Separated by 74 years of growth/development as an artist, Bak’s 1946 "Still Life" and 2020 "Familiar Sustain" exemplify Bak’s life journey in perfecting his artistic lexicon. Observed together, the paintings provide insight into the evolution of Bak’s understanding and implementation of the teapot as a symbol in his work.
A composition born of abstract thought, Samuel Bak’s 2020 watercolor "Familiar Sustain" exemplifies the artist’s talent in visually translating the ordinary into the surreal. Bak’s composition is comprised of a teapot, solid in form and sliced clean in half, an array of teacups, some whole and some shattered, and a segment (or slice) of a teapot atop a worn and weathered table. In one of the few areas that include a dash of color, a lone pear, seated quietly in the bottom right, seems to support–or rather, sustain–the weight of the table and its occupants. While the dashes of color on the right side of the painting attract and center our gaze, the image seems to fade and dwindle as our eye shifts to the left.
As a result of its solid state, the teapot is rendered useless as a drinking vessel, thus eliminating its only function. Similarly, a teacup, though still standing, displays for us its cracked facade. Knowing that the teapot is conventionally deemed to symbolize peace, friendship, and the embodiment of conversing and sharing stories with loved ones, Bak’s decaying teapot and teacup take on new meanings of abandonment, loneliness, and grief.
In the midst of this scene of despair and despondency sits an absurdly large pear in the painting’s bottom right corner. Colored with a subtle dash of green at the base of its stem, the pear is firm enough to support the leg of the coffee table without being penetrated or harmed.
Considering Bak’s lexicon as it relates to the elements present in this 2020 composition is essential, as implementing such knowledge holds the potential to transform the way the painting is received. By considering the pear, which Bak considers to be the “true” fruit of wisdom from Eden, as lending its delicate form to support the table and its effects, we can then make the more conceptual conclusion that it is the knowledge provided by this pear that supports this table. Going further by taking the piece’s title, Familiar Sustain, into context, the pear–or rather what Bak sees the pear representing–can then be understood as a form of support or aid familiar to Bak.
A much earlier work of Bak’s, his 1946 "Still Life" was created while he and his mother were living in the Landsberg Displaced Persons Camp in Landsberg am Lech, Germany. The pair were among the millions across Europe who, following their persecution at the hands of the Nazis, continued to struggle with housing and care after their liberation. Completed when Sam was only thirteen, this 1946 watercolor exemplifies Sam’s extraordinary talent and the well-deserved title of child prodigy.
By the age of thirteen, Bak’s innocence had long been stripped of him. Whether it be the result of all he witnessed as a child at the forced labor camp HKP 562, his father’s murder just ten days before Vilna’s liberation, the Nazi’s murder of all four of his grandparents, or the overall horrors of the Third Reich, the war had changed Bak’s psyche forever.
Although this watercolor was created during one of the most arduous periods of Bak’s life, nearly every inch of the painting includes some degree of color, as seen in its browns, reds, and dashes of vibrant blues for shadows.
This 1946 composition is centered around the teapot, its stark white coloring centering the viewer's eye, demanding their attention. Here Bak presents the teapot not only as a whole, unbroken unit, but he also includes it in a composition that implies that its use follows its initial purpose as a drinking vessel.
It is in this 1946 depiction of a teapot that we see both when Bak may have started including the element in his work and the commencement, perhaps, of the evolution of Bak’s lexicon of symbols. This early watercolor also serves to exemplify the evolution of Bak’s style throughout his life as an artist, which is beautifully outlined in the newly published "Art and Life: The Story of Samuel Bak" by art historian Ute Ben Yosef with a Foreword by Pucker Gallery’s own Bernie Pucker. The book traces said evolution beginning with his earliest works, through his time in the Vilna Ghetto, Landsberg DP Camp, Israel, Paris, and his flourishing career in Rome, New York, Switzerland, and Boston. South African Author Ute Ben Yosef guides readers through the outstandingly fascinating stages of Bak’s works as he shifts from styles such as realism, to abstraction, and to surrealism.
A pair of watercolors created seventy-four years apart, Samuel Bak’s 1946 Still Life and 2020 Familiar Sustain exemplify his lengthy journey in refining his visual vocabulary, specifically as it relates to the teapot. While both watercolors are of the still life genre, they differ most distinctly in their use of color and contrasting respective adherence to realism and surrealism. Observed in tandem, the paintings provide insight into the development of Bak’s perception and use of the teapot as a symbol in his work.
Lucy McGing (Guest Writer)
BAK a Day, August 11, 2023
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