ANGELS OF HOPE

You never know who you will meet in the art business. A Palm Beach designer’s client chose one of my many drawings to be etched on the glass of the front door on his Manalapan home. Jim and I arrived early in the morning because we had a full day’s work in front of us. After we unloaded the sandblasting tools, I began hand cutting the stencil. An older gentleman came out of the house and watched us work. He introduced himself as the owner, and began to tell us about his internment in a Jewish concentration camp. We were struggling to keep focused on the art but his compelling story was all we could think about. He was 12 years old. Alone. Desperate. Starving. Hopeless. The only thing he had to cling to were the angels that assured him that he would be rescued.

Finally American soldiers liberated the survivors, and one of the G.I.s handed him a chocolate bar. He saved it for 1 week, because he knew it would make him sick if he tried to eat it.

My drawing that he chose was a depiction of his Angels of Hope.

His daughter, who was standing silently in the background, finally stepped forward to explain that he had never spoken of his Holocoaust experience before. Not with anyone. He paid us in full, explaining that a good Jew never lets a worker leave their home with empty pockets. Jim and I drove home realizing that we had just shared a once in a lifetime experience.

ANGLES OF HOPE. White pencil on blueprint paper. 8.5 x 11 inches.