Frank Meisler (1925-2018) Israeli, Metal Sculpture. Sculpture of two men standing together, one of them wearing glasses and holding a book. Plaque on the front of the piece and says 'Reb Chaim and Reb Yankel - Frank Meisler - Israel'. Signature engraved on the base right, Frank Meisler, Israel, 377/980. 925 Silver, hallmarked and signed on backs. Reb Chaim and Yankel reading. Reb Chaim in the gold-plated tallit and vest, Reb Yankel wearing gold glasses and the gold-plated belt, and both are wearing gold-plated shtreimels. On black marble rocking base, to emphasize prayer motion.

Size: 3 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 7 1/4 in.

Frank Meisler was born in the city-state of Danzig in 1925, now known as Gdansk, Poland. The unique status of the city, conferred by the Treaty of Versailles, made it a melting pot for Jews, Christians, and numerous ethnicities and cultures, before being absorbed by the Nazis during the 1939 invasion of Poland. Meisler escaped via Kindertransport and wound up in London, England. His parents perished in Auschwitz, and he joined the Royal Air Force before studying architecture at the University of Manchester. In the late 1950s he moved to Israel, opening a workshop and gallery in the Old City of Jaffa. Many of his statues, monuments, and sculptures depict the struggles and daily life of the Jewish people, and nearly all of them incorporate movement and hidden compartments, symbolic of the Diaspora and the careful way Jews avoided openly practicing their faith for many centuries in order to escape persecution and genocide. 

Location C4