In Jerusalem

In Jerusalem lives Mr. Abel Pann. He paints pictures, he reads the Bible. His works are hung in the Luxembourg, the Chicago Art Museum, the National Museum of Jerusalem. His thoughts are in the Holy Land. Long has he cherished in his brain the images of the kings and prophets of his people in the old time: Absalom's body, slim as a spear, twisting from the bough on which his dark hair tangled; Moses listening rapt to the voice of God. Unlike that nameless artist who exhibited a blank canvas, declaring that it showed the Israelites Crossing the Red Sea-- the Sea pushed back, the Israelites just passed over, the Egyptians not yet come up--Mr. Pann of Jerusalem paints the pictures that his heart perceives. He has set himself the task of illustrating the Bible. Already he has finished 125 pictures, covering Genesis and the beginning of Exodus. Said he: "I have always felt it a reproach that almost every nation has produced its painter of the Bible except the one whose genius created that wonderful Book."