Part guest book, part scrapbook, but not quite zealously enough maintained as either, this cloth-bound volume provides snapshots of five decades at Herrmann Meyer’s Jerusalem bookstore, Universitas Booksellers. The people who signed these pages were often politicians, journalists or religious leaders. Prominent names include David Ben Gurion, first prime minister of Israel; Teddy Kollek, mayor of Jerusalem; Gershon Agron, founder of the Palestine Post; author James Michener; photographer Yousef Karsh; and Fulton Sheen, American archbishop. A few pages are tributes to individuals: Sir Harold MacMichael, colonial administrator; Sir Alan Cunningham, High Commissioner of Palestine; and Albert Meyer, cited as a senior partner in the store, who celebrated his seventieth birthday on July 26th, 1942.
Exhibitions mentioned in the guest book are:
The Illustrated Book 1485-1935, January 9-17, 1937
Jacob Steinhardt wood cuts, June 1938
Flowers and Birds in Old English Colorated Prints, December 1938
Bookplates, 1440-1940, to celebrate the fifth centenary of the invention of the art of printing.
Book Bindings of Kate Weiner, Sept 23–October 2, 1942
Trees and Landscapes of Palestine, selected watercolors by Helene Barth, December 5–20, 1943
Reconstructive drawings of Jerusalem at the times of King David, King Solomon, Herod the Great and the Crusaders, by Julius Jotham-Rothschild, Architect, April 15–10, 1944
Masterpieces of Caricature, December 1945
Georgian Graphics, 1946
Old Maps of Palestine, January 1947
Jerusalem in Maps and Pictures 15th-19th Century at Ebenezer House, May 15-27, 1947, in conjunction with the British Council
Ismar David’s work can be seen in some of the advertisements and signage for the store. The Dr. Peter Freund who signed the guestbook may be David’s cousin, one of Ismar Freund’s three children.
Russian-born, Brooklyn-bred Abram Kanof attended Boys High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Columbia and Downstate Medical Center; enlisted in the navy at the outbreak of World War II, where he developed a cure for atheletes’ foot; and eventually had a long and rewarding career as a pediatrician and educator.1Norden, Margaret Kanof, Dr. Abram Kanof, 1903-1999, American Jewish History, Johns Hopkins University Press, volume 87, number 1, march 1999, pp.95-96. He shared an enthusiasm for cultural pursuits with his wife, Frances Pascher, who also became a distinguished physician and educator, and the two would set aside time each week to explore New York, attend concerts and lectures, and visit museums and galleries. They even started collecting the work of young artists, like Milton Avery, Jacob Lawrence and Charles Demuth.2Twardy, Chuck, Saluting a patron of Judaic art in his adopted state, The News and Observer, Raleigh, North Carolina, Sunday, January 11, 1998, p1B-5B This, combined with a passion for Jewish history, grew into lifelong associations with and support of Jewish cultural institutions.
While serving on the board of the Jewish Theological Seminary, Kanof was asked to lead the effort to transform the Warburg family mansion into the Jewish Museum and became its first chairman. He credited its curator, Stephen S. Kayser, with getting him interested in ceremonial objects.3Ibid. In 1956, Kanof and Pascher funded the Tobe Pascher Workshop, an active studio for the design of modern Jewish ritual objects within the Jewish Museum. (Ludwig Wolpert was invited to move to the United States to head it.) Kanof wrote extensively about Jewish art and history and was a member of the American Jewish History Association, serving as its president from 1961–64. After their retirement to North Carolina, Kanof and Pascher continued their involvement with the arts. Through their efforts and with many pieces from their collection, the North Carolina Museum developed a permanent Judaica Gallery.
In a letter dated July 1, 1968, Kanof wrote to Ismar David:
Dear Mr. David,
My book on Ceremonial Judaica is now in process. Mr. Harry Abrams, however, has suggested I include a little more about contemporary American craftsmen who have worked in Judaica. I wonder whether you could write me a paragraph or two about yourself, your important Judaica commissions and your ideas in regard to this type of work.
