{"id":33780,"date":"2019-12-13T03:58:22","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T11:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=33780"},"modified":"2019-12-12T09:07:54","modified_gmt":"2019-12-12T17:07:54","slug":"sketching-historic-shuls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/12\/13\/sketching-historic-shuls\/","title":{"rendered":"Sketching historic shuls"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben and Carla Levinson (photo by Sam Margolis)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

With the speed of a street-corner caricaturist yet the precision of someone who seemingly misses nothing, Ben Levinson has for decades been capturing the cityscapes of the many places to which he has traveled with his wife, Carla. No pencil, no erasing. Just a black ink pen and a small sketchbook.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy architectural career taught me to sketch quickly and furiously, and I am able to see details that most would not see,\u201d Levinson told the Independent<\/em> in an interview earlier this fall.<\/p>\n

During these adventures, Levinson has sketched everything of architectural interest to him: churches, cathedrals, mosques, pyramids and, of course, synagogues, while Carla would station herself at a caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>
Synagogue at Tomar, Portugal. Sketch by Ben Levinson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By the time she was done with her coffee and croissant, Ben would have a complete rendering to show her. During the infrequent occasions she would finish first, incomplete drawings would be filled out when they reached their hotel.<\/p>\n

The alacrity, accuracy and artistry of the sketches were at times the envy of those whom they encountered on their travels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe met artists whose wives and partners waited all too patiently and were ready to move on, whereas Ben was long done,\u201d Carla said.<\/p>\n

After looking through Ben\u2019s sketchbooks one day, Carla suggested he do a show devoted to synagogues. Carla, who ran Victoria\u2019s Gallery 1248, helped curate the selection of sketches that appeared at the Wings of Peace Gallery at Victoria\u2019s Congregation Emanu-El from Sept. 4 through Yom Kippur. Now those sketches have been compiled into a book which is tentatively titled In Search of Identity: The Story of the Wandering Jew<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The book\u2019s 49 sketches transport the viewer throughout the old and the new worlds. Many of the sketches are connected by the common experience of Jews moving on because of antisemitic treatment, despite centuries of coexistence in a community.<\/p>\n

The figurative journey, which includes interiors and exteriors and is really the result of several holidays the Levinsons took over the span of two decades, sets off in Toledo, Spain, home to one of the few remaining synagogues left after the Spanish Inquisition scattered Jews throughout Europe and the Americas. Levinson\u2019s exhibit and book spend a lot of time in Sephardi lands: a 14th-century Moorish-style synagogue in Cordoba; a tiny shul in Tomar, Portugal, the only pre-Renaissance temple in the country; larger houses of worship in Morocco, home to the largest Jewish population in the Arab world; and, finally, to the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, completed in 1675.<\/p>\n

Poignant reminders of the once-thriving Jewish communities of Eastern Europe follow. Levinson leads the viewer through Berlin, Prague and Budapest, along with artistic reconstructions of the Terezin sleeping barracks and an ancient dig in Vienna.<\/p>\n

\"image<\/a>
Templo Libertad in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Sketch by Ben Levinson.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The voyage shifts to France, Italy and Scandinavia, with the majestic Marais synagogue in Paris, the synagogue at the Museum of Jewish Life in Trieste and the Gothenburg Synagogue, the scene of a firebomb attack in 2017.<\/p>\n

Levinson also presents active scenes of a crowd forming outside a Venice synagogue on a sunny Shabbat morning, passersby in front of an Antwerp temple and a sea of bicycles by the Great Synagogue of Copenhagen.<\/p>\n

The visual trip wraps up with drawings from Mexico City and the Byzantine-style building of Libertad Synagogue in Buenos Aires.<\/p>\n

Born in Medicine Hat, Alta., in 1942, Levinson graduated from the University of Manitoba\u2019s architectural program. In 1966, he moved to Victoria and worked for various firms before starting his 30-year private practice as president of Benjamin Bryce Levinson Architects in 1980. In addition to leading his practice, he continued sketching and showing his work at various venues, including the Architectural Institute of British Columbia and the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver.<\/p>\n

Levinson was instrumental in restoring Congregation Emanu-El in the early 1980s. When he arrived in town, he felt an initial disappointment upon seeing the synagogue with \u201cits pink stucco, balcony balustrade pickets, missing fence and hidden dome ceiling.\u201d He helped the synagogue\u2019s leadership in obtaining grants and helped steer the building and fundraising committees to get the money necessary to revitalize the region\u2019s most historic Jewish building.<\/p>\n

Small Town Architect, the name of his first book, documents his 40-year career in architectural design and recounts his travels and artistic endeavours. His work can be found throughout Victoria and in numerous communities throughout the province; in elementary schools, municipal halls, grocery stores and restaurants, among other buildings.<\/p>\n

Sam Margolis <\/strong>has written for the <\/em>Globe and Mail, the <\/em>National Post, UPI and MSNBC.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ben and Carla Levinson (photo by Sam Margolis) With the speed of a street-corner caricaturist yet the precision of someone who seemingly misses nothing, Ben Levinson has for decades been capturing the cityscapes of the many places to which he has traveled with his wife, Carla. No pencil, no erasing. Just a black ink pen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[989],"tags":[2766,2466,9512,1332,4242,218,2084],"class_list":["post-33780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-visual-arts","tag-architecture","tag-art","tag-ben-levinson","tag-emanu-el","tag-history","tag-judaism","tag-travel-2"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33780\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}