Travel, both involuntary and voluntary, has defined artist Samuel Bak’s life and is one of the most significant themes in his work. This exhibition explores how his postwar experiences of fleeing Soviet rule, of living in a displaced person camp, and of rebuilding a life in Israel after migration influences his artwork.
In 2023, global forced migration numbers will reach an all-time high. Bak’s paintings serve as a potent reminder of the humanity of migrants, their dreams of freedom, their flight from oppression, their search for home, and the fraught journey they undertake in the hope for a better life.
Museum Exhibition Programming
Curator Talk
Join us on August 31 for Flight and Hope in the Art of Samuel Bak. This 30-minute presentation, led by Museum Curator Alexandra Cardon, will address the theme of forced migration in our new exhibition.
Program is from 5:15 P.M. to 5:45 P.M in the Museum Classroom. Maximum capacity is 30 and RSVP is required.
Arrive early to tour Flight and Hopebefore the presentation.
Save the date for the SBMLC Exhibition Lecture Series
The Museum will host an Exhibition Lecture Series that will explore various cases of forced migration. All events are free and open to the public.
9/13/23:Dr. Cristián Doña-Reveco, UNO Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies will explore exile in the context of the 50th Anniversary of 1973 Chilean coup d’état by President Salvador Allende.
10/19/23:Dr. Danielle Battisti, UNO Associate Professor of History and Department Chair, will address Jewish migration to the United States from Displaced Persons Camps in the aftermath of World War II.
11/2/23:Dr. Gerald Steinacher, UNL Professor of History, will speak about the postwar escape of Nazi war criminals and the chaos caused by millions of Displaced Persons in the aftermath to World War II.
Daily Museum Programming
SBMLC offers daily public tours, audio tours in multiple languages, young visitor and ESL treasure hunts, and weekly student drawing hours.
I hope you have had a wonderful summer full of memory-making activities and time with those close to you. Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center has been busy as well.
On July 16, we closed our inaugural exhibition, In the Beginning: The Artist Samuel Bak. Over 3,100 visitors explored the show, as well as participated in free museum programming and events. Thank you for the warm welcome to Omaha's art and culture landscape.
We are excited to welcome you back to our space on August 12, when Flight and Hope, our fall exhibition, opens to the public. Curated by Alexandra Cardon, the Museum's Curator, we invite guests, new and returning, into the gallery space to explore Bak's works of art and their themes of forced migration, flight, and refugees.
The fall show will feature our regular programming, including daily public tours, audio tours in multiple languages, monthly lunch and learns (Meet a Bak), and curator talks. In addition, there will be a series of evening programs August - December to explore, including lectures, roundtable discussions, and poetry readings.
This month, Samuel Bak turns 90, we are blessed to celebrate him, and use his art daily to explore profound questions while addressing the inequalities that exist in society. Looking forward to see you in the gallery this fall!
~ Hillary Nather-Detisch, MPA, CRFE
Art & Life: The Story of Samuel Bak
Pre-order the new Samuel Bak Biography, Art and Life: The Story of Samuel Bak, from Pucker Gallery.
Art & Life: The Story of Samuel Bak, by Ute Ben Yosef, traces the development of a child prodigy deeply shaped by the catastrophic events of the Shoah, from his early artistic influences to his years in the Vilna Ghetto and Landsberg DP Camp, his formal training in Israel and Paris, and his fruitful art career in Rome, New York, Switzerland, and Boston.
It considers the personal, historical, and artistic currents that led Bak, now aged 90, to create an astonishing body of work that bears witness to cataclysmic events, embodies our common humanity of suffering and hope, and poses questions about the repair of the world.
