The Magical Art of Mark Podwal

by Beth S. Gersh-Nesic

Jewish New Year 5769 is here. Once again, Boomers, it's the end of the ‘60s—with a bit of rock and roll in the marketplace to "shake up it, Baby." From Rosh Hashanah (the beginning of the Year) to Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) a preoccupation with being naughty or nice sets in, as those who "do good" hope to be inscribed for another year in the Book of Life. And a good thing to do, when in this mood, is consult the enchanting imagination of Mark Podwal, a Jewish iconography guru, whose recent exhibition Jewish Magic provided a much-needed lesson in Jewish law (Halacha), Jewish customs (minhag) and Jewish legends/fairytales.


Mark Podwal (American, b. 1945)
Rabbi Loew's Rose, 2008
Acrylic, gouache and colored pencil on paper
12 x 12 in. (30.5 x 30.5 cm)
© Mark Podwal, 2008, courtesy of Forum Gallery, New York


Jewish Magic, Podwal's third exhibition in the New York area in so many years, touched on a number of recent projects for this twenty-first century Renaissance man. From tombstones in Prague's Old Jewish cemetery to fallen angels, Podwal's luscious colorful pen and gouache drawings serve up the fruit of meticulous research, educating the mind as they delight the eye. For example, Rabbi Loew's Rose (2008), resplendent in its torrid red against a cerulean blue, cradles a golden illustration of the rabbi's tombstone in the center of this fragrant flower. Legend has it that the Great Rabbi Judah Loew of the late sixteenth century, famous for his creation of the Golem through his kabbalistic power, was also able to stave off the Angel of Death. The Angel of Death therefore hid a rose which the rabbi's favorite grandchild gave him. Rabbi Loew's tombstone in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague features a pinecone atop a curved Chippendale-ish entablature and the Lion of Judah floating above classical columns. The name Loew is derived from the German word Löwe (lion). Pinecones are associated with fertility, immortality and dynamic generative power. Sounds appropriate for a Golem-maker.


Mark Podwal (American, b. 1945)
Pomegranates with Torah Shields, 2008
Acrylic, gouache and colored pencil on paper
7 3/4 x 12 1/8 in. (19.7 x 30.8 cm)
© Mark Podwal, 2008, courtesy of Forum Gallery, New York


The lively concoction Pomegranates with Torah Shields (2008), demonstrates the correspondence between the two images: the Torah contains the 613 commandments (mitzvot) recorded in Leviticus in the Hebrew Bible and the pomegranate contains about 613 seeds. (In Christian iconography, the pomegranate is associated with Jesus Christ's suffering and resurrection, as in Sandro Botticelli's Madonna of the Pomegranate, ca. 1487 and the Cloister's fifth Unicorn tapestry, ca. 1500.)


Mark Podwal (American, b. 1945)
Angels Speak Hebrew, 2008
Silkscreen
9 1/2 x 7 in. (24.1 x 17.8 cm)
© Mark Podwal, 2008, courtesy of Forum Gallery, New York


Angels Speak Hebrew (2008), a silkscreen with black winged ancient letters flying across a white surface, as if soaring to the sky, teaches us why Jewish prayers, incantations and amulets are in Hebrew. It is believed that this language belongs to the angels, and they will hear or read and understand.


Mark Podwal (American, b. 1945)
May You be Inscribed for a Good Year, 2008
Acrylic, gouache and colored pencil on paper
12 x 12 in. (30.5 x 30.5 cm)
© Mark Podwal, 2008, courtesy of Forum Gallery, New York


A similar image of winged Hebrew letters appears in May You Be Inscribed for a Good Year (2008). Here in shades of pale to deep orange achieved through acrylic, gouache and colored pencil, a Torah pointer (yad), shaped into the form of a hand at the tip, holds a quill in the act of painting the letters. This yad calls to mind the Torah copyist, the sofer, a sacred occupation, and the artist himself. For through the hand of both the copyist and the artist the laws and lore of Judaism enter our everyday lives and live on.

Copies of Mark Podwal's work can be found where ever Judaica is sold: museums, shops, and bookstores. Podwal's best known images appear in children's books written by himself, Elie Wiesel and Francine Prose. He has also illustrated non-fiction texts, such as Francine Klagsbrun's Jewish Days (1996) and Harold Bloom's Fallen Angels (2007). Podwal is also an Upper Eastside dermatologist, a clinical associate professor with NYU's Langone Medical Center, the executive producer of the documentary film "House of Life: The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague" and an adjunct undergraduate professor for the College of Arts and Sciences, NYU. This semester, he is teaching a course on word and image.

Mark Podwal's works belong to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Jewish Museum in New York, Skirball Museum in Los Angeles, The National Gallery in Prague, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., among many other collections. In 1996, Podwal became an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, an honor bestowed by the French government.

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For a full bibliography of Mark Podwal books and other information, please visit the artist's website

"House of Life: The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague," a film by Allan Miller and Mark Podwal, will be on PBS in April 2009.

The work of Mark Podwal on display:

• September 4-27, 2008: Jewish Magic, Forum Gallery, 745 Fifth Avenue 5th Fl. (between 57th and 58th Streets), New York, NY 10151 (Telephone: 212-355-4545; Website).



• September 2, 2008-June 26, 2009: Envisioning Maps, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum, One West 4th Street (between Broadway and Mercer Street), New York, NY (Website).



• January-February 2009: "Jerusalem Sky," an ongoing project that includes an exhibition and interactive activities for school children to promote interreligious understanding, based on Podwal's book Jerusalem Sky (2005), will take place at White Plains Public Library, 100 Martine Avenue, White Plains, NY 10601 (Telephone: 914-422-1400; Website).
  

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From your Guide: Beth Gersh-Nesic is an art history professor, author, art critic and the director of the New York Arts Exchange, an arts education service which offers tours, lectures and workshops in various venues, including museums, galleries, artists' studios and arts organizations.