Page 368 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Portraits: familial

167 Bust of a woman
Wood
8” x 4.5”

AR presented this piece to his granddaughter Sharon as her
portrait when she was about seventeen years old. She had not
posed for it; that may explain why the hair is up in a bun, an
old-fashioned style to which Sharon was not at that time
partial. The sculpture’s features are in vague likeness to the
subject’s, and include a slight, if enigmatic, smile.

143 Two seated men
Wood
13” x 7.5”

This piece cannot simply be a study of two men sitting on a
large version of the barrel-back armchair (in which AR often
placed figures whose own backs conveniently continued the
chair’s curved plane, following the rounded form of his raw
material—in this case, a section of tree trunk or branch). The
pose is too personally specific and too emotionally charged; the
artist has probably recreated in wood a scene of great
poignancy: one man comforting another who is experiencing
the shock and anguish of a great loss. It is not unreasonable to
suggest that AR is portraying himself and his brother Ben here,
and that either Ben is giving AR solace following the death of
Fannie, or that he has just brought his older brother news of
their family’s destruction in the Holocaust. With typical
Rothstein stoicism, the two men, despite their interaction, sit
straight and tall, looking straight ahead, their legs perfectly
parallel. Making eye contact, particularly in stressful situations,
was a problem of which AR was acutely aware (see narrative).

The arms tell the story. On the left, the comforted man’s right
hand is balled into a fist on his thigh; his left hand is held up to
the side of his face, which has a pained expression. Next to
him, the comforter’s right arm is around his companion’s
shoulder; the former’s left arm is down, the hand under the
364