The Dialogue between Metal and Verse in the Artistic Landscapes of Arieh Merzer and Itsik Manger
The Dialogue between Metal and Verse in the Artistic Landscapes of Arieh Merzer and Itsik Manger

Summary/Abstract: This article examines the intersections between the visual artist Arieh Merzer (who worked in metal) and the Yiddish poet Itsik Manger and the ways in which their individual artistic expression reflected different aspects of Jewish culture and tradition. The work of both artists is informed by their respective homelands and subsequent migrations. Merzer’s and Manger’s work incorporate Jewish/ Yiddish folk culture which they reformulate. Their artistic creations contain implicit cultural references, inspired by traditional and religious sources which are then situated in new contexts. The visual nature of Manger’s poetic imagery and the poetic style of Merzer’s art is striking. The article highlights parallel motifs in Merzer’s art and Manger’s poetry and describes how these are rendered. Some of the material which both include in their work such as the Khumesh and Yiddish folksongs is discussed. The ways in which both artists transform these subjects according to their individual sensibilities within the context of their own lives and times is at the heart of the dialogue between metal and verse.

• Details
• Contents