3 October 2018

A member of Gloucestershire Liberal Jewish Community (GLJC) has put together a new exhibition of work by Jewish artists which explore the struggle and challenge of living a life fully.

Titled Life, it will run at the Lansdown Hall & Gallery, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 1BB, from Wednesday 31 October until Saturday 3 November.

Paul Hervey-Brookes was inspired to source and curate this inspirational exhibition by his own personal journey, following the loss of his husband Yann Eshkol at the age of 34 to a brief but bitter battle with cancer. It will tell the story of loss, longing and rediscovery through the paintings and personal stories of the artists.

Paul, who is one of the UK’s leading garden designers, said: “I first found a painting in Tel Aviv by Leo Kahn. It was beautiful but his own story of founding Israel’s first textile plant after his most important life work – the mural in the synagogue at Bruchsal-Baden, Germany, had been destroyed – was both powerful and reminder of something my late husband had said – ‘life is to be lived its not always easy’.

“I have since pieced together work by nine artists all who faced a cruel twist of fate outside of their control but who continued on. They created beauty to explore not only Jewish history, from Russian pogroms to the Second World War and beyond, but also to tell a collective story of endurance and still finding something good and inspiring in darkness.”

The exhibition spans the 20th century and contains exclusively Jewish work, featuring leading artists including Joseph Constant, Meir Steingold, Edward Levin and Charles Polowetski.

It is free to visit, but it is hoped visitors will be inspired by the story and make donations towards an agroforestry project in Israel that has been set up in Yann’s name.

Yann was a talented artist and sculptor, who was instrumental in the growth of the Gloucestershire Liberal Jewish Community.