Witness and Legacy: Contemporary

Witness and Legacy examines a spectrum of Holocaust related art produced by some American artists during the last twenty years. The mediums include painting, sculpture, photography, graphic design, needlepoint and multimedia installation art. The wide variety of work that has been produced is exceptional in scope, but untested in thematic presentation. In addition to division by medium, Witness and Legacy deals with what might be called "different generations" of the Holocaust-artists from different backgrounds who bring to the subject their unique perspectives because of their relationship to the event. One-third of the artists represented are Holocaust survivors themselves who have worked as professional artists. Children of survivors, sometimes called "the second generation," make up the second group. The third group are artists not directly connected with the Holocaust who have developed a sensitivity toward the subject because of their humanitarianism and empathy and attempt to understand the event and convey it to others through art. The artists included in the exhibition are Edith Altman, Samuel Bak, Robert Barancik, Susan Erony, Judith Goldstein, Pearl Hirshfield, Kitty Klaidman, Mauricio Lasansky, Joyce Lyon, Pier Marton, Gerda Meyer-Bernstein, Marlene E. Miller, Larry Rivers, Gabrielle Rossmer, Shirley Samberg, Art Spiegelman, Debbie Teicholz, Arnold Trachtman, Netty Vanderpol, Mindy Weisel, Jerome Witkin, and Jeffrey Wolin.