The Jews of Santa Fe

The Jews of Santa Fe
by Paul
Henrickson tm. 2015

I hadnt thought of this as a title until now. That
is probably because , like very many of us the
designation JEW has become, as a word, a
pariah on its own....as, for example, it is
thought impolite, crude, vulgar and obscene,
to explicate SHIT!
when annoyed.
I dont like the word, myself, but I use it often

enough.
At his point, however, I should like to draw some
distinctions that may prove helpful in
disengaging the ethnic identification from
any other matrix or in determining whether
or not there are ethnic characteristics which
govern performance, if such a manoeuvre is
possible.
To begin with in Santa Fe, No! I dislike that
beginning for its approximates Genesis too
much and the origins of non-Indian art in
Santa Fe could not be said to be
characterized by any organized Semitic
aesthetic movement. Those exiled conversos
from 15th Century Spain may have known
very little, indeed, about art. Even 400years
later the only Hispanic member of the
Committee to form the Museum of Fine art
the obvious question at this point could be Why should a member of one group feel the pressure or the need to adjust his responses to fit the concepts of another group? The answer to that, I think, might be that there seems to be always
the pull of togetherness. he European immigrants to America did, in various ways, act in such a fashion as to assure their dominance. This often very regrettable behaviour may be very difficult to avoid whenever there are differing cultures involved, as there are
currently, in the United States. The academic propostion offered by
did not speak in favour of its creation, but

rather strongly against it. His attitude was
rather that young people needed to learn
how to work, not paint pictures.
He was over ruled and the Museum was founded
despite his efforts. There is, however, one
technically accomplished Jew who did flower
creatively while he was in Santa Fe and that
one is Donald Fabricant.
By creative flowering I have in mind evidence of

developmental
elaboration of the investigative themes selected
by the artist. He,
himself, may not immediately know what these
might be, but
knowledge of them emerge as he searches. Two
examples from the
recent past in other places might be Pierre
Bonnard
and
Edvard Munch
.
As an educator and psychologist I find

Fabricants sojourn here very
instructive and elaboratively so when compared
to the one he
seems to have very much irritated, that is, Eli
Levin who, while young was also a painter,
but, as well, a notably seductive wag. Levin
asserted in his book on the Bohemians that
Fabricant had had his name changed from
Duckshits.
Levin was kind enough, however, when he
learned I was going to Israel on a tour, to
provide me with the name of an Israeli artist
who, it turned out, had been. at 15. a
resistance fighter at some point and used a
machine gun in that countrys turbulent
history. She was fun to be with when we
played with words, making coincidental puns,
and not easily confused except the one time
when the tour group had been recalled to be
treated for some supposed rampant infection
and she guided me to the location where she
learned the leaders surname was Potts. It
was this that amused her because in Hebrew,
apparently, that word means buttocks.
Her name was Duggan, and without thinking, I
added the information that In Chamorro that
means buttocks. She had nothing to add.
On the surface, Fabricant had the aspect of one

applying for the role of The Merchant of
Venice, sinister, paranoid and defensive.
And, I think, all of these directed against the
Anglo. To this extent, and in this fashion, he
shared the prejudicial attitudes, but maybe
not the political solutions of Rabbi
Hellman
which seem to be
consistent with those publishing La
Herencia where it is claimed the land
grants issued by The Crown of Spain and the
Government of Mexico should be returned to
the original owners, that is, the Spanish. The
Indians who were here centuries before the
Spanish, are of no importance now, even as
then.
Regarding the confusions of those longer-time
(than the arrival of the Anglo)residents brought
here by Columbus who over the intervening
years have forgotten both what it meant to
be a Jew and what it meant to be a Roman
Catholic . It might be rather conflicting.
logically, to having to diefy the fellow the
Romans claimed one had killed, or
manoeuvred another to do it for one.
Orlando Romero who, I, at one time, had hoped I

