Structure and Imagery

Variations for the Menora...from In the Beginning, 1972 Untitled   Abraham Rattner, 1937. Photograph by Alfredo Valente. Abraham Rattner (1895 - 1978) Born in 1895 in Poughkeepsie, New York, Abraham Rattner came to Washington, D.C. to study architecture at the George Washington University and art at the Corcoran College of Art and Design. In 1917 he went to Philadelphia to study painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. That same year, the United States entered World War I, whereupon Rattner volunteered to serve in the Army. After the armistice in 1919, Rattner resumed his studies in Philadelphia, but in 1920 went to Paris, studying at times at l’École des Beaux Arts, l’Académie de la Grande Chaumiere, and l’Académie Ranson. During a 20-year residence in France he saw many kinds of art: cubism, surrealism, and futurism. Rattner also met the avant-garde artists in France: Pablo Picasso, architect Le Corbusier, and American expatriate author Henry Mi...

"The object of these pages is to relate the genesis of a master- piece. The masterpiece is hanging on the wall in front of me; it is dry now. I am putting this down to remember the process, because I shall probably never do another like it." Above: Excerpt from  Black Spring  by Henry Miller.  This copy was published by Grove Press in 1963. Above: Excerpt from Black Spring by Henry Miller.  This copy was published by Grove Press in 1963.