With many thanks.
Sincerely yours,
Abram Kanof, M.D.
Professor
David responded on July 14, during a time of some professional distress. He had been among the instructors that Cooper Union had recently dismissed and had begun working on a series of illustrations for The Psalms without a definite prospect for their publication.
Dear Dr. Kanof,
You were kind enough to ask me about a paragraph or two about myself for your forthcoming book. I am only able to answer now because I have been out-of-town.
Your suggestion seems to me a difficult task because I do not know the style or format that you have in mind. I am not a craftsman who himself works in metal or stone, but I am a designer who had some of his work executed in workshops. Your letter does not indicate whether you are also interested in pictorial material.
I have designed some items for synagogues, an ark, different variations of the Ten Commandments and items for the Jewish home, but I consider my more important contribution to be in the graphic field.
I would consider the design of “David Hebrew” one of my important works. It is comprised of a series of contemporary Hebrew alphabets forming together a family. It was designed for the Intertype Corp. I am aware that to many that is a very esoteric matter, but to me it is an important area of self-expression. I attempted and I hope succeeded to fuse a sound cultural, historic foundation with a true personal present-day expression. If I may phrase it differently, it is a process of absorbing our heritage and then creating out of our own thoughts, feeling and environment. I also have been active illustrating books. As I have only recently chosen Biblical themes, most of this work is not published yet, even so I consider some of these illustrations, what an artist may be allowed to call a personal statement.
I am not sure whether you associate me with the lecture I gave at the Jewish Museum about the Hebrew Alphabet or with the mezuzah design that you had executed at the museum workshop and loaned to the Jewish museum.
Before you include me in your book, I would like you to see some of my work that will be new to you.
I would be glad to arrange [a] meeting with you at your convenience. Looking forward to hear from you.
I am sincerely yours
[Ismar David]
On November 18, 1968, David again wrote to Kanof.
Dear Dr. Kanof,
Some weeks ago I called you to make an appointment with you to get your advice and help in having an exhibition of my work at the Jewish Museum.
You will find enclosed a portfolio, recently published, by the Jewish Publication Society, which is a fair example of the kind of work I would like to show.
I would appreciate very much hearing from you.
Sincerely,
[Ismar David]
The two men had a brief exchange of letters in the autumn regarding a prospectus for The Psalms.
A letter from Abram Kanof to Ismar David, 1972.
A letter from Ismar David to Abram Kanof, 1972.
In a letter, postmarked October 11, 1972, Abram Kanof wrote:
Dear Mr. David—
Congratulations on your beautiful book. Since I am now on the retired list, I shall, alas, have to be content with the trade edition.
Thanx
Best wishes
Cordially,
Abram Kanof
How much would a cut of a return address like yours be?
The response on November 3, 1972:
Dear Dr. Kanof,
Thanks for your gracious note. In answer to your inquiry about the design and hand lettering for an address label, the fee would be $150.00. But it would come to your free with your order of three copies of the psalms special edition.
I hope you are by now well adjusted to your new environment and you can enjoy being near your family.
Stephen Sally Kayser, 1900–1988, art historian, curator, lecturer, teacher.
Stefan Salli Kayser was born in Karlsruhe where he studied art history, philosophy and musicology at the Technische Hochschule. He received his doctorate in philosophy at the University of Heidelberg in 1924. As editor and feature writer for the Mannheimer Zeitung and then, later writing for various newspapers in Berlin, he knew many of the luminaries in German visual arts and music through the beginning of the Nazi era. Kayser and his wife, painter Louise Darmstädter, left Germany for Czechoslovakia in 1935, where they spent three idyllic years before fleeing, with Kayser’s parents, to the Netherlands. From there, the family emigrated to the United States, living first in Cincinnati, then in New York and finally settling in southern California.
