Page 327 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Genre: shtetl

solemn pose—hands clasped, eyes open—stands as if in
benediction or silent prayer. He wears a yarmulke and a belted
robe with wide sleeves, probably a caftan; thus he is not likely
to be an Old Testament figure. The spade beard is more
temporally ambiguous, but denotes age and wisdom if not
patriarchal authority. The sculpture is finished with rough
chisel gouges, a technique used rather sparingly by AR; it may,
at most, identify the figure as an outdoor prophet or a
backwoods rabbi.

95 Sukot celebrant
Wood
10.75” x 5.5”

This free-standing low relief is carved on a piece of hardwood
curving out to a depth of 2.5” at the bottom; it is a format
unique in AR’s work. The figure portrayed in profile is an old
man with a full beard, wearing a tallit and carrying the lulav and
esrog, ritual objects of Sukot.
.
102 Dancing Chasid
Wood
7.5” x 3.75”

AR’s lack of training in the representation of a human body in
motion shows up again in this relief. The man portrayed is
engaged in the ecstatic “folk dance” of the Chasidim—but only
his lower legs, one bent and crossed in front of the other—
reveal that activity. His upper body, bent slightly forward at the
waist, is as rigid and frontally symmetrical as a soldier at
attention. The costume detail is probably true to life: the
dancer wears an overcoat and European hat, necessary in the
unheated quarters of the tsaddik’s “court”. But the stiffness of
the figure, framed in a thick plaque, does not do justice to the
unrestrained exuberance of a Chasidic celebrant deep in his
cups.

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