Realm of Silence

By Elvire Coriat de Baëre.

Table of Contents

  1. Artist Information
  2. Foreword by Chester Arnold
  3. Introduction by Stephen M. Goldman
  4. Paintings and Poems
  5. Comments

Artist Information

Painting is not exclusively visual; it is an act of the soul. It is the means by which I express passion, emotion and sensitivity for the subject I portray.

My love for painting has been lifelong, first in its observation and study, then in my own expression, which celebrates the magical beauty of nature, its power and serenity. My art depicts mostly landscapes, seascapes, still life, flowers, and children.

I have benefitted from academic training in French modern art. My work shows the influence of the Old Masters and French Impressionism.

The nine-painting series “Realm of Silence” is a response to my thoughts on some of the most powerful images of the twentieth century. I have excluded color to evoke a sense o f loss and despair.

In reading and reflecting on World War II, images of human atrocities filled my soul, mind and heart with an undeniable pain. Never in the history of mankind has such dehumanization happened. Through my painting and poetry, I feel an urgency to hold sacred and perpetuate the memory of those who perished.

Through artistic expression I appeal to the viewer to reflect upon the moral and spiritual questions raised by the Holocaust. Awareness of the past may prevent recurrence and promote human dignity and social justice for generations to come.

About the Artist

Elvire Coriat de Baëre was born in Casablanca, Morocco. She immigrated to the United States in 1956 and currently lives in California with her husband, near her two children and three grandchildren. She started painting in her thirties and received her formal training in the Old Masters technique with the late Troy Ruddick. Ms. de Baëre holds degrees in art and Spanish as well as a teaching credential in French, and has studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Some of her more recent work explores egg tempera medium with oil glazes, gold leafing, frescoes and watercolors, but she primarily paints with oil on linen.

Numerous exhibitions of Ms. de Baëre’s work have been held in Paris, Montlhery, France, and in the San Francisco Bay area. Her paintings have appeared in several publications, including Maison Francaise and the Artelano Design Catalogue in Paris. In November 2000, her work was discussed in a feature article in the Jewish News Weekly Bulletin of Northern California. In 2003, she was nominated for the Beryl H. Buck Award for Achievement. Ms. de Baëre is one of 12 artists featured in the forthcoming book Sephardic Art of the Holocaust by Dr. Isaac Levy, author of the noted work And the World Stood Silent: Sephardic Poetry of the Holocaust.

In her current “Realm of Silence” Series, executed in oil on linen, Ms. de Baëre reaches monochromatic tonalities unprecedented in her art. This Series has come to the attention of two Holocaust museums in the United States. Slides, photographs, and documentation of the Series are available at the Artists’ Registry at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. In 2002, Elvire Coriat de Baëre donated the Series (including the nine oil paintings and the nine poems) to the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida for their permanent collection. The Series is a traveling exhibit.

Ms. de Baëre is currently working on a series of paintings in oil which portray multi-cultural women in period scenes and landscapes.