Kayser was an associate professor in the Department of Art at San Jose State College, when he was invited to help establish the Jewish Museum in New York. Accepting the position, Kasyer turned his polymathic knowledge of art, history, philosophy and culture, as well as a deep and sympathetic understanding of Jewish customs, to the museum’s mandate to “display and promote all forms of artistic expression in the Jewish tradition–painting, sculpture, architecture, music and letters.”1Jewish Telegraphic Agency Daily News Bulletin, May 5, 1947, p. 7. In partnership with Darmstädter, who had trained as a theatrical designer, Kayser sought to create ways to look at Jewish artifacts beyond the usual arrangement of an antique store.2 Stephen S. Kayser : Fluchtlinien / Interview von Sybil D. Hast, Berlin : VBB Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg, 2016, p. 222. During his more than fifteen years at the Jewish Museum, Kayser curated over 80 exhibitions, showcasing both the museum’s vast historical collection and many contemporary artists, and oversaw the acquisition of important collections. He regretted the collapse of a plan for Marc Chagall to paint murals in the auditorium, which Kayser likened to an American Sistine Chapel. His other great disappointment was the removal of a long-neglected 18th century synagogue which Kayser himself had discovered in Vittoria Veneto and its re-installation on two floors inside the Jewish Museum.3 Stephen S. Kayser : Fluchtlinien / Interview von Sybil D. Hast, Berlin : VBB Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg, 2016, p. 243. (This historical jewel, where incidentally Lorenzo da Ponte had been a bar mitzvah, eventually made its way to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.)
In 1962 he returned to southern California to join the faculty of the University of Judaism and direct the visual arts department of its School of Fine Arts. Kayser taught at the University of California at Los Angeles College of Fine Arts, much of the time involved in a program designed to integrate all art forms. It was a program for which this youthful pianist cum opera obsessive, erstwhile theater and music critic, who taught others how to identify medieval artists and could write about medieval art and modern music with equal erudition and engagement, was uniquely suited. He became a much loved and admired educator and spent many subsequent years teaching at UCLA Extension.
Stephen Kayser and Ismar David knew each other at least from the early 1950s, when the Jewish Museum mounted an exhibition of David’s work. In 1972, Kayser recommended that Erwin Jospe, Dean of Fine Arts at The University of Judaism, write to David about a possible exhibition. David’s response mentions his pleasure at hearing “…even if only indirectly, from Dr. Kayser for whom I have great fondness.” 4Letter from Ismar David to Erwin Jospe, September 25,1972, Ismar David papers, box 1, folder 5, Cary Graphic Arts Collection, RIT. On September 30, 1982, Kayser wrote a frank and cordial letter to David.
Today, I received your lovely שנה טובה greetings, and I hurry to reciprocate your wishes. I was just about to write to you anyhow, as I need something from you.
On Nov. 30, I am scheduled to speak at the Wilshire Blvd. Temple in L.A. on the Visual Arts and Judaism today. Among other aspects, I plan to stress the importance of the far-reaching renaissance of the Hebrew letter in which you played such a leading part. Could you therefor[e] send me some characteristic examples of your lettering and perhaps, in comparison, some traditional (all too black) counterparts? I would make slides of those examples.
As for me, –well I am now 82, but still teaching at the University Extension after eleven years of teaching at UCLA, where I had, all told, 26,000 students.
As you can see from the enclosed, I am more and more taking refuge in the rewarding world of Antiquity, with only a few excursions into the Jewish sector which offered me so many disappointments…
After a bypass operation three year[s] ago, I am still holding my own, so does my good wife while we enjoy the beautiful location of our pent-house right near the ocean.
I hope this finds you and your lady (whom I had the pleasure of meeting by phone) in good health, with repeated thanks,
Yours cordially
Stephen S. Kayser
In the spring of 1987, Sylvia D. Hast visited Dr. Kayser. At the conclusion of a series of interviews,5Interview of Stephen S. Kayser, University of California, Los Angeles Library, Center for Oral History Research. they they spoke about Existentialism and how Kayser personally came to terms with the vicissitudes of existence. Kayser said:
“This is a picture of life. However, Camus ends his book with ‘I am sure Sisyphus is a very happy man.’ That’s my philosophy. Pushing up that stone, coming down again, and be happy about it—not because of it, in spite of it.”
