AGJA Blog
Shoshannah Brombacher
Art makes the world within the artist visible.
Classical music, poetry, Jewish and Chassidic stories, traveling, the love for people and memories of eras gone but not forgotten, cities where I lived and worked, like Amsterdam, Berlin, Jerusalem, New York, or visited like Prague and Sicily, are the main ingredients of my art.
My art is like the water of the canals of my native Amsterdam, Rembrandts city, the deeper you look into it, the more you see. A reflection of a reflection of a reflection…look, what you see is not what you see.
My art contains texts and letters, lets writing come alive, and reflects my deep connection with the Dutch 17th century Masters, German expressionism, Russian art and medieval miniatures.
My art is also a tribute to music and the world of the great Chassidic masters of Eastern Europe. The Kotzker Rebbe listened to a Chassidic storyteller in the street and stated:
He told what he wanted and I heard what I needed.
That is Art.
The Ushpizin and the Chassidic Rebbes in the drawings and paintings of Shoshannah Brombacher, Ph.D.
It is customary to invite guests to one’s sukkah on the Festival of Sukkot. During seven days and nights, people sit, eat, and if possible sleep in their sukkah with relatives, friends and neighbors. According to the Zohar, each night of the Festival a group of seven prominent Biblical guests (the Seven Ushpizin) is invited, in a fixed order: Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe, Aharon, Yosef, and David.
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What’s in a name? Making art for a Bar or Bat Mitzvah.
From time to time, I am asked to create
a personalized work of art for a Bar or Bat
Mitzvah. This is a joyous occasion and I love
the opportunity. Usually, I stick to the
following procedure. I paint the bar mitzvah
boy or bat mitzvah girl with symbols or
objects that are associated with the occasion,
like a tallit, sometimes tefillin—but many
ceremonies take place in the synagogue on a
Shabbat, when donning tefillin is not
permitted—or Shabbat candles.
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Is one drawing enough? The story of Channah and Shmuel.
In 2002, right before Rosh Hashannah, I decided to make a series of drawings about the biblical story of Channah and Shemuel (I Sam. 1, 2) which is read as the haftarah of the first day of Rosh haShannah. This beautiful and moving story has all the ingredients an artist could ask for.
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