(1,U'~ VOLUME 19 No. 109 JEW I SH GUILD O ct ober. 1951 3 1 JEWISH GUILD ANNUAL

best of a ll to work with wood, but it is in cl ay and a nd he ha s a hatr ed of war and all that w ar repre­ YEA UA L pl aster that he has done his most impres sive work. se nts. One of hi s outstand ing works is a sculpt ure October. 1951 From Vienna he w ent to Berlin, but found no w h ic h he calls "The Unkn own Soldi er", - a great, foothold in the German capital. From Berlin to ' supine fig u re lying face downward on a cross, the It is a long road that Herman Wald has Paris - lithe nerve-centre of the art world, which," bac k knotted a nd gna rled like a bl ast ed mountain; he says, " m ade my h eart beat in a tempo that' ec hoes on e . h and g rasping a broken swor d, the other travelled, but the fruits have been rich and the heartbeat of every artist all ov er the world." im potently resting on the cross of a soldier's grave. But P aris or the depression years gave the a rt ist l! is to be hoped that one day t his, too, will be worth striving for. no living, a nd he turned to London. Here,. t houg h acce pt ed by some public organisati on as a there was at the time what memorial ; certainty no war Wald calls "an awakening m cm cr ial could ca rry. a to the consciousness of m essage mor e meaningful. 'The Art Of Herman Wold modern art," there was also The home environment no living: at times the of .h is childhood, Hebrew By EDGAR BERNSTEIN artist was so hard up that legend a nd Hebrew lore , he was forced to dig clay have worked indelibly upon ':Ul-E need memorials because pe opl e forget. II from the river to model. hi s soul. A great deal of / ' Memorials are not for the dead, but for the his work is essentially . living. Every time we are In danger of forgetting t he THE ro ad that carries a m an from hi s native So in 1937 he traversed Hebrew in inspiration. six million dead, this figure w ill remind us. In this Hung ary through Au stria , Germany, France and the ocean to South Africa. massive sculpture, Mr. Wald has de vis ed a fitting Britain to di stant South Africa is long a nd a r duous, His brother was already Th ere is a stone head of memorial to the six million, Jews killed by Hitleor." with many a bitter pa tch to trav erse on th e wa y. So here, holding a rabbinical Mos es, superbly executed, The speaker was Sarah Gertrude Millin, the famous H erman W ald h as found it in hi s forty-three years post in East London, and majestic and big (it Is South African Jewish writer, and she w a s address­ crammed with change and challenge . H e starte d life he urged Herman to come. as the son of a rabbi, and his father 's orthodox three times life size). A ing a gathering of J ewi sh communal lead ers in th e n was a new country, he Johannesburg studio of Herman Wald over a yea r home was opposed to th e art th at early mad e its call smaller figure depicts ago. Towering over the gat hering stood the figure to the sensitive boy . He had to work a t his carving said, hospitable, with new .she was speaking a bou t . - a H ebrew figure, t w elve larg ely in s ecret , risking paternal di s approval and opportunities. Herman Wald Moses with the Ten Com­ .feet high, te aring his garment In pu n is h m en t on di scovery. Once he found hospitality here ­ mandments: the sculpture the act of uk'ria ." And "K'ria" was eve n r an a way to the nei ghbouring hut scarcely the opportun­ flows in a rhythm that ~._. ",:", _,, __"" :...... • + j-, A _ _ , ..'h; 'h ". A _ ~ . A_~~ ~~rd', 'liBs/lrtlt6~7 &&b ...... ,...... - ago. Towering over the gat he ring stood the figure to the sensitive boy . He had to work at his carving WJYif "II:@\\-­ .she was speaking a bou t . - a Hebrew figure, t w elve larg ely in s ecr et, risking paternal di s approval and opportunities. Herman Wald Moses with the Ten Com­ .feet high, te aring his ga rment In pu n is h men t on di scovery. Once he found hospitality here ­ mandments: the sculpture the act of uk 'ria ." And "K'ria" was eve n r an away to the neighbouring hut scarcely the opportun­ flows in a rhythm that the name which the artist had mountains which, h e says, fir s t fired ities his brother envisaged. g iven the work. him wit h the desire to become a The hard, uphill struggle surges upwards trom out­ Mrs. Millin turned to look