Paul A. Bennett, 1897–1966, advertising executive, typography director for Mergenthaler Linotype Company, founder of the Typophiles.
Portrait of Paul A. Bennett, taken by A. Burton Carnes. Courtesy of Jerry Kelly.
The New York Times headline for Paul Bennett’s obituary called him simply “typography expert,”1Obituary, New York Times, December 19, 1966, p 37. as befitted this man who had spent virtually his entire life involved in “advertising, printing and printing machinery”2McKay, George and Francis Harvey, Paul Bennett: Dean of the Typophiles, Print Magazine, December 1953, p.9–16. and around a great many industry luminaries. Bennett grew up in New York City, where his grandfather had a print shop. (And he might have entered the family business, too, but for the collapse of the building in which it operated.) As a teenager, his job setting type for advertisements for Paul B. Hoeber, a book seller and medical publisher, brought him into contact with Frederic Goudy and the two men became friends. Enlistment in the army at age 19 made Bennett briefly a machine gunner, but after his discharge, he returned to printing and took a job as director of Typography for Fuller & Smith, the largest advertising agency in Cleveland. He gained selling and advertising experience at two more firms in Cleveland, before Goudy asked him to return to New York as head of advertising and printing for his old boss Hoeber. The job with Hoeber didn’t last, but a 30-year association with the Mergenthaler Linotype Company in Brooklyn began, and Bennett started meeting casually with other men in the industry for lunch. The group were sometimes referred to as the Biblio-Beef-Eaters and later became known as the Typophiles.3Ibid. McKay, George and Harvey.
Bennett with Robert L. Leslie. All photographs by A. Burton Carnes, courtesy of Jerry Kelly.
Bennett at a ‘Heritage of the Graphic Arts’ lecture by John Dreyfus about Jan Van Krimpen, 1965. Phil Grushkin (with mustache) sits behind him.
President of the National Arts Club John Clyde Oswald famously described The Typophiles as a body of men surrounded by Paul Bennett.4Diamant, E.M., et. al., Encomium from a collection of tributes to Paul Bennett, n.d. and that remained pretty much the case until Bennett’s sudden death from a heart attack in 1966. The gregarious, bicycle-race-loving football enthusiast5Ibid. McKay and Harvey organized its activities, coordinated the production of its highly-coveted Chap Books and wrote its separately published Chap Book Commentaries. Bennett was the keeper of the secret Chap Book subscriber list. When Hortense Mendel died, Bennett dispassionately conferred with Bob Leslie about whether to send her Chap Books to her widower or “make the spot available”6 Letter from Paul A. Bennett to Robert L. Leslie, October 20, 1960, Typophiles, Inc. records, Series II: Robert Leslie papers, box 80, folder 11, New York Public Library. to someone else. In addition to his tireless work for the Typophiles, Bennett wrote extensively in several publications of the day, gave lectures on graphic arts for New York University and traversed North America, promoting Linotype faces.
Charles E. Skaggs, 1917–2017, calligrapher, book designer art director, teacher.
Charles Skaggs began pursuing a professional graphics career as a 16-year-old, sweeping floors and washing brushes for a Louisville commercial artist Bob Richey. He knew even then that he wanted to develop his lettering skills and to leave Kentucky. He worked in advertising and package design in Cincinnati and Chicago before heading east in 1945 to New York to break into publishing. By the end of the decade, he was a full-time book and jacket designer for many of the prominent publishers of the day. The AIGA selected several of Skaggs’ books for inclusion in its Fifty Books of the Year between 1948 and 1955.1Marlowe, Kimberly B., From Alphabets to Books: A Biography of Charles Skaggs Skaggs “planned the typography,” as the colophon states, of Les Pensées (Limited Editions Club, 1971).