might establish a pleasant professional
relationship had written, as, I believe, a
requirement for his Masters degree a book
entitled Nambe Year One I so enjoyed
reading it and in sending copies to a few
friends. All the while thought I recognized,
in its style, the manipulations of imagery
typical of Hermann Hesse. At one time, after
I had moved to Pojoaque and met him by
chance I chided him somewhat, enquiring
when he was going to write more. The way
he answered seemed to indicate he had not
found a compliment in the question though
one was intended and his statement
indicating that he was writing....seemed
lame. Two decades have now passed and I
have not seen any notice of any new work
out side of the frequently racist diatribes
published as his agreement with the Santa Fe
New Mexican. It would not be the first time
that an enterprising student had been
successful in perpetrating a hoax on an
inattentive faculty committee and I would be
loath to think that Orlando had written a
Hermann Hesse Pastiche.

Orlando Romero, lecturing in Los Alamos
Donald Fabricant
This photograph by
Ron Babinski (2nd in from the left on the top
row))s shown here for its graphic revelation
of the culturally endorsed and promoted
socio-pathic , anti-the other belligerency of
99% of Northern New Mexico Hispanics, 35+
% of whom are the descendants of Sephardic
escapees from Inquisitional Spain. Fabricant
exhibits a scowl, which seems socio-pathic ,
anti-the other belligerent which is a
feature Eli Levin does not share.
Koppel does have that intense look which warns

any potential aggressor with a somewhat
softer inviting look.
This portrait of Rolf by C. Rushton pictures

the subject , interestingly enough,
characteristically off centre
When, shortly before he

turned 60, which was his age when he died,
his painting style differed markedly from the
highly academically controlled technique
applied to a subject matter somewhat
reminiscent of The Ash Can School his
aesthetic vision rapidly applied itself to the
non-objective formalism characteristic of the
mid 19th century in the post Picasso/Braque
world. This fact, I suspect, represented a
dramatic conceptual realization that art,
after all, was not limited to representation,
but that its substance, the vehicles of its
existence ,the materials out of which an art
thing is formed have lives and characteristics
of their own and are not limited to showing
the nature of an outside and separated
reality.
The two men are interesting on another level as
well. They seem quite the opposite of each
other. Levin was physically attractive,
Fabricant was not, but , as things turned
out, it was Fabricant who offered the world a

visual richness and conceptual treasure
where Levin seemed stuck on the common,
mundane, beer tavern, breast/prick level.
How sad for Levin.
Eli Levin
Eli Levins work here is sort of in the tradition of

Ben Shawn, that is, social commentary in the
vein of satyr. He seems, generally, to enjoy
ridiculing the ridiculousness of some
behaviours. When Levin reports that as a
student in Boston his teachers tried to get
him to paint modern I believe he missed the
point. They may have used the term, but only
as a means of transmitting an image based
largely on the physical qualities of the
medium. I suspect that what they wanted to
do was to get him to experience the qualities
of the painting medium as a way of enlarging
his expressive vocabulary, but since, at this
remove , it would seem that Eli was so
interested in cartooning the length and

breadth of some sexual behaviours that
behaving like a painter did not interest him,
or, his mental and affective structure did not
allow him to dispatch his addiction and to
embrace the abstract. In consequence
Levins works are well-composed but very
elemental being largely human figures as
bent and bulbous wieners pictured in largely
grossly modulated coloration.In their favour
it might be added they are superior to works
by Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhole, while
sharing some of the subject
matter interests of the Stuckists
Charles Thomson: Strip
Club
Paul Shapiro reserved those somewhat slight of

