DrawNow!

Dec 16, 2023, 11:30 AM – 1 PM

DibujoAhora! DrawNow! In-person with Ada Pilar Cruz on Stéphane Mandelbaum

Stéphane Mandelbaum, Rainer (Portrait of Rainer Werner Fassbinder), c. 1984. Graphite, charcoal and colored pencil on paper, 58.27 x 42.72 inches (148 x 108.5 cm). Private Collection — Stéphane Mandelbaum, *Rainer (Portrait of Rainer Werner Fassbinder)*, c. 1984. Graphite, charcoal and colored pencil on paper, 58.27 x 42.72 inches (148 x 108.5 cm). Private Collection **© Stéphane Mandelbaum Estate.**

—
Join us in-person at The Drawing Center on Saturday, December 16, at 11:30am for a bilingual drawing workshop presented in Spanish and English that will focus on the current exhibition Stéphane Mandelbaum

Stéphane Mandelbaum, on view now through February 18, 2024, A precocious and skillful draftsman, Stéphane Mandelbaum used his artistry to probe the depths of his own persona by conjuring some of the darkest visages of the twentieth century in Europe. His drawings are inhabited by figures from his nightmares like the German Nazis Joseph Goebbels and Ernst Röhm, as well as those from his fantasies like Arthur Rimbaud and Pier Paolo Pasolini. Raised in a Jewish household impacted by the Holocaust, Mandelbaum’s subjects are often Jewish figures, and his pages are filled with words in Yiddish, a language that the artist had taught to himself. The representation of images that most people would prefer to avoid was an act of identity-building for a young, rebellious artist hoping to shock. But it was also an act of ownership of a history that Mandelbaum refused to allow to be buried.

All art materials will be provided. Due to explicit content, this workshop is recommended for participants 18 years and older.

Stéphane Mandelbaum

Born in Brussels in 1961, Stéphane Mandelbaum (d. 1986) was the son of a Jewish father, painter Arié Mandelbaum, and an Armenian mother, illustrator Pili Mandelbaum. Tutored in drawing from an early age, Mandelbaum attended an alternative boarding school as a young boy to accommodate his severe dyslexia. Learning to write was difficult, and he soon turned to drawing as a more accessible means of expression, though the text in his drawings was frequently riddled with spelling errors, both intentional and unintentional. At fifteen, Mandelbaum began studying at the Academy of Drawing and Decorative Arts of Watermael-Boitsfort. In 1979, he transferred to the School of Plastic and Visual Arts in Uccle, Belgium, where his father served as Director until 2004. Fascinated with the brilliant and tragic histories of artistic forebearers like Egon Schiele and Francis Bacon, Mandelbaum drew and painted numerous portraits of prominent cultural figures accompanied by derisive scribbles, names, slogans, and Yiddish graffiti. Deeply affected by the wartime tribulations of his paternal grandfather Szulim, a Polish Jew who escaped the Holocaust, Mandelbaum was fascinated by the faces of some of the most notorious Nazis. In 1985, he had his first exhibitions—one at the Galerie Hugo Godderis in Veurne in northwest Belgium and another at the Galerie Christine Colmant in Brussels. Mandelbaum’s life was cut short when he was murdered, the result of his obscure involvement with a trafficked artwork. Though he never achieved financial or critical acclaim during his lifetime, Mandelbaum and his body of work were recognized in 2019 in a retrospective organized by the Centre Pompidou in Paris. His work is also the subject of a comprehensive monograph published by Les éditions Martin de Halleux.

Credits

Support for this program is provided by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council through the CreateNYC Language Access Fund, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Education and Community Programs at The Drawing Center are made possible by the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc. Major support is provided by the Evelyn Toll Family Foundation and the LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation, the Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and the Claire and Theodore Morse Foundation.