Postcard from Boris Schatz to Angelika
Postcard from Boris Schatz to his daughter Angelika, July 2, 1903, Sofia, Bulgaria
Text on front of postcard:
”Dear Angelika, Papa loves you very much."
Text on back of postcard:
Mademoiselle Angelika Chatz
This postcard is from Boris Schatz to his daughter Angelika: ”Dear Angelika, Papa loves you very much.”
Schatz married Genia Zhirmunsky in the summer of 1889. Angelika was born in 1897. The family broke up when Genia left Boris to live with one of his students, Andrei Nikolov (1878-1959), later a well-known Bulgarian sculptor. This postcard and other letters in the collection prove that a loving father-daughter relationship continued even after the divorce. In addition to the painful separation from his daughter at this time, Schatz was deeply affected by the Kishinev pogrom which left hundreds of Russian Jews dead and wounded. This incident led to his artistic and philosophical transformation. Schatz’s depictions of Jewish life were perceived by him as a salvage operation, an attempt to rescue cultural and communal memory and preserve a vanishing world that was being threatened.
Postcard from Angelika to her father
Postcard to Boris Schatz from his daughter Angelika
Paris, France; Berlin, Germany, June 11, 1905
Boris Schatz's daughter writes to him:
”Dear Papa
I received your post and am
doing well I hope you are doing well.
Yours,
Angele”
Letter from Boris Schatz to Dora Gabe ("Granny")
Letter from Boris Schatz to Dora Gabe
Sofia, Bulgaria, 1903-04
Text:
“To Granny,
My boy possibly made a mistake: He said you would come for dinner and after three hours I started to worry. Maybe you got too tired yesterday in the theater. I visited Oleg and thought I would meet you there but you never arrived. As long as you are in good health. Is it true you will be free until Monday? I have to know now so I can finish my work. Do you need any help? I just came from the party. It was lively. You are so sure that I enjoy life with everybody, but without Grandmother I feel miserable. Toasts and more toasts. And then I had a thought: If we think about someone when life is bitter, it means that the person loves us. If we think about this person in the good moments, it means we love him. Philosophers could write a whole treatise on this topic. Dramatists could write a drama. I am but a simple mortal who has stolen flowers from the table for Grandmother, because she loves flowers.”
After the separation from his wife, Boris Schatz developed a relationship with his cousin, sixteen-year-old Dora Gabe (1886 - 1983). Their intense correspondence, which began a short time before Schatz’s departure for Saint Louis, revealed growing emotional ties. They called each other “Babushka” (Granny) and “Dyedushka” (Grandpa). Gabe went on to become a well-known Bulgarian poet. Schatz served as her spiritual mentor, strengthening her connection to the Jewish people and the Land of Israel.
Boris Schatz's Children
Picture from Y. Zalmona, Boris Schatz, The Father of Israeli Art; page 95
Boris Schatz married his second wife, Olga, an art critic, in 1911. They had two children, Zohara and Bezalel. The family lived on the Bezalel school campus, where this picture was taken. The children later became artists in their own right.