hand, comments to other artists individual
art styles, some what on the order of a
burlesque entertainer making believe he is
someone else..a performer giving the
impression he is someone else...a pretender
For example, in one period of work he
mocks Marsden Hartley, another moment he
turns oriental, or, God forbid, Arabic, and in
another quarter turn he seems somewhat
fictionally scientific with floating red
lozenges like Martian space ships intended to
mystify the infantile. A situation, these days,
becomes a satirical skit in a social burlesque
where Governors of States , in all their
majesty, award selections for excellence in
the arts. Who, in his right , and rightly mature,
mind could possibly believe that a politician
whose daily forte, is a contrived denial of
reality and a vain support of the conventional
ideal could make the judgment. It is
reminiscent of the biblical anecdote that
Simon Magus tried to get Simon Peter to sell
him the secret of raising the dead and makes
of Shapiro a stand-up burlesque
impersonator. It is, as though, and it may be
true, that Shapiro is simply unaware of the
painterly concept called structure. It is
true and it is also rarely discussed or even
mentioned which, by itself, suggests it is not
well known. To be sure, Shapiro, in all his
flighty fantacies has never built on an

aesthetic concern.
In this regard we live in a fantasy world where
acknowledgements from the aesthetically
ignorant purchase works from the
aesthetically unproductive These are acts
which impress an uninformed public which is
expected to think and to do obediently what
it is told..
Though not often mentioned it is perpetually
functioning in the unconsciousness of artists.
What it is is the organization which is
inherently a part of the work . it is that factor
that makes the work function. I have never
detected it with Shapiro , but it all over the
place with Kopple, Scott and even in some
cautious way with Cross. It is the very subtle
relation that exists between all the factors of
the work, the color, line, the texture, and all
those minute adjustments. It is a part of the
painters nervous system and probably it is
its essence and its essence that allowed
Bruce Chatwin to be able to detect a genuine
work from a bogus one. It is a tricky concept
and we, thus far, have avoided being able to
formulate an adequate vocabulary to use in
its discussion.
Barbara Erdmans personality has been for her a

very great stumbling block. Few can accept
the manner in which she treats her lovers, or
her blaming her bloated figure on the two
abortions or her thankfulness that her
parents having finally died and left her her
fortune. Through all of that, and a bit more,
she must be given credit for the enthusiastic
courage with which she exhibits her work
even though while most of it never reaches
beyond the initial stages of experimentation,
and become, themselves, aborted efforts,
there is manifestly some courage here which
was paralleled, it seems, with her having
experienced driving in Rome where a
policeman directing traffic urged her by
yelling coraggio, coraggio. She dips her

toe into the water but fails to go for a swim.
The work of Doris Cross, on all other hands,

offers something quite different. Doris
deserves the title of a modern day Sybil for
she inevitably, through her largely obscure
subtleties enchants most all who meet her
and those with her interpret this as some
sort of affirmation. In addition to having lived
(rent free) in my Iowa house for a short while in
Santa Fe she occupied an apartment I had
created in my house on Camino de las
Animas. We were, as it were, next door
neighbours and frequently enough we
exchange appropriate comments regarding
each others work.
Frequently in the , what she called unintended
message s in the order of the words left
behind in her columns work I might recognize
some classical allusion. After she had started
to elaborate these columns I compared them
to medieval manuscripts after which the
elaboration became more obvious. Doris
reported that she had been a student of Hans
Hoffman, which I interpreted as an ethnically
secure relationship but also claimed that he
was not a good painter and not a great
teacher.
While I had had no expectations about either, the
judgment perplexed me. Hoffman, at least,
treated the medium he used with a degree of
recognition as to its character. Color, to
Doris, seemed to be a mere addition to any
work . An addition without a specific

function, or a nature of its own. Hoffman, at
least, had recognized that colors had
qualities and that he might use those
qualities.
Golden Wall
Hans Hofmann The
That awareness seemed to have escaped Doris.

