Bearing Witness Through Art: Exploring the Work of David Labkovski in Commemoration of the Holocaust and Jewish History

In this course we will take an in-depth look at the artwork of Lithuanian Israeli artist David Labkovski (1906-1991). Labkovski used his paintbrush to share the narrative of his beloved Vilna Jewish community before, during, and after the Holocaust. Through art, Labkovski shares his personal experience of being in a Soviet Gulag prison camp and his later life as a free man in Israel. Labkovski’s mission was to document history as a way of bearing witness to the Holocaust and passing on this responsibility to the next generation.

In this five-session course, we will discover how to “read” his art narrative, discuss the historical context of the works, and consider what it means to bear witness to the Holocaust in today’s world.

This course is offered several times throughout the year with the same content.