Joys and Sorrows Exhibition
Art Works
Sorrows
Judith Goldstein. All the Symbols in this painting depict the war against the Jews. It begins with the birth of Nazism, in the early thirties, and leads us through the war until the liberation. Most of the moons are the years of suffering. The others are of freedom and hope. |
Judith Goldstein. The handful of people who are still incarcerated are hopeless, lonely and desperate. The rays of the sun are good omen. |
Judith Goldstein. Despair, confusion, prayer and fear. People are moving in all directions looking for the road to freedom. |
Judith Goldstein. The invisible trains are in movement. The onlookers know where these people are going. They are helpless. They too will go that road of no return. |
Judith Goldstein. Horror in the face. Tears of fire. The eyebrow, is a line of people on their last journey. The hat in the painting is full of skeletons. The Yizkor (the candles) is for those who once lived. They had names like: Yakoz, Rivka etc. |
Judith Goldstein. In concentration camp, I saw small piles of shoes and big mountains of shoes. |
Judith Goldstein. Another interpretation of shoes at concentration camps. I often looked to see if there are shoes that belonged to my family and me. |
Judith Goldstein. This figure, behind a fence, raises his hands to God. He hoped help will come through prayer. Some people never gave up hope. Some people were angry with God. Because for them the miracle never happened. |
Judith Goldstein. Based on memories and imagery. This scene is familiar to almost all survivors. This is my interpretation. |
Judith Goldstein. My world, then, was surrounded by dead trees. Looking deep into the painting where the trees are in full bloom, is where I longed to be. The two birds, in front of the dead branches are: my mother and myself in striped coat yearning to be where there is life. |
Judith Goldstein. Based on a story my friend told me. In the town Krivitz, Poland, 1040 Jews were gathered into a barn and burned. My friend's family was in the barn. |
Judith Goldstein. These faces have a ghostly look we all had in concentration camp. We lost hope. Physically still alive, but emotionally dead. |
Judith Goldstein. These spirits continue to float across the globe, as their bodies were never buried. |
Judith Goldstein. These spirits continue to float across the globe, as their bodies were never buried. |
Judith Goldstein. The interior of the star is burning and shattered. This is where I was. The exterior is full of life. |
Judith Goldstein. An interpretation of the slaughter at Ponary. Ponary, a place outside Vilno, Poland (Now Lithuania). |
Judith Goldstein An area on the outskirts of Vilno, Poland ( now Lithuania). At Ponary, about 50,000 Jews were shot and thrown into pits. Now, it is a memorial park. The trees and bushes are half human in the art work. |
Judith Goldstein Based on a book "Do Not Go Gentle" by Charles Gelman, a survivor of the Holocaust. He was a partisan and fought in the forest the battles against the Nazis. |
Judith Goldstein Desperate moments of separation. Clinging to each other and nothing more to say. |
Judith Goldstein My mother continued to cry many years after the Holocaust for those who could not live. Particularly, my father. |
Judith Goldstein The very young did not know what is about to happen, so they held on to their parents. The father in this work, hopes for a miracle to happen. |
Judith Goldstein I paint the canvas of my childhood, and sing the images I see. Separation is still a very scary experience. In camps we were always separated from: mothers, fathers, siblings and other family members. We were put into categories of: children, the sick, young or old, and people with special skills. People who were strong and had skills had a better chance to survive the daily struggles. This group, in the painting is simply a category group - "The Victims". |
Judith Goldstein The stains of the past will always remain, but the grass will grow, dance and give life. Among survivors, who witnessed killings by shooting and beating people to death, we always say; "The earth is soaked with Jewish blood in certain places like Ponary (a forest outside Vilno, Poland), or Babi Yar (Russia). Many years later, the past lingers on in our minds and the memories a real. But life must go on, .... |
Judith Goldstein Fragmented thoughts of life in concentration camp. The swastika will always be my enemy connected with Nazis, smoke, and brutality. The shawl in this painting is a symbol of wanting to keep warm, even in death. |
Judith Goldstein Jewish children, in the Ghetto trying to look through a fence where other children who are free are playing. I was one of those children behind the fence wishing to be free like the others. |
Judith Goldstein The Monument is a structure to commemorate the Holocaust of WWII. The six stars of David represents the six million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis and who never had a proper burial. The human images surround the monument. On top, God trying to embrace them into the gates of heaven. |