After some effort to understand what she
was about I came to the conclusions that
events in her life had been so disappointing
that her major response was anger and that
this best showed itself in her rather
systematic destruction of the purposes of a
columns of dictionary definitions and, in at
least three instances turning books, which
for some are objects of intellectual
veneration into objects that do not function,
the pages do not turn and there is nothing to
discover, to a book used ,merely as a
disguise for a lethal weapon, or as below an
object virtually and appropriately mutilated.
In sum, it would appear that Doris is an antiintellectual intent upon the destruction of
the system and this may be one reason she
condemned Carlo Cocciolli, when he came to
visit, as a fascist.
When Doris suffered her stroke

it was, again, her speech which was affected
which reflectively made one think that all
along her attitude toward the intellectual
pursuits of speech and writing was mainly a
angry protest.
Sam Scott as a social being presents himself with

considerable circumspection, and
controlled respect for the rights and
interests of others. When, while I was
still writing criticisms for The Santa Fe
Reporter I and was scheduled to have an
exhibition at St Johns College the editor
of the arts section, John Konopak called

Scott to ask him to write the review.
Scott called me and informed me that he
had refused absolutely when Konopak
had told him to be very harsh and
critical. This report, which I must regard
as true, really separated the sheep from
the goat. and while in my reporting on
my responses to the work of artists in
the area I may have been wrong,
imperceptive , or perhaps stupid there
was at least one artist of reknown,
Georgia OKeeffe, who later, in a private
note to a friend, specifically mentioned
me as correctly identifying her efforts. In
any event Dick McCord, who otherwise
likes to present a front of ethical
behaviour when learning of OKeeffes
praise wrote we all did good work
In this regard Scott who evidently felt obliged to
call me to tell me out of, perhaps, a need
to defend himself ahead of accusations
did precisely the right thing. He may
have been more aware of the loosely
adhering character traits of the persons
involved than I. In regard to the Scott
work presented here, it is characterized
by a form of poetic vision supported by a
strong sense of the formal ingredients by
which art is often , but not always,
judged. Sam Scott seems to understand
that in order to paint well one must be
willing to respectfully accept some very

obscure impulses which may still exist,
despite the controlling influences of
instruction. Fabricant would appreciate
the meaning of that statement and
maybe, even Eli Levin.
The person ultimately selected to write the
review was a librarian at the State
Library named Brian Hassett. My
comments regarding his review are to be
found on
www.scribd.com under the title In Broad
Daylight
I do not know why the work of Frank Ettenberg

initially promised so much and after decades
of waiting for a delivery the expectation
seems rather hollow. If there is any
difference, or similarity, in the approaches of
Paul Shapiro and Frank Ettenberg it is that
Shapiro enjoys the game he is playing and
Frank may not yet have recognized it.
Glynn Gomez:
It is, I find, rather

peculiar that while
about 50% of the inhabitants of Santa Fe are
of Hispanic decent they are not comparable
represented in any of the art fields. and
while the Indians represented in several of
the galleries outnumber the Hispanics quite
significantly, they ordinarily are not living in
the Santa fe area. The one notable Hispanic
producer of aesthetic material is Glynn
Gomez whose background is thoroughly
Hispanic and probably Sephardic. His work in
many media is thorough and completely
realized technically. His expertise in the
construction of miniature fetishes, usually of
an Oriental subject, his bonzai small gardens,
his series from the Vietnam experience, and
his commercial window displays near the
Plaza are exquisitely conceived and expertly
executed. Additionally, in making a judgment
of his own worth he came out with the
statement that he was not, he decided, an
artist, but a designer. I was astounded that a
person whose social demeanor was not
exactly demure could have

developed such a surprisingly intellectual
distinction between being an artist on one
hand or a designer on the other. This was his
observation about himself and these sorts of
self evaluations are rare in their own right
but coming from a group of people not
specifically known for retrospection of this
type it was additionally surprising....and on
top of all that, he was absolutely correct
This portrait of
Rolf by C. Rushton pictures the subject ,
interestingly enough, characteristically off
centre
Grass
The work of Rolf Kopple is quite a different

matter. Its breadth of creative reference is
remarkable as is his focused perception in
revealing the deeper significance of the
subject matter. By way of an example the
shape of the trianglar table upon which
seven apples lie underscores the organic
geometry involved. I do not know that Kopple
thought of it consciously that way or not, but