At the urging of George Salter, Skaggs started teaching (calligraphy and the history of the alphabet) at Cooper Union in 1952.2Ibid. Salter recommended Ismar David to Cooper in 1954 and in July, David reached out to Skaggs.
Welcome to the Cooper staff from one who is himself a rather recent (et insignificant) addition.
I get into N.Y. about once a week usually and will be glad to see you and go over what I tried to get across in my year’s teaching. In between current work & getting a new home built, I hope to reorganize my notes and ideas into a more fixed & useable state for the coming year. However there’s no reason we couldn’t talk – tho I may not have much that’s either legible or intelligible to leave with you. Phil Grushkin was of great help to me in this regard just a year ago.
My N.Y. trips are rather unpredictable — but I think I’ll be in on this Thursday –July 29, if you’re free * I can make it maybe we could lunch — or a least get together in the afternoon. Unless I hear from you to the contrary — I’ll probably call you on Thursday — but don’t let this interfere with any plans you may have.*
Emanuel Emil Neubrunn, 1888–1973, designer and stone carver.
In his native Vienna, Emil Neubrunn had been an avid skier and progressive ski instructor, 1News from the Donauland section of the Deutschen und Österreichischen Alpenveriens, 1932, p. 26. a first lieutenant in the Deutschmeister Regiment,2Neuigkeit Welt Blatt, October 26, 1930, p.7. a Austro-German military unit known for its history and traditions, during the First World War and a registered architect with a successful business, designing and producing stone memorials. Nevertheless, the National Socialists imprisoned the fifty year old Neubrunn when they annexed Austria in 1938. After three and a half months, he was released with the provision that he sign over his property to the Nazi authorities and leave the country. Friends helped him and his family reach safety in Switzerland. From Switzerland, Neubrunn went to England and in 1940, relocated to the United States, where he established a new memorial business in New York City.3Barre Daily Times, July 15, 1943, p. 12. He became active in trade organizations, writing articles and giving occasional lectures. On his trips to suppliers’ conferences in Barre, Vermont, he enjoyed skiing.4Barre Daily Times, March 11, 1947, p. 1.
As the first anniversary of Hortense Mendel’s death approached, Ismar David ordered a gravestone from Memorials by Neubrunn, to be made according to his specification and full size drawings. David also designed, and Neubrunn executed, a memorial tablet, honoring John Haynes Holmes at the Community Church in New York in 1964/5. In 1965, David helped with a letterhead for Neubrunn’s daughter and Neubrunn apparently reciprocated by making a contribution to the Hillel Foundation of the B’nai B’rith “[i]n honor of my good friend Ismar David.”5Letter from Emanuel Neubrunn, R.A. to Rabbi Dr. Arthur Zuckerman, April 222, 1965. Ismar David papers, box 5, folder 107, Cary Graphic Arts Collection, RIT. In 1972, Neubrunn bought the Psalms as a gift for his son-in-law.”6Letter from Emanuel Neubrunn to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, October 15, 1972. Ismar David papers, box 5, folder 107, Cary Graphic Arts Collection, RIT.
Gravestone of Hortense Mendel David. Engraved by Emmanuel Neubrunn, 1960.
Dear Mr. David:
This is to thank you very kindly for your good wishes for 1961 which I reciprocate most sincerely. Our wishes are delayed as we had left New York for Sydney, Australia on Nov. 25th and returned after “80 Days around the World” only two weeks ago.
We visited with our children & grand children and then went on to Singapore, New Delhi, Israel, Paris, Stockholm & London.
We took many colored slides and hope to be able to show them to you & our friends.
With best personal regards,
Yours Annie & Emil Neubrunn.
George Kratina, 1910–1980, designer, sculptor and teacher.
Twelve-year-old George Kratina in the New York Tribune, November 6, 1922. Library of Congress.
