48 | DECEMBER 30 • 2021 

ARTS&LIFE
ART

P

aul Adams and Harvey Singer 
were business associates before 
they became friends. An interest in 
art has remained at the core of their rela-
tionship although that interest has been 
expressed in different ways.
Adams, drawing since 
childhood, was hired as a 
graphic artist while still a 
senior at Cass Technical High 
School and went on to create 
watercolor and print images of 
legendary spots in the Motor 
City. Singer, appreciating art 
and demonstrating sales skills, 
opened a firm, The Art Department, to 
market the signature works of diverse art-
ists he admired. 
Singer took notice of Adams’ urban 
renderings displayed at art fairs around the 
state and accepted responsibility for pitch-
ing them to gallery presenters. 
After years of work projects, the two 
have collaborated on a donor project — 
Singer’s idea. A resident of the Anna and 
Meyer Prentis Apartments in Oak Park, 
administered by Jewish Senior Life, Singer 

thought historical pictures decorating the 
lobby would offer welcoming sights to 
both occupants and visitors.
Adams provided 17 prints, and Singer 
paid for the framing through a fund in 
memory of his son, David Aaron Singer, 
administered by the Jewish Federation of 
Metropolitan Detroit. Among the imag-
es are 1950s-60s renderings of Hudson’s 
Department Store, Campus Martius Park 
and the Michigan Central Railroad Depot, 
where another Adams print, capturing the 
back of the structure, went up about two 
months ago. 
“I’ve started lots of activities at Prentis, 
including a weekly movie night, and I 
thought this display would bring lots of 
pleasure to our residents who grew up in 
the city,” said Singer, 80. 
“We’re living in a community where 
youngsters here are in their 60s so when 
they go into the lobby they can look at the 
prints and take a nostalgic trip into yester-
day. One picture even moves viewers into 
the suburbs to remember the early cruisers 
along Woodward.”
Singer, who had his bar mitzvah at what 

became Adat Shalom Synagogue, brands 
his favorite image as showing buildings 
that had filled the border separating 

Art exhibit at Prentis showcases 1950s-60s Detroit.
A Visit to Yesteryear

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Paul Adams with his print of 
the old J.L. Hudson building in 
Detroit.

JERRY ZOLYNSKY

Harry 
Singer

Artist Paul Adams 
with his print of the 
old Vernors plant in 1950. 

JERRY ZOLYNSKY