Page 343 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Genre: modern

5 Hobo
Wood
13” x 3”

The Great Depression might have inspired this carving,
perhaps based upon homeless wanderers AR saw in Los
Angeles in the 1930s. The free-standing man is taking a very
short forward stride against the wind (a corner of his coat is
folded back), suggesting a Sisyphean struggle. Details tell the
story: the hobo is clean-shaven, therefore young; his hat brim is
beaten down, he has no shirt and his coat pocket is torn; and
he carries a bedroll over one shoulder and a cloth bag tied to a
stick over the other. Yet the expression is resolute; this man
has not been totally defeated by circumstances.

71 Israeli pioneer
Wood
16.25” x 3.5”
Inscriptions: Pioneer (Hebrew, front of base)
Abraham (Hebrew, top of base behind feet)

The chalutznik was still a potent Zionist image toward the end
of AR’s life, one with which he would have strongly identified.
The young man portrayed here is barefoot, dungarees rolled
up, stripped to the waist. His hat leaves no doubt about which
soil he is digging into with the shovel he holds: it is a kova
tembel, well-known to Americans via photographs in the 1950s.
The figure is healthy and self-confident, living the pioneer life
in the Promised Land; AR probably could not avoid mentally
comparing that heroic and historically-significant agricultural
effort with his own experience farming in California.

104 Seated woman *
Wood
9.25” x 3.5”

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