In 1922, newspapers across the country enthusiastically dubbed boy-sculptor George Kratina from Brooklyn a “budding genius.” Kratina’s father, a successful sculptor, who had studied with Rodin in Paris, and mother, a landscape painter, encouraged and supported their son’s aspirations. Geroge Kratina worked his way through college doing sculpture, getting his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University. “I took up forestry, not because I was going to become a forester, but because it was a good education and I felt I needed a general education.”1Myers, Arthur, A Sort of Davy Crockett: With Rubber and Plastic, an Old Chatham Artist Carves a Tribute to Chattanooga’s Pioneer Past, The Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield, MA, December 15, 1962, p. 14. He then studied design and sculpture at Yale. He competed in “sculpturing” in the 1932 and 1936 Olympics, in Los Angeles and Berlin respectively, when fine arts were still a part of the games. He taught at Cooper Union and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Architect John Heyduk recalled Kratina as a “passionate teacher who never saw anything bad in your work, he always pulled out whatever was good in it.”2ARMADILLO: John Heyduck. A taped interview conducted by Pere Eisenman in the fall of 1977.
Kratina and his wife Annie had a home in Old Chatham, New York, with a studio where he did his often monumental work. In an undated letter to Ismar David, he described a potential collaboration.
Here’s a rough drawing — I hope you can get the idea—
The lettering to be made of metal and is to be raised from the background — the doors are carved into an irregular surface (like a twisted trunk of a tree); so the lettering will not rest on a flat surface but rather a carved surface. — no boarder [sic] around lettering.
You can reach me by phone and reverse charges when you call – so we can discuss the details. –
Thank you again —
Sincerely
George
I’m in the studio most of the time where there is no phone – but I’m in the house –before 8 AM – after 6 P.M. and from 1 PM to 2 P.M. —
Ruth Bamberger during the 1920s, from a family album. Wikipedia.
Swiss born Ruth Bamberger grew up and attended the Art Academy in Zurich. She furthered her studies in Munich, while operating an independent textile design studio. In 1934 she immigrated to Jerusalem, where she studied with Jacob Steinhardt, Isidor Aschheim and Mordechai Ardon. By the mid 1940s, she was participating in group shows alongside Gabi Rosenthal, Jossi Stern, Elly Gross, Ludwig Wolpert, and Julie Keiner, among others. Her textile design and fresco work, like a mural in the bar of the Eden Hotel, were often praised. Bamberger taught painting and batik at the Bezalel Academy and exhibited internationally in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
In August 1948, the Mishmar Ha’am (People’s Guard) and the Army’s Special Services sponsored a series of events called the “Week of Embattled Jerusalem.” It was “Jerusalem’s biggest week of public entertainment since the beginning of the war1Jerusalem Week, The Palestine Post, August 20, 1948, p.3. and included musical programs, dances, parades, plays and an exhibition entitled “Modern Jerusalem Handicraft” at the Bezalel Museum. Bamberg’s textile designs and wrapping papers appeared in it and Ismar David was said to dominate the applied graphic arts portion of the exhibition.2Handicrafts on Show, The Palestine Post, September 3, 1948, p.3. In October 1961, Bamberger visited New York on her way to a solo exhibition in St. Louis, Missouri. She wrote a note to Ismar David.
Ich war ziemlich betrübt, daß Gideon Ihnen die Bilder am Abend gezeigt hat. Es lag mir daran—an Ihrem Urteil. Zum Teufel! To hell with it! Es gibt so wenig Menschen, die wirklich etwas verstehn; in Jerusalem lebe ich in einem Meer von Unverstand—aber vielleicht kenne ich nicht die richtigen Menschen.
Als Tami letzten November sozusagen von einem Tag auf den anderen heiratete u. weg ging; „I felt awfully lost.“ Nun ist es herrlich mit den Kindern—aber ich halte mich sehr zurück u. bin glücklich daß ich ihnen in vielem helfen kann.
Ich möchte so gerne mit Ihnen in’s Metropolitan Museum und überhaupt – New York mit Ihren Augen sehn. Ich weiß, Sie arbeiten viel—trotzdem—schenken Sie mir ein bischen Zeit. Ja?!
