Private Holdings – MRynecki paintings in Canada

In March 2008, we received a remarkable phone call.  A gentleman from Canada called to ask about our website and my grandfather’s memoir.  He said, “I read your book.  I think I have one of the paintings described in the book.”  He was referring to a description of a painting my grandfather wrote about in his memoir.  The passage from the book reads as follows:

My father was constantly painting.  When the Polish came to power he painted a painting, oil on canvas, which became a controversial one in Warsaw.  He created a Russian pogrom, an attack of the Cossacks on a synagogue in which raping of women was shown, dead men wrapped in the holy scrolls, a very strong political painting against the White Russians.  Of course the story of the Russian pogroms was well known, but had never been shown in a painting of such dramatic dimensions.

The man on the phone then told me the most incredible story:

My parents were Polish Jews.  During the Second World War they went into Russia and became partisan fighters.  At the end of the war they returned to Poland.  At one point during their journey they passed a farmhouse.  The farmer asked them, “are you Jewish?”  My parents told the farmer that, yes, they were Jewish.  The farmer said, “I always knew the Jews would return. I have this bundle of paintings showing Jewish life.  Do you want to buy these paintings?”  My parents bought the paintings, maybe about 50 works.  For many years my parents hung the paintings on the walls of their home.  Over the years they gave away different canvases to different people.  Today I have some, here in Canada.  My brother has some paintings as well; he’s in Israel.  We don’t know all the people that were given paintings over the years – my parents did not keep a list.  I recently decided to reframe one of the works and, on a whim, decided to Google the Rynecki name.  That’s how I found your website.

I was at a loss for words.  This man’s parents had saved a bundle.  They had protected, transported, cared for, and shared Moshe’s works with others.  I, of course, immediately wanted to see photographs of the paintings.  It wasn’t until 2012, four years later, that I was given photographs of those pieces. I’m quite excited to share them here with you!  The first painting displayed here, Russian Pogram – Attack of the Cossacks (by the way, I should make clear that all the titles of the paintings are ones I’ve created) is unlike anything I’ve ever seen by my great-grandfather.  And yet immediately I knew it was his work.  The style is all his.  Here are four photographs of the paintings held by the gentleman from Canada: