art exhibits

Samuel Bak: From Genesis to Vilna

November 20 through December 16, 2005 Leonard Pearlstein Gallery Nesbitt Hall Drexel University 33rd and Market Streets Philadelphia, PA Additional Exhibit: Samuel Bak Prints and Biographical Items First Floor, W.W. Hagerty Library, Drexel University SW corner 33rd and Market Streets, Philadelphia. Sunday, November 20 2005 - Opening Day Events (in Nesbitt Hall) 4 pm – Lecture by Samuel Bak “Revisiting Vilna: My Life, My Art, My Native Town” 5 pm – Reception & Book Signing of Painted in Words-A Memoir by Samuel Bak Information: Kathy Carll, 215-895-6388, judaicstudies@drexel.edu. Pearlstein Gallery hours – M-F 11-5. Hagerty Library hours: 215-895-1500

Samuel Bak, Color of Night, 2001, oil on canvas

An exhibition of paintings and drawings by artist Samuel Bak will be shown at Drexel University, in the Leonard Pearlstein Gallery, Nesbitt Hall, 33rd and Market Streets, from Sunday, November 20 through Saturday, December 17. An accompanying exhibit of prints and biographical materials will be on display on the first floor the W.W. Hagerty Library, also located at 33rd and Market Streets in Philadelphia. An evening with Mr. Bak will take place on Sunday, November 20, 2005. Samuel Bak was born in 1933 in Vilna, Poland and was recognized from an early age as possessing extraordinary artistic talent. As Vilna came under German occupation in 1940, Bak and his family moved into the Vilna ghetto, and later to a labor camp, from which he was smuggled and given refuge in a monastery. At the end of the war, his mother and he were the only members of his extensive family still alive.

Samuel Bak, Cornerstones, 2001, oil on canvas

Bak has spent his life dealing with the artistic expression of the destruction and dehumanization which make up his childhood memories. He speaks about what are deemed to be the unspeakable atrocities of the Holocaust. He has created a visual language to remind the world of its most desperate moments. This exhibition is jointly sponsored by the Judaic Studies Program and the College of Media Arts and Design of Drexel University. The Judaic Studies Program acknowledges the support of Friends of Judaic Studies, Lonnie and Edward Ray, the Milton and Miriam Handler Foundation, and the Louis and Bessie Stein Foundation. The Leonard Pearlstein Gallery acknowledges support of The Friends of CoMAD. Exhibit is courtesy of the Pucker Gallery, Boston, MA.

Samuel Bak, Dress Rehearsal, 1999, oil on canvas

The Judaic Studies Program of Drexel University
331 Hagerty Library • Drexel University • 33rd and Market Streets • Philadelphia, PA 19104
TEL 215.895.6388 • FAX 215.895.0229
judaicstudies@drexel.edu •  www.drexel.edu/judaicstudies