Latino Jewish artist brings music to the canvas
Chilean and Jewish artist Hernan Henry Hirsch finds such a strong connection between classical music and his art that he says he paints best only while “in my studio alone surrounded by loud amplified music.”
Though he said he was highly moved by music from a young age, however, he never learned to play an instrument. Instead, “I would say that my palette, my brush became my instrument.”
But it wasn’t until some 20 years ago that he first picked up his “instrument.”
Hirsch, 64, who lives in California and has a master’s degree in engineering and doctorate in law, said it was his close friend and fellow artist, Leonardo Nierman, who first encouraged him to paint.
Hirsch was a student at California’s Concordia University, where Nierman headed the arts department.
Hirsch said Nierman saw in him “my intense affinity [and] understanding, basically, of every facet of classical music…. My ability to interpret it in sounds like color rather than images.”
Hirsch also had a growing interest in art and in art collecting.
One day, when he went to visit Nierman at his studio, he arrived to find a canvas and paint waiting for him. And there his career as an artist began.
About 30 pieces of Hirsch’s artwork will be on exhibit from April 6-28 at the Latino Arts Gallery in Milwaukee.
The event will be co-sponsored by the Latino Jewish Alliance of the Milwaukee Chapter of the American Jewish Committee.
Hirsch visited Milwaukee last September with Nierman, who now lives in Mexico, for an exhibit of Nierman’s work at the Latino Arts Gallery. The two participated in a panel discussion with other Latino-Jews (See Sept. 30, 2005 Chronicle). That event was also co-sponsored by the Latino Jewish Alliance.
Multicultural themes
Most of Hirsch’s work consists of “color and imagery that is completely non-programmatic,” he said. They are “direct reactions to my emotions, feelings and background.”
They are also expressions of music, in which Hirsch focuses on “turning musical notes into my own abstract expressions.”
Another group of works “is specifically programmatic,” he said. “I set out to paint something that I want to describe in an image fashion…. I want to convey a certain image.”
To this group belongs a series of 13 paintings, which Hirsch calls a memorial to the Holocaust.
Hirsch’s parents, who were both born in Germany, left Europe for Chile in the 1930s.
Still, as a young boy in Chile, Hirsch was “highly aware” of the Holocaust. “I had for 40 years the need to honor those who were not as lucky as I was.”
Those works don’t travel, Hirsch said, but they will be shown on a 27-minute DVD that will be running with the exhibit.
Zulay Febres-Cordera Oszkay, artistic director of the Latino Arts Gallery, said she brought the exhibit to the gallery in part because she was moved by Hirsch’s ability to “explore in a very spontaneous way the different elements of human nature.”
She said he uses “wonderful strokes that bring forth a lot of power…. He brings it from the root up which makes it very intense.”
“When you see Hirsch’s work,” she said, “it is very personal. It is really him. There is a really clear understanding of his heritage.”
His mix of Chilean and Jewish heritage are “two very strong components that empower him,” Oszkay said.
Harriet Schachter McKinney, executive director of Milwaukee’s AJC chapter, said the exhibit is important because it exposes a Jewish view beyond the European.
“I think it is very significant for the Jewish community that the voices and the experiences of those Jews without European heritage are heard,” she said.
“We really are all one. We just haven’t had the chance to claim that.”
McKinney added that the Latino Jewish Alliance includes not only Latino Jews but also non-Jewish Latinos and non-Latino Jews.
An opening reception for the exhibit will be held on Thursday, April 6, from 5-7 p.m. at the gallery. Kosher and Latin appetizers and wine will be served.
The reception will also honor José Vasquez, the Southeast district director of the University of Wisconsin Extension who has just completed his term as president of the Latino Arts Board. He is a member of the Latino Jewish Alliance.
The Latino Arts Gallery is located in the United Community Center, 1028 S. 9th Street.
Hours are Monday-Friday 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Admission is free, but advance reservations are encouraged for the opening reception.
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