Harvey Breverman (b. 1934)

Notes on Harvey Breverman’s drawing Dubious Honor by Ted Pietrzak, edited by Nancy Weekly, taken from a conversation with Harvey Breverman, June 23, 2008:

Harvey Breverman remembers the drawing vividly.  What looks like a man with an extended crown is really a man wearing a Sabbath lamp. Breverman many times used himself as the subject matter and the man could be him, although this is not literal. The Sabbath lamp Harvey saw on display at the Jewish Museum in New York was originally created between the 1650’s and 1670’s in Germany. It was cast, hammered, and cut out of silver. It is in the form of a fountain; usually suspended and approximately 10 inches high. It is principally used for the feast of Esther or Purim as well as other holidays. Each layer refers to a specific Jewish holiday.

Sub-note:

One segment refers to Esther and the specific story or scroll of Esther in conjunction with foiling a plot to eradicate the Jews. It is now an annual celebration. 

Breverman indicated that he added a number of layers. Normally the lamp would hold oil and be lit during the Sabbath and during holidays. In this case, he has placed it on the head of an individual. It appears that it is adding weight of a spiritual or religious nature to this individual; weighed down by the obligations of religion and duties, not only of the Jewish faith, but of all religions. He has indicated that this is not to be a burden of history or art, but as his past art has suggested, we are “shaped, formed and informed by a past.”

Harvey indicated that the individual and the headdress are co-joined and juxtaposed consistent with some of the idiosyncratic ways he has connected past and present.

The lamp or crown is not a hat, but he felt that it was a shield or a helmet and emphasized the synergy he felt existed between two elements indicating that the two are inextricably linked. He referred to a link to “a history one does not escape” and that the work should be read as pertaining to numerous religions, not just the Jewish faith.

Dubious Honor is part of a series.