1 1Friday, August 14, 2015NEWS

The Australian Jewish News – jewishnews.net.au

A search from the heart

AMERICAN Elizabeth Ryneckihas never been to Australiabut she hopes our Jewishcommunity might hold a hid-

den clue to the search for lost art thatshe has made her life’s work.The Californian realtor has

scoured the globe in pursuit of moreinformation about her great-grandfa-ther Moshe Rynecki, an artist of notein pre-World War II Warsaw, whosebody of work – some 800 paintingsand sculptures of the 1920s and1930s – offer a poignant insight into alost Jewish world.When the Germans invaded

Poland in September 1939, MosheRynecki arranged for his art to bedivided and hidden in several bundleswith friends around Warsaw. At thatstage, he had every reason to hopethat one day soon he would reclaimhis works.But history decreed that Warsaw

would be almost totally destroyed andthat Rynecki would perish atMajdanek, never to see his secretedartworks again. After the war, his widow Perla dis-

covered one of the hidden bundles,comprising 120 pieces. Fast-forwardto California in 1992. The artist’s sonGeorge, daughter-in-law and grand-son, Alex, Elizabeth’s father, had madea new life in the United States. WhenGeorge died that year, ElizabethRynecki helped clear her grandfa-ther’s home, and discovered George’smemoir of life in Poland before andafter the war.The pages turned in Elizabeth’s

hands, proving magnetic, and shebegan making phone calls and writ-ing to people to locate more of great-grandfather Moshe’s art.“I built a website which led to tele-

phone calls, but it also connected me

with information that had previouslybeen unavailable to me,” Rynecki,who has completed a masters thesisfocusing on the children of Holocaustsurvivors, tells The AJN from herhome in Oakland, California. “As I learned that more pieces had

survived, I became more obsessed,you could say, to reclaim my great-grandfather’s history and rescue hisart, his collection, his body of workand what he contributed to PolishJewish art history,” she says.Her hunt, which she has docu-

mented in a book and a film, bothtitled Chasing Portraits, has turned updistant family members around theUS, like a third-cousin in New Yorkwhose father in Israel was gifted someof the art by Perla. The cousin laterbrought the art with her when shemoved to America. Rynecki has alsodiscovered some of her great-grand-father’s works in Canada, Poland andIsrael.

“As I learned that morepieces had survived, Ibecame more obsessed,you could say, to reclaimmy great-grandfather’shistory and rescue hisart, his collection, hisbody of work and whathe contributed to PolishJewish art history.”

Elizabeth RyneckiGreat-granddaughter of Polish

artist Moshe Rynecki

Rynecki emphasises the purpose ofher quest is not necessarily to estab-lish provenance and relocate the art-works, but to find out more aboutthem, and what they reveal about hergreat-grandfather and his family.“I’m interested in the history of the

paintings because they’re like mutesurvivors – they have stories to tell,and I’m trying to rescue those storiesfrom history. I’m interested in theprovenance because I want to knowhow people got those paintings, as Ican then retrace their steps.“But I’m more interested in rescu-

ing the paintings from oblivion and[bringing] my great-grandfather’sstories from out of the abyss and into

contemporary discussion, than I amin reclaiming the paintings by filing alegal claim. Most people who have mygreat-grandfather’s paintings havebeen very kind to me and haveopened their doors and allowed me totalk to them, to photograph the paint-ings, and to film for my documen-tary,” she says.Rynecki experienced a struggle

with the Jewish Historical Institute inWarsaw, which holds 52 of the paint-ings, but when she visited Warsaw, themanagement gave her access to herfamily’s artworks. “They were won-derful and that relationship is muchimproved.”

ONE of the paintings, Refugees,has been donated by theRynecki family to Yad Vashem.

“After much family discussion, wedecided it was a wonderful place [forthe painting] to be.” The stirring piece shows Jewish

refugees toting their belongings, evac-uating Warsaw en masse after theNazi invasion in the early days of thewar. “I grew up with this painting. It’smore than a foreshadowing of what’scoming. It’s haunting.”The original piece is in Yad

Vashem’s art museum collection andoccasionally goes on display, but acopy is on permanent display in itshistory museum and is seen byaround a million visitors a year.“You can follow the history of the

Holocaust through facts and film andartefacts,” reflects Rynecki, “but YadVashem also wanted to give voice tothose who were there and witnessed itin a unique way, in this case, throughart. My great-grandfather painted inthe moment and he created a timecapsule.”Much of Moshe Rynecki’s art cap-

tures the daily lives of Polish Jewsbefore the war – scenes from wed-dings, town fairs, men playing chess,

women in the park with children. “Weneed to remember the loss and devas-tation but we also need to know whatcame before,” she says, which is thepurpose of the POLIN Museum ofthe History of Polish Jews, wheresome of the art is on display.Rynecki hopes some works might

have ended up in Australia. With itsrelatively high ratio of Polish Jews,particularly in Melbourne, there isgood reason to believe survivors andtheir families here might hold someclues, she says.“Anything’s possible,” says

Rynecki, who has cousins in Sydneywho left Poland in the 1950s but donot have any of the art. “I wouldn’t besurprised anymore by where it turnsup. It could be forgotten in an attic,tucked away in a storage unit, or evenproudly displayed in a family home.”She was intrigued by the 2014 film

Woman In Gold, the true story of anAmerican Shoah survivor trying toreclaim a treasured family artworkfrom a museum in Vienna.“I’m not a survivor like Maria

Altmann, [the Helen Mirren charac-ter], so I won’t compare myself to her.But there’s a scene where she’s lookingout of the plane window at Vienna andall sorts of emotions are coming out.When my plane first descended overWarsaw, I had those same feelings.”

Contact Elizabeth Rynecki onerynecki@yahoo.com or

www.twitter.com/eryneck and visit herwebsite www.chasingportraits.org.

Elizabeth Rynecki ofCalifornia is on a worldwidehunt for the lost artworks ofher great-grandfatherMoshe Rynecki, a giftedartist in prewar Poland.As she tells Peter Kohn,some of the art might bein Australia.

Elizabeth Rynecki and oneof her great-grandfather

Moshe Rynecki’s paintings.

Chess Players by Moshe Rynecki. Synagogue Interior by Moshe Rynecki.

Watch ChasingPortraits trailerAvailable on the iPad app and e-paper edition