UTW 23

Man with tallis in the Warsaw ghetto

Art: 1994
Media: Ink. Three separate drawings on paper, each independently framed
Center panel, the portrait, framed size: 42.5 inches H x 34 W
Framed size, each wing: 42.5 inches H x 52 W

For exhibit installation planning re: wall space measurements, the combined width across
(not including a space between each frame) is 138 inches.
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Tallis is the Yiddish word for a prayer shawl. In Hebrew: tallit, pronounced tahl-eat.

I did the drawing from a photo of an anonymous prisoner victim in the Warsaw Ghetto. In the photo he wears the clothes of a poor man, with a large hat. I engaged in a bit of artistic license with my having decided to give his portrayal an observant Jewish man’s prayer shawl.

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The two large wings were drawn at the ornithology lab, Burke Museum of Natural History, Univ. of Washington, Seattle.