Hirszenberg’s Legacy

This chapter records the ways in which diverse artists, writers, and curators created connections between the momentous developments in Jewish history of the last century and Samuel Hirszenberg's art. It emphasizes the fact that an artist's creation is appreciated, interpreted, and recognized for a range of reasons, and not only for its artistic merit. Following his death, the chapter recounts how Hirszenberg was exalted by various Jewish authors as the Jewish artist, who had touched the soul of the Jews like no one before him and penetrated the depths of their tragic history, their past and present state; who gave the profoundest expression to their exile in a series of paintings; and who had only begun to turn his talented hand to the new world of the Land of Israel. The chapter also traces the impact of Hirszenberg's work and charts its cultural and artistic reception over more than a century in diverse media. It concludes by illuminating how his works of art, like art in general, have engendered intense interaction over time, allowing a wide range of interpretations, references, and quotations.