The Heart of the City That Once Was

We do not know the identity of the woman who was depicted nude in Abraham Weinbaum’s etching. Only an outline of a human figure remains of the model, nothing more than a fleeting sketch. This short moment in which she is sharing a piece of her intimacy with us – viewers from a distant future – is but a snapshot from a life which we know nothing about and which was likely cut short by the war that was soon to break out. However, in Weitraub’s work, the moment goes on, almost suspended in time. The woman’s body is relaxed, she is leaning her head back as if basking in warm sunlight. She is lying under a tree with unusual, thorny branches. Perhaps it is a pine tree or some other, more exotic species, as there is also a palm tree right beside it. It would be hardly surprising if Weintraub’s inspiration had been the landscape of Palestine, the Promised Land for which many Jews of his generation were longing. Still, something tells me that this particular landscape originated purely from the artist’s imagination. It is not a physical place but rather a mental state, a peaceful corner of the mind, “a locked up garden, a sealed fountain”, as written in the Song of Songs. The work immediately drew my attention and at once I felt, I knew – I wanted to be there, too! To touch the ground and feel the sun on my face in the old-new Gan Eden, to be overcome with a primordial feeling of wholeness. To be in a state of simplicity where we do not need anything, no fig leaves or masks we put on every day to avoid feeling shame, fear, and pain. Instead, there is peace and proximity to nature, which is beautiful but not sentimental. There is nothing overbearing in this image, it is full of light – empty spaces which the artist chose not to fill but leave ambiguous, in a state of endless possibility. Looking at Weintraub’s work, I see the beginning and the end of a journey, a place which I am still looking for even though it has always been with me, inside of me. As the poet W.H. Auden once wrote, “For the garden is the only place there is, but you will not find it / Until all events have been studied and nothing happens that you cannot explain”.

In our digital repository, the object can be viewed in the highest quality.

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Supported by Norway and EEA Grants from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway and the national budget #EEAGrants #Funduszenorweskie #EOG #EEANorwayGrants