Interpreting the Works of Samuel Bak: The Family

Introduction:

Discuss with students how art may provide a unique avenue into studying the Holocaust. In this particular activity, students will examine a painting by the artist Samuel Bak.

Personal Reflection:

• 1. Invite students to free-write as a way to begin the activity. In this context, a free-write means writing what is in one's head; tell students not to worry about punctuation or grammar. Students should write for the duration of the time and should not stop writing. It may be helpful to have students write "Nothing to write" repeatedly if they are stuck. Tell students that this writing will not be shared. . (3 minutes)
  2. Ask students to do a more focused free-write around the word "family." Remind students that they are still following the basic rules of a free-write, except this time they are writing/brainstorming around the word "family". Tell students that this writing may be shared. (3 minutes)
  3. Ask students to imagine someone is taking photographs of "their family." Ask students to describe one of those photographs. They should describe the snapshot in writing. Invite students to consider colors, foreground, background, borders. Tell students that this writing may be shared. (5 minutes)
  4. Ask students to share either one of the last two journal writings. Everyone shares by Quaker style. In the Quaker style of sharing, one person spontaneously reads their piece and then if someone feels or finds a connection they read their piece. This continues until all the students have read their writings. To maintain flow it is important that students read the exact words of their writing and do not give disclaimers before reading. Remind students that each piece is a work in progress and that trust among the class is important. In larger classes have students select a few sentences to read rather than the entire piece. (10 + minutes)
The main feature of this activity is a structured writing process, based upon a pedagogy developed by the Bard Institute for Writing and Thinking. In this framework, the writing is considered more a tool for thinking, rather than merely a skill useful for producing a finished product. A significant level of mutual trust must be established in order to ensure that a student's ability to write will not be judged. Instead, students will recognize that their writing is a work in progress and a tool for helping to make sense of Bak's life and his work. These ideas should be established at the outset of the following activity.

Background Information on Samuel Bak and The Family
Discuss Samuel Bak's experiences as a Holocaust survivor and an artist. Explain that the class will be examining a painting of Bak's entitled The Family. To help put Samuel Bak in context, provide students with some brief biographical background.

• Biography of Samuel Bak - Professor Larry Langer

• Samuel Bak's painting The Family

• Details of The Family are also available on the Internet for projection in class, study in a computer lab, or homework. See additional activities below for suggested uses of these sites.
  Detail One
  Detail Two
  Detail Three
  Detail Four
  Detail Five

Interpreting and Analyzing The Family

1. Professor Lawrence Langer reflects on the process and challenge of interpreting Samuel Bak's paintings in Interpreting a Painting.
2. Help students interpret the painting by coaching them through the following steps. The teaching methodology Think, Pair, Share works particularly well with each step of the following format:

Observe: During the observation step, students should simply create lists of what they see within the painting; they should refrain from passing judgment on the imagery or its meaning.

Analyze specific parts of the painting: Have students begin to analyze specific parts of the painting. One way for students to begin this process is for them to isolate one item on their list of observations and consider all the choices that Bak made in painting that item. (Some general examples: What color is the item? Why might Bak have painted it that color as opposed to other colors? Where is the item located in the picture? Why might Bak have painted it there? Why are certain items in the foreground while others are in the background?)

Remind students of the general history of the Holocaust and Samuel Bak's particular experiences. Ask students to combine their impression of the specific item they are looking at with their knowledge of the Holocaust.

The following questions may be used to supplement or jumpstart student analysis of The Family, but teachers and students are encouraged to add their own.

• How might we interpret Bak's choice to include fire and smoke in the background? How might we interpret the winding group of figures extending from the background to the foreground?
• Compare and contrast a few of the "heads" in the painting. What do we notice about the eyes and mouths (or their absence) on the various "heads"? Do you detect any patterns in how Bak chooses to paint eyes and mouths? What do we notice about the hats and head coverings (or their absence) on the various "heads"? Patterns?
• Why do you think different "heads" are made of different materials? Why are some "heads" made of stone and others of wood?
• How might we interpret the damaged skulls?
• Why do you think Bak included the easel and the painted canvas?
• How might we interpret that different figures are portrayed in different scales?

Interpret the whole painting: Remind students that interpreting a painting is a complicated and constantly changing process. Professor Lawrence Langer cautions that "We need not restrict ourselves to his [Bak's] conscious intentions, but we must also be cautious not to try to make a painting express anything we wish it to. The evidence for our reaction must lie within the painting itself." Click here for Interpreting a Painting. Have students combine the many specific observations and descriptions they made in the prior section with their understanding of the Holocaust and Sam Bak's life . Students write paragraphs (using specific historical references and references to the painting) supporting their main argument about the painting. The questions below may help students as they interpret The Family.

• Why do you think Samuel Bak calls this painting The Family? Based on this painting, what do you think is Bak's notion of family?
• How do you think Bak's notion of family is similar and different from your own notion of family?
• What ideas or feelings is Samuel Bak exploring? What is the artist suggesting about life, death and memory?
• What insights about the Holocaust and surviving the Holocaust can we get from considering Bak's choices in The Family?

Additional Interpretations and Resources:
Remind students that interpreting a painting is a constantly changing process. The following resources are provided to help students and teachers increase their understanding of the Holocaust and of the art of Sam Bak. They are not presented as absolute interpretations of Bak, but rather .....

• The Family - Professor Lawrence Langer
• Have students read an excerpt from Samuel Bak's Painted in Words - A Memoir, The Children Aktion pp. 73 - 78.
• Show a clip from the video, Samuel Bak - The Art of Speaking About the Unspeakable starting with "The Family" and going to the end (about 8 minutes).