Caricature of a painter at work by a fellow inmate in Terezin
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 17.625 inches (44.768 cm) | Width: 13.750 inches (34.925 cm)
pictorial area: Height: 6.375 inches (16.192 cm) | Width: 4.250 inches (10.795 cm)
Creator(s)
- Anna Kampusova (Artist)
Archival History
The caricature was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1989 by Mark Talisman.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Mark Talisman
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Caricature of Ernest Kleina at work drawn by Anna Kampusova when both were prisoners created at Theresienstadt (Terezin) ghetto-labor camp in German occupied Czechoslovakia. The camp opened in November 24, 1941 and was in operation about 3.5 years, until May 2, 1945. The German SS imprisoned certain categories of German, Austrian, and Czech Jews in the ghetto, including many prominent intellectual or cultural figures. There was a large Technical Department where many artists were assigned to work, creating technical drawings, maps, etc. for the camp administration. Many of them secretly created works documenting the actual overcrowded, disease ridden conditions of the camp. The works were buried or hidden behind walls and recovered postwar. Roughly 140,000 Jews were sent to Theresienstadt; nearly 90,000 were sent to camps in the east where most died, and about 33,000 perished in Theresienstadt.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Portrait in watercolor with ink on paper of a man with light brown hair, glasses, and a large pointed nose in left profile seated on a yellow bench, painting a canvas. He is wearing a blue vest with a Star of David badge on his chest and a gray apron. He is holds a square brown painter’s palette in his left hand and 3 paintbrushes in his right. On the left is a large white canvas on an easel. The drawing is in a windowpane mat with a piece of paper taped to the back.
mat, back, on paper, black ink : 6. Karikatura Erny Kleina / Anna Kampusová / 22 [Caricature of Erny Kleina by Anna Kampusova] mat, back, top left corner, cursive, pencil : Karikatura Arnostu Kleina prí pràci, / Kreslila Anna Kampusová [Caricature of Ernest Kleina at work, drawn by Anna Kampusova] mat, back, bottom right corner, colored pencil and pencil : 6 KLÁ
Corporate Bodies
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Czech Republic--Terezin (Ustecky kraj)
- Concentration camps in art--Pictorial works.
- World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Czech Republic.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in art.
- Concentration camp inmates as artists--Czech Republic--Terezin (Ustecky kraj)
Genre
- Art
- Object