The Jewish Transcript
Excerpted from the article by Akiva K. Segan.
A History of Jewish writing from the Ten Commandments to the Twentieth Century was reproduced in color on the cover of section B, which was the Rosh Ha’shonah / Jewish New Year issue
About the Cover - Art by Akiva L'shana tova September 18, 1998
The art on the cover of this section reproduces a 7-foot-high pencil drawing and gouache painting by Seattle artist Akiva Segan.
“The artist calls this work, which he began in 1990 and completed in 1991, the largest and possibly the most challenging he had ever attempted. “I had allowed my long forgotten ability to read Hebrew in synagogue to lapse entirely, and it presented daunting compositional and execution work,” he wrote in an explanation of this work.
“Hebrew letters are beautiful, and were the inspiration for the painting. I looked at different Judaica books for source materials to both inspire me and for material to draw my own interpretations from."
The focal point of the whole work is the Ten Commandments in the center. Around the Ten Commandments are many different images: letters, words, some sentences. It includes manuscript reproductions from library books, Jewish American newspapers long out of print, a Rosh Hashanah greeting card and contemporary Israeli newspapers.
“As the drawing of the letters progressed from penciled in outlines to color, some made me think of bones, the desert, and timelessness."
In the lower left quadrant he sought a way to remember the Holocaust, which he did by reproducing words from a Yiddish song, “The Partisanen Lied” (Partisan’s Song),” which was sung by Jewish men and women fighters in the forests of eastern Europe as they shed their blood and gave their lives in the struggle to sabotage the Nazis.
In the lower right Segan sought to depict something from Seattle’s Jewish history. To do that he went to the Jewish Archives of the University of Washington Library. He randomly chose the papers of several early 20th century Jewish Seattleites and was handed boxes of papers to examine. “I found just what I wanted in the papers of Jacob Kaplan, may his memory be blessed.”
Reproduced in the artwork from Kaplan’s papers is an undated promotional for the appearance of world famous cantor Pinchik. “My great-uncle on my father’s side emigrated to Mexico the same time as my paternal granddad arrived in New York, and these Mexican cousins are Pinchuks. Pinchuk, Pinchik; for me finding this flyer is like reading an Isaac Bashevis Singer children’s story about Minsk and Pinsk!"
After all the letters were drawn, Segan colored in the background with gouache, which is a thick form of watercolor. “Much of the background color was chosen to reflect the antique look of parchment with the timeless feeling that comes in looking at and contemplating the desert and dreaming about The Exodus from Mitzraim (Egypt), the years in the desert, the Promised Land, the Sinai, the Negev.” Segan designed the painting with the dream of seeing it permanently installed in the Jewish Federation building stairwell.
Post script notes by the artist, April 28, 2016: The writing includes letters and words in Hebrew, Yiddish (which uses Hebrew letters), and Judeo-Arabic. I forget if I included Ladino, but there are a few English letters towards the top left.
The work is in urgent need of a home. It needs to be conservation framed and installed on a wall large enough and strong enough. I would like to see it in a public institution such as a Seattle-area Jewish community building, a synagogue, a non-proselytizing church, or a college or university. And a donor or donors need to be be enlisted to defray the cost of either framing it in a very large frame (I’ve seen comparably sized works-on-paper framed in regular frame molding at the Frye Art Museum) or in a custom-fabricated plexiglass box in which the work would be inserted and permanently sealed. I don’t have storage space for it so there is a possibility that without immediate steps taken to preserve it I will be forced to destroy it. That would be a great loss for Seattle, for art history and preservation in Puget Sound, for the local, regional and PNW Jewish community and for the interfaith communities.
~ Post script by the artist, October 9, 2020: The artwork is falling apart but is still salvageable. I may carefully separate the Ten Commandments in the center, and the outer four quadrants, especially the lower left and right. If I were to frame those sections each will be smaller than the large whole work but at least those sections would be saved. The artwork was exhibited at the exhibit: World Calligraphy, a group invitational exhibition, at the M. Rosetta Hunter Gallery, Seattle Central College, 2016.