up at SCUlptor .Th e childhood conflict re­ continued, with the artist stretched tee to the top of the figure and s a id: "H e is tearing ope ned wh en he returned hom e un­ slowly establishing himself the cla sped Tablets ot the his g arment in mourning, yet t il, he says , th e day when he broug ht in hi s new home. Law. There is a group he through his grief there is also his first big attempt at modelling calls "The Refugees" which sullen defiance and pride on his fro m th e privacy of th e pantry III presses all the horror of face. The head is uplifted with wh ere he had worked upon it . It flight from persecution Into determination. This is a figure not w a s a bust three times life s ize, and the form of a mother Wald tells th at as his father THE work of Herman only 'of mourning, but the deter­ attempting to save her mination to carry on , Here is a in spected it , HI noticed a veil gradu­ Wald shows all the child and herselt. There breast bared to the world. Do ally lifting from his eyes - a screen 'in fluen ces of his life's wide w hat you Will, it seems to say: that separated the religious pre­ are Biblical subjects of journey - but all fused desolation and wrath. here I am and here I shall stand. judice from the instinctive under­ into his Own personality, There is the symbolic panel It is a figure of Jewish · endurance standing of the fine arts. But he so that you cannot say he only sh ook his head in a non-com­ he has carved for the new which Mr . Wald has created, and works after this or that we owe him our gratitude for mittal way, not knowing whether to Sp rin gs Synagogue. putting these thoughts into con­ be for or against my career." school. Impressionism is crete form." Eventually, Wald decided to leave here, as well as a classical And then there is the My eyes turned from the noble , his home a nd , ag a inst family remon­ austerity; r ealistic port­ work in wh ich Wald has anguished face to se arch out the strance. journey into the greater raiture, and fancy's free turned away from his sculpt or , standing unobtrusively by world, bent upon his art. His father rein. In wood, he makes anger and his g ra ndeur, the wall. He was moved by the had wanted him to be a cantor, but sensitive use of the grain and give n himself ent irely writer's words about his work. and he felt no ca ll to the pulpit. His of his material, taking his to the native joy of creat­ brother, Marcus Wald (now in as his eyes filmed moistly and the line from the line it has i n g form - b I' e a t h­ muscl es round his m outh quivered. America) became the rabbi in his followed in growing; he less , rhy t hm ic movements HERlIIAN \VALD stead. One professional prop his I leo ked suddenly back to the works, that is to say, "with of pla st er, wood and stone: sta t ue. Above the massive father's home did. ho w ever, g ive him : the boy had an excellent voice , and his father the material," rather than t he forms cf power , of shoulders, the sc ulptor had moulded his own head . imposes an a lien pattern m a t ernal love, of the love So "K'ria" · w as not only his monument to the trained him for choral s ing ing. When he studied in Budapest, and later in Vienna . he ear n ed his upon it. In stone, he likes of a man for a maid . .. martyred: it w as a ls o hi s personal identification w it h m eagre living s in g ing in synagog ue choirs , a nd, to release the form he sees the suffering and the glory of his race. A daring Jater in op era chor uses. He preserves h is love of latent in the material. Only It is a lon g road that concept, as daringly wo rked into cl ay .. . musi c to this da y, a nd when the wine flows a t a in cl ay and plaster do es he H er ma n W ald has trav ell ed party in his st ud io, will let his deep, ri cn voice m ould the preconceived in hi s forty-three years. The communal leaders present that day had come roll out in s on g. figures of his im agination. But th e fruits have been to launch a scheme to acquire "K'ria " as a m emorial In Budap est he st udied at the city's Art Academy His soul, conditioned by ri ch , and more than worth +n ...... +, ...... ;1 'ti' .~ ...... Tn" . ...'. T. : ~ _,__ .__ ..1 . _ _ _ . a nd in Vi enna under Profes sor Hanak. From hi~ th.:lo rnnll ....too:lo''''' ''' nil U ~ ~ ..... the st r iv in a . Toda v. in his