Page 6 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Introduction

and grandchildren indicates the strength of his urge to maintain links
to the past, to insert himself forcefully into the stream of cultural ebb
and flow.
We, his heirs, will find other reasons to appreciate his works.
Regardless of our commitment to the specific traditions he sought to
preserve and promote, we may share his passion for knowledge and
self-analysis, his regret about knowing so little about his own
antecedents, and his love of a good story or clever piece of
handiwork. And none of us, unto a good many generations, will
avoid manifesting a vestige of AR’s personality, be it via some
fractional helping of chromosomes or a behavioral pattern passed
down from parent to child: his influence was that strong, and we
cannot fail to benefit by recognizing it in ourselves. Finally, despite
the man’s anonymity, he was remarkable; his accomplishments
should be a source of family pride, and could be a centripetal force in
the future.
This book has several sections, arranged to provide the reader
with an accumulation of information applicable to the last part, an
analysis of AR’s sculpture. Following the long autobiographical
narrative and other writings is a collection of family reminiscences;
they supplement AR’s narrative with an external view of his life and
personality, yielding insight into both his own words and the
following catalogue raisonné. That final section has its own
introduction, relating the preceding composite picture of AR to the
carvings he produced in his final years. The remainder of this general
introduction deals with his testament: what it is and what can be
inferred from it.
Two great ironies, neither apparently appreciated by AR, bracket
his life. The first, concerning his birth, is discussed below; the
second, connected with the end of his life, is of immediate interest.
Being widowed at the age of seventy, when he had expected to die
long before his wife, was, as he painfully perceived it, the great
tragedy of his life—but also the source of motivation and
opportunity to create his legacy. Had Fannie lived, the emotional
turmoil and empty hours out of which the testament and sculpture
emerged would not have occurred. His creative powers, largely
dormant through decades of manual labor and domestic tranquility,
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