Ich fahre morgen nach New Haven u. bin ca. Montag zurück. Am 28. Okt. Ist meine Ausstellung in St Louis; am 15. Fahre ich dorthin u. bleibe ca. 3 Wochen. Dann komme ich hierher zurück u. will bis ungefähr Februar bleiben. Rufen Sie mich nächste Woche an? Ich telephoniere nicht gern. Bin arg unmodern.
Herzlichst Ihre Ruth B.
Dear Ismar David
I was rather distressed that Gideon showed you the pictures this evening. I was concerned with—your opinion. The Devil with it! To hell with it! There are so few people, who really understand something, I live in a sea of ignorance in Jerusalem—but maybe I don’t know the right people.
When Tami got married last November, without warning, so to speak, and went away; “I felt awfully lost.” Now it’s marvelous with the children—but I keep myself very much in check and am happy that I can help them with a lot of things.
I would so like to go to the Metropolitan Museum with you and generally—see New York with your eyes. I know, you are very busy with work—nevertheless—you will give me a bit of time. Okay?!
I’m going to New Haven tomorrow and will be back on Monday. On October 28th is my exhibition in St. Louis; on the 15th, I travel there and stay for about 3 weeks. Then I’ll come back here and want to stay until about February. Will you call me next week? I don’t like to telephone. I am terribly old-fashioned.
Lyndon Johnson will forever be reviled for escalating the war in Vietnam, but as far as domestic policy is concerned, he remains one of the most effective and progressive presidents in U.S. history. He used his immense political experience, forceful personality and commitment to social justice to support a sweeping vision for a more equitable nation. His War on Poverty helped lift millions of Americans above the poverty line. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned racial discrimination in public accommodations, interstate commerce, workplaces and housing. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned discriminatory practices that had disenfranchised voters in the southern states. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 ended quotas based on ethnic origin. Johnson’s administration created Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, the Jobs Corps, VISTA, the National Endowment of the Arts and National Public Radio. Nevertheless, Johnson lost the New Hampshire primary in March 1968. Facing backlash for his social policies from the right and overwhelming opposition to the war from the left, as well as increasingly poor health, he ended his campaign for a second full term and retired to his ranch in Texas.
Johnson had been out of office for four months, when a short work of fiction by Paul Edward Gray appeared in the May 17th issue of New Yorker.1Grazy, Paul Edward, “My Three Weeks at the White House.”New Yorker, 17 May 1969, pp. 32-33. It was a satirical swipe at trends in contemporary art and, rather gratuitously, the former president. Johnson’s Texas drawl is mocked and he appears as something of a Philistine, but, principally, it is his iconic initials that provide the necessary driver for the plot. In the story, the President personally calls an artist, acclaimed for having painted an “electric blue Bodoni” E “on a field of fuchsia”, and asks if he can paint all of the letters, specifically L, B and J. The artist installs himself in the “Situations room” for three weeks, creating various grandiose works on canvas of each letter, only to find out in the end that a monogram (for cufflinks, bathrobes, “and letter paper and saddles and speedboats”) was wanted. To cap it off, Eric F. Goldman’s unflattering memoir, The Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson, which had appeared in January, gets a nod.
On May 26, 1969, Ismar David sent several designs to the former president, with a note.
I sat down to find some pleasing solutions for your monogram. The cause for my doing this was the enclosed article which I read in the New Yorker recently, in it also Goldman’s book is briefly mentioned.
I want to convey to you that I do not share the feelings that are expressed by these two writers. I think that you are one of the few who are favored with great strength of mind and wisdom to whom it is given to see so much of their ideals, plans, and ideas realized in their own lifetime.
These sketches are a token of affectionate admiration for you. If you like any of these suggestions and want to make a choice, I will be very happy to complete and send you a more accurate drawing of your selection.
Accept my best wishes Sincerely yours
Johnson’s secretary responded on June 3.
Dear Mr. David:
President Johnson asked me to thank you for a good letter, the magazine article copy, and the monogram sketches. He appreciated your thinking of him.