that is the message that came through to
me. This message also seems to be
emphasized in the photograph grass which
we see above. In other instances Kopples,
rather narcissistic interest in the nude
borders on erotic entertainment by still is far
more sophisticated than the work, shall we
say of Alberto Vargas and compliments the
viewer by his informed references to the
work of his predecdessors in regard to
composition and print quality.
Grey Cohoe
Of all the Indian artists whose work I know it is

only Grey Cohoe who appears to have made
an acceptable adjustment to the more
complex visual demands of western art and
the seemingly traditional Indian view of
spatial and physical structure
representation. Consequently, from the point

of view of one accustomed to the Western
aesthetic he seems the more aware.
My comments on my work:
NOW out of disciplined academic necessity I
present some of my own work. I was, after
all, resident and working in Santa Fe at the
time all the others were there. Besides, there
is another cogent reason for including my
work and that is seeing what I do might
help a reader understand what I say.or the
other way around. I have what might be seen
as a 7 decade old recall and it informs me
that for all my life, despite my desire to
conform to the wishes of others I had been, it
seems, constitutionally resistant to influence
s I thought not beneficial. I had no guide
lines other than instinct. It may seem to
some that for the author to also show his
own work in a critical piece is unorthodox,
but then, this author, has often shown
evidences of unorthodoxy. He, at least, has
the opinion that degrees of unorthodoxy
have always characterized growth in
perception so it is on that level that he feels
free to be as objective as possible when
evaluating his own accomplishments. It is
easier to write in the third person, so here
we go: Realism, in the Durer sense, seems a
dead-end.
There is one exception to
this and that would be Andrew Wyeth who
manages within a very realistic format to
powerfully suggest psychological material.
Otherwise while it is possible to keep on

changing ones subject matter the large area
of alternative potentials remains uncovered
and the nature of the materials artists use is
an important part of that field. There is , as
well, the adoption of alternative mind states.
By this I am not referencing psychedelic
material at all, although this also has
occurred, but a purposeful and freely chosen
alternative mind set.
Of the collection below only numbers 2 & 3 in the
top row and the last image were based
entirely on visual phenomena. All the others
were largely approaches to the uses of the
material, the formal uses of the material to
enlarge their expressive range.
At the time six of the above works were ready for

exhibition there was only one noncommercial space available which had the
proper space requirements and provided the
necessary distance for viewing for the works.
That was The Armory for the Arts then
directed by Ian Rosenkranz who in response
to my querie about scheduleding an
exhibition responded with the notice that I
could have the space for a week upon a $500
fee. It came to me as somewhat a surprise to

learn that, after all, the Armory which was a
tax supported space also charged for
exhibtiions. Others had not been required to
pay. When I complained to the authorities for
this matter I received a two-page typewritten
letter, single space, from Ian attempting to
justify the requirement. I ignored it and him
and the Armory fomr that time on. My
interest and support ceased and he was,
later, to be found working elswhere.
The reader can make of this event what he will. I
have my very unhappy interpretations, but
non-ethical and immoral behaviors exist all
over the worldand in a place that hosted so
many diverse personalitieis one might expect
some to act stupidly.
BRADFORD SMITH
Of all the artists I knew in Santa Fe

while I was there it was only Bradford Smith
who consistently exhibited a high level of
inventiveness whether he worked with
rubber from tires, gold, metal silver, cast iron
,folded paper or bone his sensitivity to
possibilities seemed to know no end. It was
also very clear that his mind could grasp
widely diverging concepts and he possessed
the ability to bring these to an impressive
resolution. The long image above is not the
best to show the unfolding of geometrical
possibilities. This he designed for the
entrance to my house in Pojoaque. It
measures 4x20 and is now in my garden in
Gozo. It is an exploration of a geometrical
universe not yet attained and presents a
seemingly endless variations of geometrical
forms.
The last image is a bracelet constructed of a
number of items collected over the years
which had symbolic value to me. The thought
was, as I expressed it at the time to Brad, to
make an item that sort of told a history. Out
side of that there were no conditions.
Evidently, the idea took a fruitful root for
when finished he explained that he had
added a moon stone which, he had felt, for