Judith Goldstein Memories and my experiences during the Holocaust which I have carried through my life and are still felt today. At that time there was an obsession and fear of death, and an absolute fear from a child's perspective of the Swastika. My visual language in this work moves from Right to Left. The Tree of Death, represents many deaths. The Swastika to me is like the devil himself, with facial characteristics like Hitler. The branches and sorrounding are part of my past memories from Vilno Ghetto and several concentration camps. The Tree of Life in this painting, reflects the positive parts of life after the liberation. The shofar (ram's horn) appear as a metaphor for redemption, not only for myself, but for all survivors. |
Judith Goldstein Artist's memories of times in concentration camp. Standing naked, outdoors in the cold about to enter the showers, not knowing if the showers will give water or gas. |
Judith Goldstein Based on memories at concentration camps and before that in the Vilno Ghetto. I saw wagons with dead bodies every day. The person's face, who pulled the wagon is dark with grief. My fear of the swastika was always there like an arrow pointing at me. |
Judith Goldstein Based on symbols in a ring that the artist's father made for her in the ghetto from a silver coin. The collage utilizes the Hebrew letters vov and gimmel, which stands for vov (for Vilno), gimmel (for Ghetto). The rest incorporates symbols of oppression and dehumanization with a few elements of hope. |
Judith Goldstein The oven and smokestack appear as a modern icon, with visions of human heads in the smoke. "I watched and smelled". I lived with the fear of going there too. |
Judith Goldstein Many Jews escaped from the Ghetto to the forests and reached a dead end. In this art work, the mother, lost in the woods with here child, hungry and cold, is waiting for nothing to happen. Her child, on her left next to her is dead. Her limbs are swollen. The vultures are waiting. |
Judith Goldstein At the liquidation of the Vilno Ghetto, I remember the empty streets. It felt so lonely. |
Judith Goldstein Explanation: Many Jews fled to the forest and became partisans. They lived there in hiding (many underground) without warm clothing, food, sanitation or medicine. Many died. Those who were stronger and younger survived the bitter cold winters. Some had ammunition and guarded their sites. At night, the leaders came out of the forest to beg for food from the peasants who lived near by. Some were kind and helped, and some acted as informers. |
Judith Goldstein Explanation: Undeserved whippings at the hands of Nazis. The spirits of the victims ascend to Heaven. |
Judith Goldstein. The forest is in despair watching the killings of innocent people. Helpless, they too hate those who are responsible. |
Judith Goldstein. Ponary is a forest outside of Vilnius, Lithuania. During the Nazi occupation one hundred thousand people were murdered there and thrown into pits. Seventy thousand were Jews from Vilnius and the surrounding areas. Today it is a memorial park. |
Judith Goldstein A nightmare of human misery and tragedy, and destruction created by the acts of nature. |
Judith Goldstein A collection of painful memories from World War II and the Holocaust years. Ghetto and ponary years, concentration camps and the loss of family. After the war, freedom and the birth of Israel. |
Judith Goldstein My world was divided by fear and the desire to live. How I wished to be with people who are free, can walk through the forest, sing and hear the echo of their voices. |
Judith Goldstein Martyr, Rabbi Hanina Ben Teradyon, (second century) was head of the Yeshiva under Roman rule. It was against the law to teach the Torah. In defiance of the prohibition, Rabbi Hanina taught the Torah. As a punishment, the Romans sentenced him to death by burning. It is said, that the executioner, moved by his suffering, helped him die sooner by removing the wrappings of the Torah scrolls and the wet cotton near his heart. It also tells us that at the end, the Roman chose to jump into the fire, and the Hebrew Alphabet rose to heaven. |
Judith Goldstein A collage of images near the wall in Jerusalem praying for the existence of Israel. The threat of losing this holy place is always present among the people who live there. |
Judith Goldstein The Holocaust was a massacre so willfully orchestrated and so brutally executed by the nazis. |
Reflections
Below is a series of 4 paintings. A sequence of events 1940-1945 WWII. "Reflections" is based on a musical composition in four movements by Judith Goldstein.
Judith Goldstein Innocence - Theme and variations. Children at play. The bright colors and the star of David, joy, happiness and security. |
Judith Goldstein The War has started. There is fear, tension and panic among the Jews. |
Judith Goldstein Life is once again renewed. Children are dancing again. The star of David is being restored and the Jewish flag is in view. |
Judith Goldstein The land of Israel is born. The wheels are symbols of travel and searching for relatives, fulfillment and lost times. |
Joys
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