From the Archives: Spread from a pamphlet published by Maryan, from stills of his 1975 film “Ecce Homo.”
Pinchas Burstein, better known as the painter Maryan S. Maryan, was born in Poland in 1927, where his aspirations as an artist began in grade school. Yet he later noted, “since my childhood I have been detached and immersed in a world of hatred and violence.” Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, he and his family were interned in camps, ultimately Auschwitz, an experience which left indelible marks on both his body and soul. He eventually found his way to New York in 1962, by way of Paris, Israel, Germany, along the way acquiring a formal education in art and a growing following as a leader of “Nouvelle Figuration.” However the experiences of his youth would haunt him for the rest of his life.
In 1975, Maryan shot a black and white film with the help of Kenny Schneider, in his room at the Chelsea Hotel. Titled “Ecce Homo” - as he called a series of sketchbooks begun in 1971 - the film is a highly personal meditation on the “world of hatred and violence” he witnessed first hand. Combining stock footages of figures of power and those they oppress, along with re-enacments performed by Maryan of his own experience in the camps, playing both aggressor and victim, the film expounds on iconography of his “Personages” and at times includes his own drawings as well.
The film, along with the sketchbooks that proceeded it, are some of the most personal of Maryan’s artworks. He had sought psychiatric help around 1970, which prompted him to begin drawing as a means of accessing memories of his early life. It may be inferred that the production of the film was a similarly cathartic exercise, “a need to cry out about what he endured and witnessed” as his wife later suggested; he suffered a heart attack shortly following its completion.
Spread from a pamphlet published by Maryan, with stills from his 1975 film Ecce Homo.
Pinchas Burstein, better known as the painter Maryan S. Maryan, was born in Poland in 1927, where his aspirations as an artist began in grade school. Yet he later noted, “since my childhood I have been detached and immersed in a world of hatred and violence.” Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, he and his family were interned in camps, he ultimately Auschwitz, an experience which left indelible marks on both his body and soul. He eventually found his way to New York in 1962, by way of Paris, Israel and Germany, along the way acquiring a formal education in art and a growing following as a leader of “Nouvelle Figuration.” However the experiences of his youth would haunt him for the rest of his life.
In 1975, Maryan shot a black and white film with the help of Kenny Schneider, in his room at the Chelsea Hotel. Titled Ecce Homo - as he called a series of sketchbooks begun in 1971 - the film is a highly personal meditation on the “world of hatred and violence” he witnessed first hand. Combining stock footages of figures of power and those they oppress, along with re-enacments performed by Maryan of his own experience in the camps, playing both aggressor and victim, the film expounds on iconography of his Personnages and at times includes his own drawings as well.
The film, along with the sketchbooks that proceeded it, are some of the most personal of Maryan’s artworks. He had sought psychiatric help around 1970, which prompted him to begin drawing as a means of accessing memories of his early life. It may be inferred that the production of the film was a similarly cathartic exercise, “a need to cry out about what he endured and witnessed” as his wife later suggested; he suffered a heart attack shortly following its completion.