Lesson Six

Alice Lok Cahana
(American, b. in Hungary)
Selection: Abraham and Sarah in Auschwitz
Mixed Media Collage
1995

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About the Artist

Cahana is a Houston artist and a survivor of Auschwitz from Hungary. Cahana was in the gas chamber at Birkenau in October, 1944 when the an uprising took place that blew up a gas chamber. Cahana and the others present were told to dress and leave the gas chamber, the only such incident recorded during the Holocaust. Stephen Spielberg's Academy Award winning documentary from 1998, "The Last Days" included the story of Alice Lok Cahana as one of the five Hungarian survivors.

About the Work

Cahana's work deals with the issue of selection, in which prisoners arriving at camps were chosen for slave labor or death. At this point, families were often split apart, never to see each other again. Cahana's large image features a very small photograph at its center, depicting a man and a woman in a selection line in Auschwitz. Cahana utilizes dark, monochromatic tones, emphasizing a mood of tragedy and despair. Paint and other materials are built up heavily on the surface of the painting, producing squiggly lines in sections of the canvas, and creating a "frame" around the small photograph. Dark vertical lines, reminiscent of both a prison fence and the stripes on a prisoner's uniform, descend down the surface of the canvas. In the lower middle of the canvas, leading into the small photograph, there appear to be train tracks, suggesting the deportation and transport of the prisoners to the camp.

The subtitle, "Abraham and Sarah in Auschwitz," refers to the generalized Old Testament names applied to Jews by the Nazis. Many Jews had official papers in which they were simply referred to as Abraham (or Israel) for men and Sarah for women, regardless of their actual given names. This practice echoed the numbering of the prisoners in the death camps, whose names literally no longer mattered.

Interprative Questions

  1. Notice the small photograph in the center of this large work. What is going on in this image? What is happening to these people? Where are they?
  2. Why is the photographic image so small within the context of the whole work? What kind of statement does that make?
  3. How would you describe the overall color of this work? How does the color contribute to the mood of the work? How does it comment upon the event taking place?
  4. What kinds of lines do you see in the rest of the large image? What do you think these lines represent? Where do the lines at the bottom of the image lead to, and what do they represent? How do these things relate to Auschwitz?
  5. Describe the surface of this work. Is it flat, or does it have raised areas? What kinds of shapes do you see in the raised areas? Why do you think the artist built these areas up? 6. Discuss the title of this work. Why are the man and woman featured called "Abraham and Sarah"? Were they really the names of the people depicted?

Art Project Objective

You will create a collage based on a photograph of someone you know. It will illustrate a setting and mood that pertains to that image and expresses a feeling about the subject.

Vocabulary

Collage  -- A French term which literally means "glueing" or "sticking," the term is commonly used to refer to a picture made of bits of paper, fabric, or any other material stuck to a surface.

Materials

Procedure

  1. Review the "About the Artist" section and Cahana's slides. Get an idea of what she was trying to accomplish in her work. Pay close attention to the photograph showcased in the middle. Notice that she has created a setting that encompasses and emphasizes the image.
  2. Pick a photograph of a person (or several people) that you have a relationship with. Try to use an image that focuses right on the person and does not have much of a background.
  3. Consider different settings that this photo could be seen in. Lay the picture in the middle of the sketch paper and create several drawings that correlate with the actions and feelings in the photo. The images do not have to be neither realistic nor detailed. Obscure references often have a heightened sense of mystery and interest, very much like the train tracks in Cahana's painting.
  4. Once you have decided on a final drawing, glue your photo to the posterboard. Neatly draw the setting you have chosen around it.
  5. Decide on a color scheme that will intensify the emotion and atmosphere of the scene. Begin filling in the larger shapes with color. Don't try to smooth over your brushstrokes. Often texture can help create a sense of mood and movement. Make sure the edges of the photo are covered with paint.
  6. Before the paint has dried, add collage items onto it. Be sure that the items relate to your image. Allow the painting to dry.
  7. Begin adding details to your work. You may paint over the collage items in order to fully incorporate them into the final piece. If necessary, paint or draw items directly onto the photograph itself.

Examining Your Work

  1. Who is depicted in your original photograph? Why did you choose him/her? What kind of personal relationship do you have with them?
  2. How does the setting you drew relate to the events and emotion in the photograph? Why did you use certain colors, lines, shapes and/or textures? How do they help to emphasize the mood?
  3. Compare and contrast your final image with Cahana's

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