Edgar Bronfman and his portrait
by his wife |
Jan Aronson
and curator
Laura Kruger with Jan’s self-portrait |
Jan Aronson
(center) with Lauren
and John J. Veronis |
Arthur Hertzog
and
Edgar Bronfman |
Edgar Bronfman
and
Rabbi David Ellenson |
Jean Bloch Rosensaft and husband
Menachem Rosensaft with
her
parents, Lilly and Sam Bloch. |
ART BY JAN ARONSON
It’s Worth
Sitting
For Her Portraits
By Tim Boxer
 AN
ARONSON paints
mountains, clouds, rushing water and leaves from photographs. But
when it comes to portraits of people, she insists on the real
thing – you have to sit for her.
She says, "People
think, ‘Oh boy, I can’t wait!’ They come in full of
enthusiasm and sit happily – for half an hour. Then they start
to slouch, and eventually begin to wilt. They can’t wait to get
out."
After she finished a
portrait of Arthur Hertzberg, rabbi emeritus of Temple
Emanuel of Englewood, N.J., and Jewish history professor at New
York University, she invited him to her home for the official
unveiling.
Hertzberg admired the
painting, his wife Phyllis kvelled, and his daughter Susan
stared. She stared a long time, and then said, "That is the
man I was afraid of all my life?"
The painting, along with
24 other works, is on exhibit through June 30 at the Hebrew Union
College – Jewish Institute of Religion Museum.
Among the seven portraits
is one Jan did of her husband, Edgar Bronfman. At a
reception for the artist, Bronfman was full of admiration as were
college president Rabbi David Ellenson; museum director Jean
Bloch Rosensaft and her husband, Park Avenue president Menachem
Rosensaft; Lilly and Sam Bloch; and John J.
Veronis of Veronis Suhler Stevenson, the media merchant bank.
Bronfman is writing
another book titled, American Jewish Renaissance: For a
Significant Future. When will it be out?
"I’ll finish it by
Tisha B’Av, then look for a publisher," he said.
|
