"A Busy Harbor"

By Albert Alcalay

Oil on Canvas

43" x 43"

1961

This oil painting was done by a Jewish man named Albert Alcalay. Albert is an expressionist artist who was a Holocaust survivor. He started drawing when he was in concentration camps. In an interview with the Globe in 2004 he stated, "Color is a part of my circulation. I think I would use red even if I were on the North Pole and everything is white". As you can see in this painting, he has used just about every color available and has applied his own style to his view of the harbor and if you look at it for a while you are able to see a boat and some geometrical shapes just arranged in a circular pattern. The reason I chose to include this work in the exhibit is because although Albert has no physical disability, he has gone through a traumatic event and with the loss of his family I would imagine he suffered mentally or psychologically. Surviving the Holocaust let him live a life where he was able to teach about his experience and express his emotions through art.

(http://kantarfinearts.com/gallery/aa-1.asp, http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2008/04/27/albert_alcalay_noted_painter_survived_holocaust/)