Ludwig Wolpert was born in a village near Heidelberg to a family that was poor in financial resources but rich in Jewish tradition. His deeply religious, almost mystical, father would remain a profound influence on Wolpert’s life and the sensitivity with which he handled Jewish themes in his work.1Briggs, Kenneth A. Museum Show Honors Wolpert. New York: The New York Times, July 4, 1976, p. 34.
In 1916, Wolpert received a scholarship from the Gesellschaft zur Förderung des Handwerks unter den Juden (Society for the Advancement of Handicrafts among Jews) to study at Frankfurt am Main’s Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Arts).2Kanof, Abram, Jewish Ceremonial Art and Religious Observance. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1970, p.35. He studied there until 1920. After a few years working on his own as an independent sculptor, Wolpert returned to the Kunstgewerbeschule to study metalsmithing under Bauhaus designer Christian Dell and silversmith Leo Horovitz, who had his own workshop with his brother, mainly producing ceremonial objects for synagogues. Working in the brothers’ workshop, Wolpert found his calling. He decided to dedicate himself to making traditional Jewish ceremonial objects in a modern style. His work received its first significant exposure at the Berlin exhibition, Kult und Form (Ritual and Form), in 1931. Emmy Roth was among the group of Protestant, Catholic and Jewish artists represented.3Pleß, Will, Neuzeitliche Jüdische Kultgeräte, Menorah, 9 (1931), Heft 3–4, p. 149-50.
With the rise of Nazism, Wolpert immigrated to Palestine in 1933. In 1935, he began teaching at the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem and co-headed the metal department. At the same time, he pursued his own work in the Bezalel workshop and is credited with bringing modern design concepts of simplified forms and sleek lines, often featuring Hebrew letters and inscriptions, to Judaica. His work came to the attention of Americans when his silver torah ornaments4Jewish Palestine Pavilion Catalogue, Exhibition and Sale, September 27-October 27, 1940. Printed by the Siebel Company, New York were displayed at the Palestine Pavilion in the 1939 World’s Fair. In 1942, he established his own workshop in Jerusalem.5Wikipedia entry for Ludwig Wolpert Then, in 1956, after helping to educate two generations of craftsmen in Israel, Wolpert accepted the invitation of Abraham Kanof and Stephen Kayser to come to New York. Together, they established the Tobe Pascher Workshop at the Jewish Museum, where Wolpert continued to teach and create for the rest of his life.
A menorah designed by Ludwig Y. Wolpert, 1953. “To praise thee is a delight.”
A menorah designed by Ludwig Y. Wolpert.
Ludwig Wolpert (listed as “Jehuda Wolpert, Jerusalem (Religious articles) Distributed by M. Streesover, 11 Essex St., New York City”) was one of the exhibitors in the Israel Exposition for the Bonds of Israel in New York. On May 14, 1953, Ismar David wrote to Henry Montor, Vice President of the American Financial and Development Corporation for Israel.
To: Mr. Henry Montor Bonds for Israel 120 Broadway, NY
From: Ismar David 130 West 46th Street Room 401, NY
Subject: Wrought-Iron Menorah designed by Y. Wolpert
In accordance with telephone conversations held with your office, I would like to urge that consideration be given to the request made by Mr. Yehuda Wolpert of Jerusalem and Dr. Kayser of the Jewish Museum for the loan of the wrought-iron menorah now held at the Exposition.
I have known Mr. Wolpert in Jerusalem for many years and have also know of his having designed this particular menorah. Later, collaborating with a Mr. Sigman, he had it made at the Sigman Workshop.
Furthermore, at the time of the arrival of the exhibits in New York I remember distinctly seeing a card attached to the menorah which indicated that it had arrived from the Sigman Workshop and listed the name of Mr. Wolpert as the designer. This card was lost at the Exposition.
Since I know Mr. Wolpert to be one of the very few exhibitors who generously lent his valuable menorah free of charge, and who tried to cooperate with us in every respect, I would be very grateful if you would authorize the release of this menorah for the short period of the exhibit at the Jewish Museum.
