- Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita
Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita (
Amsterdam ,June 6 1868 -Auschwitz , ca.February 11 1944 ) was a graphic artist active in the years before the Second World War. His pupils included the now renowned Mauritis Cornelis Escher (1898-1972). In the postwar years, de Mequita was largely forgotten. Thanks in no small measure to the efforts of Escher, who regarded him as both amentor and a friend, his name has survived and is currently receiving growing attention.Fact|date=September 2008Life and work
Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita was born into a
Jew ish family living in Amsterdam. Though a member of a tightly knitSephardic community, a minority among Dutch Jews, de Mesquita, like most of his contemporaries, was not religiously observant. His father, a secondary school teacher ofHebrew and German, died when Sam or Sampie, as he was called, was five. At the age of fourteen, the young de Mesquita applied to theRijksakademie in pursuit of his artistic interests, only to be rejected. Deeply disappointed, he apprenticed himself to an acting cityarchitect , for whom he worked for two years before entering a technical school with the intention of becoming an architect himself. He soon turned, however, to thepedagogy and, in 1889, received a teacher's certificate, which would later enable him to support his family.Over the next years, however, it was to art that de Mesquita principally devoted himself, experimenting with various techniques and mediums. Though known primarily for his
woodblock print s, he also producedetching s,lithograph s,watercolor s,drawing s; his applied art consisted mostly of material designs. There are birds, exotic animals, plants and flowers, and fantastical representations, both humorous and grim. Among de Mesquita's most beautiful works are his portraits, particularly his self-portraits.Fact|date=September 2008With
Nazi Germany ’sinvasion of the Netherlands in May, 1940, de Mesquita, already in poor health, was forced to lead a secluded life, limiting his work largely to sketches. In the winter of 1944, on either January 31 or February 1, the occupying German forces entered the home of the de Mesquita family in Watergraafsmeer, now part of Amsterdam, and apprehended him, his wife Elisabeth, and their only son Jaap. Transported toAuschwitz , Samuel Jessurun and Elisabeth were sent to thegas chamber s within days of their arrival on February 11; Jaap perished in theconcentration camp atTheresienstadt on March 20. Escher and some of Jaap’s friends were successful in rescuing some of the works that had remained in the de Mesquita home.References
Es, Jonieke van. "Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita" (1894-1944): Takenaar, graficus, sierkunstenaar, Waanders Uitgevers, Zwolle, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds; 2005 (in Dutch)
External links
* [http://www.gemeentemuseum.nl/index.php?id=034155&langId=en Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita on gemeentemuseum.nl]
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