Boris Lurie: Nothing To Do But To Try, organized by the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City and curated by Sara Softness, is currently on view at the Holocaust Museum Houston. The exhibition features Lurie’s paintings and drawings alongside personal and historical documents, and photographs. Born in Leningrad, Russia, and raised in Riga, Latvia, Lurie was a Holocaust survivor who emigrated to the United States in 1946. He was also a founder of NO!art, an anti-art-establishment movement.
Early Life and Artistic Movement
Lurie’s work first caught the attention of some viewers in the Jewish Museum’s exhibition New York: 1962-1964. His paintings, often confronting in their imagery, challenged the prevailing pop art of the time. Lurie, along with Stanley Fisher and Sam Goodman, established NO!art in 1959, an artistic movement rooted in social change. Their 1988 “manifesto” described it as an anti-pop, anti-capitalist movement “where artistic production and sociocultural action meet,” and originating from the “Jewish experience.”
Focus on Trauma and Memory
The current exhibition, Nothing To Do But To Try, uniquely focuses on Lurie’s “War Series” and includes previously unseen objects and ephemera from his personal collection. The exhibition explores how Lurie used art to process the trauma of the Holocaust. He reportedly stated, “The basis of my art education I obtained in a camp like Buchenwald,” highlighting the profound impact of his experiences on his artistic development.
Works like Portrait of My Mother Before Shooting (1947) powerfully evoke the loss of his mother, grandmother, sister, and girlfriend – all murdered by Nazi and Latvian forces in the Rumbula Forest, along with approximately 25,000 other Jews. Lurie, his brother, and father were then sent to concentration camps. He was 16 years old at the time.
Visualizing the Unimaginable
Paintings such as Roll Call in a Concentration Camp (1946) and In Concentration Camp (1971) depict the horrors of the camps with stark imagery. Figures are often elongated, suggesting starvation, and Lurie’s use of color – like the lime green permeating the walls in Roll Call in a Concentration Camp – adds to the visceral impact. Even decades later, his paintings continued to convey the trauma with unflinching honesty.
Final Works and Legacy
The exhibition concludes with Lurie’s 2003 Ax Series, referencing his forced labor in the Riga Ghetto. These sculptures, created in collaboration with a friend, are displayed alongside a photograph of the Rumbula Forest. The exhibition also includes photographs from Lurie’s return to Riga decades after the war, documenting his attempts to locate and mark burial sites. His studio, recreated through photographs, reveals how he integrated history and memory into his artistic practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the focus of the “Nothing To Do But To Try” exhibition?
The exhibition uniquely focuses on Lurie’s earliest series, the “War Series,” and includes never-before-exhibited objects and ephemera from his personal collection, exploring how he processed the trauma of the Holocaust through art.
Where was Boris Lurie born and raised?
Boris Lurie was born in Leningrad, Russia, and raised in Riga, Latvia.
What was NO!art?
NO!art was an anti-art-establishment movement founded by Boris Lurie, Stanley Fisher, and Sam Goodman in 1959, rooted in social change and described as an anti-pop, anti-capitalist movement.
How does viewing art created in response to trauma impact our understanding of history and the human condition?
