Thank you! Anne Frank Awards.
- Feb 28
- 1 min read
Thank you everyone for your lovely well wishes yesterday! Last nights Anne Frank Awards gala was truly wonderful. I’ll share more later, but here is the introduction of Beloved by Dr. Ted Rosengarten, U.S. National Book Award winner:
“As the artist, Mary looks these ill-starred children in the eye and rescues them from the oblivion the Nazis had prepared. Her weapons are pencil and paper, her hand, and her eye for what can and cannot be seen. The result is a style of drawing that captures the distinct vitality of each child aware of the sensory world but blissfully unaware of the death sentence they carry. Simple portrait masterpieces that remain clear and distinct in the mind’s eye even after we are no longer looking at them. Each face carries the traits of a lineage, and may be all that’s left of a family line. Each child is one you want to hide in a basket and take home.
If all her drawings do is make us feel, as Mary feels, that there is no such thing as other people’s children, that would be enough. If all they do is illuminate the enormity of the Nazi crime against humanity, and the world’s indifference at the time, that would be enough. But Mary’s drawings do more. In their presence we experience inspiration, wonder, and even hope. This is their healing power, a fierce energy emitted by eloquent eyes, a light received in the darkest of times, as if each child was the vessel and keeper of the holy ark."
