Artist's Statement:
To think of the story of Moses as focused solely on men (e.g. Moses, his brother Aaron) is to miss the remarkable roles played by women and even girls. This painting focuses on Miriam, sister to Moses. After Pharaoh’s decree for the killing of all Jewish boy babies, Miriam’s father (the leader of the Jews) and his wife divorced and opted for sexual abstinence to avoid the horror.
Miriam – six years old – admonished her parents, “Your decree is worse than Pharaoh's! For Pharaoh only decreed against the boys; but you decree against boys and girls. Pharaoh is an evil man, and his decree may or may not be effective; but you are a righteous person and your decree will be effective.” Her parents relented and later Miriam’s mother gave birth to Moses. My model for this study is one of a trio of lovely, strong, and intelligent daughters of a young rabbi and rebbetzin who have become close friends.
Oil on Canvas
13.75 x 9.5 in
Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven.
Henry Ward Beecher
US abolitionist & clergyman (1813 - 1887)
Children have never been very good at listening to their elders,
but they have never failed to imitate them.
James Baldwin
essayist, playwright, novelist and a voice of the American civil rights movement
Art as an Oasis™
Art as an Oasis is a series of occasional postings from the art of Carrie Kleinberger
providing a temporary respite from both mundane and monumental cares
complimented by words of wisdom from a diversity of others.
~ on children ~
In every child who is born, under no matter what circumstances,
and no matter what parents, the potentiality of
the human race is born again.
James Agee
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