the holiday to show
postcards picturing synagogues
from around the world and eth-
nic customs and costumes.
David Wachtel, a former
Detroiter now senior research asso-
ciate for special collections at the
J•S library, will open the exhibit
with a talk about the artistry and
history of the 172 pieces featured.
"My talk will be geared toward
what we can garner about our his-
tory from what we see and read,"
says Wachtel, who attended
Jewish day school while living in
Detroit. "Among the most dra-
matic are one with immigrants on
Ellis Island and others with vari-
ous pictures of Jews bearing arms
in the United States and Israel.
"Every postcard is another
snapshot of the past, and more
than half have been posted and
mailed. Some messages are
intriguing, and others are mun-
dane: There are no titillating
messages because they are open
for anyone to see."
The cards — photographs and
drawings -- were mass-produced at
the time they were used, but their
numbers have since dwindled.
There are individual cards that
seem to be the only ones left from
the respective series they represent.
Wachtel will explain that the
early cards, circulating in the
1860s, were designed to allow
for the mailing of brief messages
inexpensively. In the United
States, a private postal card was
copyrighted as early as Dec. 17,
1861, and the printer of this
pioneering card, Hyman L.
Lipman, was a Philadelphia Jew.
The catalogue suggests that
the Jewish postcards on display
be viewed against a background
of the times and international
trends in which they were used.
Besides showing themes taken
from Jewish life, they often were
accompanied by inscriptions in
Hebrew or Yiddish.
Many Polish cards, for example,
captured lifestyles in the shreds.
The Hebrew Publishing
Company in New York issued a
series of postcards grouped under
five headings: Biblical, Religious,
Zionist, General and Comic.
"The value of these postcards
is based on their scarcity and
condition," Wachtel says. "They
make up a very popular exhibit
for the library, and I hope view-
ers get. a better understanding of
the people depicted and the peo-
ple who used them."
❑
"Past Perfect: The Jewish
Experience in Early 20th
Century Postcards" will be on
display Sept. 13-Oct. 31 in
the Janice Charach Epstein
Gallery in the West
Bloomfield Jewish
Community Center. The
opening reception begins at
6:30 p.m. on Sept. 13, when
David Wachtel will lecture.
Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-4
p.m. Sundays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Mondays-Wednesdays and 10
a.m.-7 p.m. Thursdays. (248)
432-5448.
T <
9/7
2001
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