Portrait of a regal looking woman surrounded by bulrushes by Arno Nadel
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 26.000 inches (66.04 cm) | Width: 28.000 inches (71.12 cm)
Creator(s)
- Arno Nadel (Artist)
- Arno Nadel (Subject)
Biographical History
Arno Aaron Nadel was born on October 3, 1878, in Vilna, (Vilnius) Lithuania. In 1890, he went to Konigsberg, Germany, to join the choir and to study liturgical music with Cantor Eduard Birnbaum. In 1895, he left for Berlin to continue his education at the Judische Lehrerbildungsanstalt [Jewish Teacher Training Institute] in Berlin. He graduated in 1900 and stayed in Berlin, where he became an authority on Jewish folk and liturgical music. In 1916, he was appointed Kapellmeister [musical supervisor] of the Berlin Jewish community, as well as the choir director of two synagogues. Nadel was also a composer, poet, playwright, and in 1920, he began painting. In 1923, he received a commission from the Berlin Congregational Community to compile a multi-volume anthology of synagogue music. The establishment of the Nazi dictatorship in 1933 led to targeted persecution of Jews. Nadel and his wife, Beate, born in 1882, and also an author, decided to send their two daughters, Detta, born in 1920, and her sister, to the United States. Following the Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938, Nadel was arrested and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp, but soon was released. He obtained an exit visa for England, but he decided to stay in Berlin and continue serving the Jewish community. His library, artwork, and papers were entrusted to a neighbor and many were preserved through the war. Beate, age 60 years, was deported and murdered in a concentration camp in 1942. On December 3, 1943, Arno was deported from Berlin to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he was killed, age 64 years.
Archival History
The portrait was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2005 by Muriel Shindler, the widow of Gerd Shindler, the nephew of Arno Nadel.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Muriel Shindler
Scope and Content
Pastel portrait of a woman created by Arno Nadel in Berlin, Germany in the 1930s. It depicts a cloaked woman seated within bulrushes done in a deeply colored, abstract style. The drawing was owned by Nadel’s nephew, Gerd Shindler, who took it with him when he left Berlin for Palestine in 1936. Nadel was an authority on Jewish folk and religious music and was the music director for the synagogues of Berlin for over 30 years, as well as a poet, composer, and playwright. The establishment of the Nazi dictatorship in 1933 would destroy the Jewish community in Berlin. In the early 1930s, Nadel and his wife, Beate, sent their two daughters to the United States. Following the Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938, Nadel was briefly imprisoned in Buchenwald concentration camp. In 1942, his wife was arrested and murdered in a concentration camp. On December 3, 1943, Nadel was deported from Berlin to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he was killed.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Nearly life size, multi-colored, oil pastel on pastel paper. It depicts a somber, imposing woman seated facing forward with her black hair covered by a yellow shawl that drapes over her shoulders and arms. Her white, elongated hands are crossed in her lap over the yellow shawl which spills out and fills the lower section of the picture. There is a red circular design on the right side of the shawl. The face is whitish with red and green undertones and she wears a dark blue blouse. The area around the figure is filled with brown, gray, and blue elongated triangles; several of these translucent shapes cross over the figure making her appear to be hidden within a grove of plants. There is an abstract geometric background with shades of light pink, blue, and light gray.
People
- Nadel, Arno, 1878-1943.
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Berlin--Personal narratives.
- Jews in art.
- Jewish artists--Germany--Berlin.
- Concentration camp inmates--Poland--Oswiecim.
Genre
- Object
- Art