The Phoenix Jewish news., 1954-12-17
By Bertha Goldman

PVE SHARED THE highlights
of my experiences in Israel with
you, and now have particularly
delightful PariSienne experience
that think you'd enjoy hearing
about.
During the first part of our stay
in Paris, we were at the Hotel
Meurice. In my frequent goings
and comings through the Rue Mt.
Thabor entrance, I became in
creasingly aware of painting in
the glass case near the door. 1t
was the head of a young Heder
Boy, with traditional "pais" and
yarmelka. His eyes caught mine
with the centuries-old wisdom of
our people-the pain and know
ledge, the spirit of the eternal
Jew.
Near the painting lay the mono
graph of the painter, Manne-Katz,
and the address of a gallery. After
several days of admiring it, 1 de-
cided to visit the gallery and learn
more about the painter and the
painting.
Mrs. Claud Levin and her hus-
band were the gallery owners.
They had escaped from Germany
to settle in Paris.
Mrs. Levin showed me several
other paintings of Manne-Katz' and
then asked if I'd like to go to his
studio and meet him. Of course,
was delighted. So, several days
later, Bud and and Mrs. Levin
took off in our rented car for
MontparnaSSe.
An energetic man in his late
SOS greeted us, and from the mo-
ment of our entrance he regaled
us with stories, both humorous
and Informative, of his life and
work. Born in Russia, he had lived
in Paris for more than 25 years
and was now considered the out
standing living Jewish painter of
Jewish subjects and content =
Chagall Notwithstanding - accord
ing to Mrs. Levin.
Manne-KatZ was pink-cheeked,
with white, bushy hair, like Ben
Gurion's. His studio reflected his
bouncy personality, with its charm
and unique decoration.
The stories of his experiences in
the French underground were leg
ion. During the last years of the
war he was in the us, where
the Wildenstein galleries put on
two shows featuring his work. He
maintains a studio still in New
York.
Since the end of the war, his
fame has grown. How high he
stands is shown by the fact that,
when Paris celebrated it's 2,000th
anniversary in 1852, he was select
ed for one-man show, thereby
winning membership in the French
Legion of Honor.
After seeing a number of his
most recent works, Bud found a
painting of a little Jewish boy he
wanted to own. When we left for
dinner to eat together, we were
all in fine spirits. So eating in a
Chinese restaurant only added to
our merriment. To hear French
spoken with a Chinese twang real
ly confounded my ear!
When we discovered that we
both had invitations to the prem
ier performance of Habima in
1.-THE Golem" at the Sara Bern
hart Theater (part of the Inter-
national Festival of Dramatic
ArD, we made a date to meet the
next Saturday night. 1t was a most
exciting experience to see Jewish
leaders and the artistic communi-
ty of Paris, as well as press and
government leaders, turn out for
this fine performance given by the
members of the troupe from Is
rael.
Since this was our last night in
Paris, and the last night of our
wonderful two-month trip to Eur
ope and Israel, we felt that it was
a fitting climax to see this superb
bit of Judaica, in the honored sur
roundings of the Invitational State
Theater Festival, in this finest OF