Is there a life lesson in the dedication of the Bak Museum in Vilna on 16 November 2017?

Matters of return and remembering, openness and generosity, repressing and dreaming all filled our days in Vilna as we accompanied Sam Bak for the realization of a promise.

Some seven years ago, as Samuel Bak was sharing his childhood of potential and despair with his grandson, he was called to meet the Prime Minister of Lithuania. In this moment, Bak decided that if there were to be a museum dedicated to his art, it should be in his birthplace. He committed to donate a substantial and comprehensive collection of his art to this endeavor, but many disparate pieces of the puzzle needed to be considered:

• The Tolerance Center of the Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum • The extensive and impressive body of Bak's art spanning six decades • The profound friendship between Rimantas Stankevicius and Bak • The leadership of the brothers Zingeris: Emanuelis and Markas • The availability and full commitment of the Pucker Gallery and its staff

As in all of life, timing and luck, vision and hard and creative work must coalesce; then health and good will can move an idea to realization.

For more than six years, staff and professionals in Boston and in Vilna worked to establish a unique space and opportunity—a place and chance to remember the fractured past via the challenging visual language that Bak has created, to project an unending and unanswered series of human questions. Humankind's extraordinary capacity for evil and for good is at the center of all of Bak's art. How do we acknowledge the horrific deeds of the past, conceive a crack of light and hope in the present, and enable a better and more humane future?

The trip to Vilna to honor the dedication of the Bak museum was packed with contrasting and conflicting experiences. There was a grand reception at the residence of the US Ambassador Anne Hall, who graciously welcomed the artist and his art home to Vilna. The German Ambassador Angelina Viets honored the remarkable ongoing work of Siggi Schaefer and Cecilia Witteveen who, in their efforts to assemble a catalogue raisonné of all of the works of Samuel Bak, have already recorded more than 5600 works. These were moments of welcome and celebration.

Darius Degutis, former Lithuanian Ambassador to Israel, holding Samuel Bak’s memoir Painted in Words in Lithuanian, Bernie Pucker, Samuel Bak, and Rimantas Stankevicius.

There was an intense visit to Ponar, the killing pits of Vilna where Sam's grandparents and father were among more than 70,000 Jews that were slaughtered. It was a gray and frigid morning. The spaces of death and the small museum with photos of the destruction were a prelude to our visit to the KGB prison and museum, which was also a depressing and devastating experience. Words cannot share the intensity of the horror.

Belongings of people who were murdered in Ponar.

Simple headstone in Ponar remembering the few remaining Jews killed on 5 July 1944. Among them Jonas Bak, Sam’s father.

Personal Corner, Samuel Bak’s painted representation from his Return to Vilna series 2002

Exhibit from the KGB prison and museum.

That evening we all assembled at City Hall as Samuel Bak was made an honorary citizen of Vilnius. Attached are his candid, gracious, and meaningful words. Also a photograph of the artist and the Mayor, which a friend described as "the long and the short of it."

Remigijus Šimašius, Mayor of Vilnius, having just made Samuel Bak an Honorary Citizen of Vilnius.

On the evening of 16 November, we celebrated the official dedication of the Samuel Bak Museum. There were meaning-filled remarks. Most notable for me were the spontaneous words of the minister of Culture, Liana Ruokyte-Jonsson, which prompted Ambassador Anne Hall to put aside her prepared remarks and totally embrace this unique moment of honesty and generosity. All were stunned by her ability to share such a rare and authentic response. Others shared thoughtful remarks and tributes. The extraordinary evening and moment of our shared history was capped by the blessing of a 95 year old survivor of Ghetto Vilna "Bis a hundert un tzwantzig— may you live and continue to create until 120!!!!”

Entry way to the Samuel Bak Museum.

Liana Ruokytė-Jonsson, Minister of Culture, speaking at the dedication of the Samuel Bak Museum.

Anne Hall, United States Ambassador to Lithuania, speaking at the dedication of the Samuel Bak Museum.

Samuel Bak being blessed by a 95 year old survivor from Ghetto Vilna.

Samuel Bak and Rimantas Stankevicius at the dedication of the Samuel Bak Museum.

Czeslaw Milosz called Vilnius "the world of souls and ghosts." Indeed these "spirits" enveloped our days and nights there. Now, we look to a more positive future in a Vilna somewhat enabled by the art and wisdom of Samuel Bak.

Bernie Pucker 21 November, 2017

Attached to this email please find a copy of the speech that Sam gave when he was awarded the Honorary Citizen of Vilnius title.

Below please find my toast at one of the wonderful dinners we shared on the trip:

As a result of our visit to the Cézanne portraits exhibition at the Royal Academy in London I returned to reading Alex Danchev's biography of Cézanne.

Once Cézanne's reputation was established he was labelled the painter who knew Inquietude. The definition is elusive for it was intended to describe a state of being. Others like Picasso understood and appreciated Cézanne's personal struggle.

Quoting from Danchev:

If in the final analysis a great artist is a man who has lived greatly, as Albert Camus proposed, Cézanne seemed to exemplify what was required. Cézanne shows what human beings are capable of. His victory was in the end a moral victory—a victory of temperament, perhaps, over doubt, discouragement, and dismay. His life story is the exemplary life story of artist-creator in modern times.

I would propose that Samuel Bak— his life and his art—have effectively paralleled this description of Cézanne and his art and its potential power and importance for all who see it and are awakened by it. He has had the calling, the need, the gift and the talent to alert all of us to the profound challenges to humankind.

His life has fueled his life's work and in turn has become a powerful invitation to us to engage and repair a tragically broken world.

What a great privilege it is to be gathered with all of you to celebrate Sam and his life which is his art. No such moment can be complete without acknowledging Josée and her critical role in enabling all of Sam's art to be born. She has devoted herself to him with great love and understanding. I do believe that he has flourished due to her ongoing support and presence in his life.

In addition Sam nourishes friendships and friends as well as family and in turn is energized and sustained by each of you. All of us are a blessed part of this group and we are here to acknowledge and toast Sam and his art.

L'Chaim.