At the end of my Chasing Portraits talk I have a slide that says, “My Goal: To share my great-grandfather’s artwork with others.” And then just below that it says, “Things you can do to help.” Author Eileen Grafton, has taken my call for help to heart in a blog post she wrote after attending my most recent talk at the Sausalito Woman’s Club.” I’m excerpting the first two paragraphs of her blog post titled, “History’s Footprints,” here and then providing a link over to her blog for the rest.
History’s Footprints
“History always leaves a legacy behind for those who are willing to look for it.
Elizabeth Rynecki is one such seeker. Recently I attended a talk Elizabeth gave about her “Chasing Portraits” film project, held in a beautiful women’s clubhouse nestled in the Sausalito hills overlooking San Francisco Bay. Elizabeth is the great-granddaughter of Moshe Rynecki, a prolific Warsaw-based artist who documented the Polish Jewish community in the interwar years (1918-39) in over 800 paintings and sculptures. Sadly, most of his body of work was lost in the Holocaust. Or so people thought.” [Read the rest on Eileen’s blog]
How do I know Eileen? She first reached out to me on Twitter because of her interest in history, family legacies, the Second World War, and my recent trip to Poland. Eileen’s passions are history and story. She writes historical fiction and is at work on two books with historical ties to the Middle East. On her “about me,” blog page she writes, “One is an archaeological suspense linking 1st century Israel to modern-day America. The second is a Holocaust Survivor love story I’m writing with co-author Susy Flory. My blog entries deal with my love of history, writing, and sometimes a bit of whimsey.”
Thank you, Eileen, and all who help me to share my great-grandfather’s art and the Chasing Portraits story!