some reason belonged in the assembly.
There is an anecdote about the bracelet involving
Patrica Neal who had, by then, recovered
from her stroke. She made an appearance in
Santa Fe in support of the foundation created
in her name and it was at that she noticed
the bracelet and taking my hand gazed for a
minute or two at it and then released my
hand. She commented that it was a very
interesting item to which I responded. Im
glad to hear it, but others held my hand a bit
longer
To which she responded with heart-felt
amusement
If there is one idea Id like to finish with it is this,
and this idea is also sustained in the
psychological research I conducted at The
University of Northern Iowa entitled The
Perceptive and Silenced Minorities also
available under that title on www.scribd.com
and that is that that the creative thinker tells

no lies to get ahead or to advance a career.
Now, at this point, I believe I must take another
approach in an attempt to clarify a meaning.
If the understanding of the phrase creative
thinking is meant to reference a change in
the ongoing procedure of some activity which
is what I prefer it to mean, then it would
seem to make little differences as to when, in
the process of an activity, a change took
place then the example of the work of
Vincent Younis is very helpful. His ethnic
origins are Sephardic Hispanic/Lebanese.
His natural father died, his mother remarried an
Hispanic;.Vincent married, had a child, got
into trouble, was sentenced (I believe 8 years,)
released to attend a family affair, jumped the
permit and travelled another 1500 miles to
visit his wife and child , returned and turned
himself in . The Judge gave him an additional
13 years making a total sentence of c. 20
years which is one which about equals some
sentences given convicted first degree
murderers.
I knew his mother who was a tin smith, coming
from five generations of tin smithing which
may have had something to do with Vincents
interest in image making in general,
I know of no formal education in art outside of
what may have been available to him in
elementary school. In any event what we see

in these works here created with the
assistance of some plastic pattern maker.
With the rather rigid parameters imposed by
these plastic pre-conceived traceable
elemental shapes is the emergence of
independent thinking and a determination to
express private perceptions.
The Younis results do not compare favourably
with the greater sophistication evident in the
works above, but they do seem to break
down the idea that the urge is easily
defeated.

The Jews of Santa Fe

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

The Jews of Santa Fe

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

The Jews of Santa Fe

Henrickson tm. 2015

I dont like the word, myself, but I use it often

did not speak in favour of its creation, but

By creative flowering I have in mind evidence of

As an educator and psychologist I find

On the surface, Fabricant had the aspect of one

Orlando Romero who, I, at one time, had hoped I

Hermann Hesse Pastiche.

Koppel does have that intense look which warns

This portrait of Rolf by C. Rushton pictures

When, shortly before he

out, it was Fabricant who offered the world a

Eli Levins work here is sort of in the tradition of

interested in cartooning the length and

matter interests of the Stuckists

Charles Thomson: Strip

Paul Shapiro reserved those somewhat slight of

flighty fantacies has never built on an

Barbara Erdmans personality has been for her a

yelling coraggio, coraggio. She dips her

The work of Doris Cross, on all other hands,

work . An addition without a specific

Hans Hofmann The

That awareness seemed to have escaped Doris.

When Doris suffered her stroke

Sam Scott as a social being presents himself with

of the arts section, John Konopak called

willing to respectfully accept some very

I do not know why the work of Frank Ettenberg

It is, I find, rather

exactly demure could have

interestingly enough, characteristically off

The work of Rolf Kopple is quite a different

thought of it consciously that way or not, but

Of all the Indian artists whose work I know it is

representation. Consequently, from the point

Otherwise while it is possible to keep on

At the time six of the above works were ready for

fee. It came to me as somewhat a surprise to

Of all the artists I knew in Santa Fe

added a moon stone which, he had felt, for

and that is that that the creative thinker tells

elementary school. In any event what we see

Potrebbero piacerti anche