arts & entertainment

'Lett red

1 1 nts

Artist combines Hebrew characters with historical
photographs of life before and during the Holocaust.

Suzanne Chessler
Contributing
Writer
I

after, I met a man who worked as a
rabbi and scribe, and he helped me draw
Hebrew letters.
artin Mendelsberg brings
"I spent about 10 years working on a
family images into his prints
digital typeface marketed in Israel, and
on view through Aug. 24
I've used the type on virtually all of the
at the Holocaust Memorial Center in
images that are on display:'
Farmington Hills.
Many of the concepts associated with
A picture of two young sisters, distant
the letters came from Mendelsberg's
cousins who disappeared
studies with a scholar,
in Poland, is joined with
Dr. David Sanders.
the Shema prayer as part
They reviewed writings
of "Holocaust Portfolio:
on Torah and Kabbalah
a traveling exhibit of 50
and went through
limited-edition fine-art
books about letters.
prints that took 12 years
The artist drew
to complete.
the letters with a tur-
Photos are paired
key quill as done by
with Hebrew letters and
scribes. Once satisfied
text, often bringing the
with the models, he
historic symbolism of
scanned the drawings
the alphabet to the emo-
and worked with com-
tions associated with the
puter programs before
destruction.
using them in prints.
"I want viewers to get a
"I was very fortunate
Martin Mendelsberg:
sense of history, culture,
in securing a copy of
His exhibit, "Holocaust
spirituality and aesthet-
the Mishnas Sofrim, one
Portfolio," memorializes
ics: says Mendelsberg,
of the teachings on how
countless victims of bigotry, to write the Hebrew let-
who visited the museum
hatred and intolerance.
to install and open the
ters: he says. "I found
exhibit on June 1.
a copy in English and
"The subject matter is as
Hebrew and used that
dark as the Holocaust, which cast a very
to build the models of my Torah type-
long shadow that affects all of us, and
face.
this is a way of remembering through
"I literally practiced hundreds and
aesthetics:'
hundreds of letters of the Hebrew alpha-
"Befit; the second letter of the Hebrew
bet and digitized the ones I thought were
alphabet, for example, is set in a Polish
the most correct and beautiful.
shtetl and harkens back to the time when
"It was a long process, but the end
people were being affected by Hitler's
result is that I have a computerized digi-
propaganda.
tal font, which I can use any way I want.
"The beit becomes transformed into
I worked with black ink for the drawings
a swastika when turned on its side:
on paper:'
Mendelsberg explains. "Because the beit
The very dark black areas in all the
also is the first letter for the Hebrew
prints are made of countless "alephs,"
word for house, [it also relates to] the
with the repeated first letter of the
way Nazis destroyed houses.
Hebrew alphabet standing for the indi-
Mendelsberg, 66, raised in Denver,
viduals destroyed. The alephs can be
began thinking intently about the
seen when the prints are viewed up close.
Holocaust as a youngster seeing the
"When I went to finagle the letter 'let:
Nuremberg Trials dramatized on televi-
I saw a fetal image: Mendelsberg says.
sion. Years later, finding a picture of the
"When I studied that letter, I learned that
young girls in a family photo album,
it relates to birth and a new beginning.
he began planning work related to the
"In the exhibit, I placed a fetal image
Holocaust.
inside the tet, thinking of the good
"I've always been interested in Hebrew people who were born and died before
calligraphy, and I trained as a calligra-
they could become scholars and artists,
pher at the Minneapolis College of Art
painters and poets:'
and Design: Mendelsberg says. "Long
Mandelsberg, who trained in painting

M

and sculpture in Minneapolis, spent his
junior year studying in the Netherlands,
where he had a large studio.
After earning a master's degree from
the University of Denver and working
as a graphic artist, he taught at a New
Zealand university for 10 years.
Mendelsberg, an affiliate professor at
Metropolitan State University in Denver,
came back to the United States in the
1980s and taught at the University of
Denver, Columbia College in Chicago
and the Rocky Mountain College of Art
and Design in Lakewood, Colo.
He has exhibited in Israel, Russia,
Australia, New Zealand, Germany and
China, and his work is represented
in many permanent collections that
include spaces at Yale University, Victoria
University School of Architecture in
Australia and the Center for the Study of
Political Graphics in Los Angeles.
In addition to designing Hebrew type-
faces, Mendelsberg has been working in
the area of social and political posters.
"One of my most recent posters is the
100-year commemorative of the begin-
ning of World War I, and I just finished a
poster on the 25th anniversary of the fall
of the Berlin Wall: says the artist.
Mendelsberg, divorced with three
grown children, sings in the choir of his
local synagogue.
"Bernie Pucker of the Pucker Gallery
in Boston introduced my work to Steve
Goldberg at the Holocaust Memorial
Center, and I was invited to have the
show here: Mendelsberg says.
"I think that the exhibit is designed
in such a way that people will find their
own stories by looking. The pieces are
fairly complex. Hopefully, people walk
away with some answers and some
questions left in their minds:'

Tet

Generations

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❑

"Holocaust Portfolio" will be
on view through Aug. 24 at the
Holocaust Memorial Center,
28123 Orchard Lake Road, in
Farmington Hills. Hours are 9:30
a.m.-5 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays
(last admission at 3:30 p.m.) and
9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Fridays (last
admission at 1:30 p.m.). $5-$8 for
nonmembers; free for members
and those serving in the military
and public safety positions. (248)
553-2400; holocaustcenter.org .

Life and Death

11 Inc,

17 • 7(11A

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