Two paintings by Leon Bibel including Moses holding the Ten Commandments are being sold to benefit Congregation B’nai Tikvah in North Brunswick. Photos courtesy Congregation B’nai Tikvah
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Viewing Leon Bibel's workFebruary 05, 2008
Leon Bibel expressed his devotion to Judaism and the Jewish people through works that celebrated Jewish culture and teachings or depicted haunting scenes from the Holocaust.
The renowned artist, who died in 1995, spent much of his adult life in South Brunswick and had a strong relationship with Congregation B’nai Tikvah in North Brunswick. He created the synagogue’s tallit rack, a large Purim grogger on permanent display, and a Holy Ark that has been featured in United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism calendars and elsewhere.
So it seemed fitting that as the artist’s children, Daniel Bibel of Massachusetts and Elaine Cater of London, took stock of the large inventory of work left behind after the death of their mother, Neysa, last year, they decided to give two paintings to B’nai Tikvah.
“Elaine suggested we sell them to raise proceeds for the synagogue,” said Larry Cohen, its vice president for ways and means. “Obviously, we’re quite excited.”
The abstract paintings, one of Moses holding a tablet of the Ten Commandments, the other a series of Hebrew letters in an arc, were painted in the 1960s to ’70s, according to Cohen. The synagogue is asking $1,200 each for the two signed 30" by 24" works.
Bibel, whose career spanned some 60 years, worked in various mediums, including oil, sculpting, woodwork, and lithographs. His works are among the collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers, and the Klutznick Museum in Washington, among others.
“My father got to the point where he sort of discovered his roots,” said Cater, who is visiting in New Jersey. “Although not religious in the sense of going to synagogue every week, he felt because a lot of his family had been destroyed in the Holocaust, he should do some artwork that was Judaica related.”
Bibel was born in Poland in 1913 and moved to San Francisco with his family while a child. He trained at the California School of Fine Arts and received a scholarship to study under German impressionist Maria Riedelstein. He worked in collaboration with a student of renowned artist Diego Rivera to create the frescoes for the San Francisco Jewish Community Center and the University of California Medical School.
Bibel came to New York in 1936 to join the Federal Art Project at Harlem Art Center. His work became known for its social realism and was included last year in the exhibition, “Facing Fascism: New York and the Spanish Civil War” at the Museum of the City of New York.
In 1941, he moved with his wife to a chicken farm in South Brunswick, where he largely discontinued his artistic endeavors for 20 years to raise chickens.
Two paintings by Leon Bibel — including an arc of Hebrew letters — are being sold to benefit Congregation B’nai Tikvah in North Brunswick. Photos courtesy Congregation B’nai Tikvah
“He had a family to feed,” said Marcie Kaminker of South Brunswick, a B’nai Tikvah member who lived on a neighboring farm. “Leon was such a warm, wonderful person as was his wife. He had a very warm relationship with our rabbi, Andy Warmflash….”
Cater said her family’s roots at B’nai Tikvah reach back many decades. Her grandparents, Frank and Paula Binicor, were founding members of Congregation Sharri Shalom in South Brunswick, which merged in 1981 — along with Temple Beth Shalom and the North Brunswick Jewish Community Center — to become B’nai Tikvah. Sharri Shalom was founded in 1942 as the Jewish Farmers Community Center of Middlesex County.
About five years ago, at the request of Neysa Bibel, B’nai Tikvah hosted a showing of Bibel’s artwork.
Bibel resumed his artistic career in the early 1960s and spent the next 30 years “in an almost constant burst” of creation, finishing more than 200 canvases and several hundred woodworks. He later created Havdala spice boxes — some two- and four-feet high.
Kaminker recalled being at Bibel’s home to pay a shiva call after the artist died. “We saw a piece he had been working on,” she said. “He had been on the phone with his brother in California and his brother had said to him, ‘You know Leon, time is running out.’ That inspired Leon to create a clock in plywood three or four inches deep. We saw the clock all in pieces there, but it hadn’t yet been assembled. I thought it would be so appropriate to display it that way and call it ‘Time Ran Out,’ because it was almost assembled, but time ran out. I thought Leon would have appreciated that irony.”
Viewing Leon Bibel's work
Artist Leon Bibel, whose family’s roots at B’nai Tikvah reach back many decades. Photo courtesy Elaine Cater
To view Leon Bibel’s paintings or for information on the sale, call Congregation B’nai Tikvah at 732-297-0696 or e-mail Larry Cohen. Bibel’s work is also on display at the Park Slope Gallery in Brooklyn and can be viewed on-line.