A. PARIZER THE FAMOUS ARTIST, BENN One of Bialystok’s outstanding personalities is the artist, Benn, who lives and paints in Paris. Over the years Benn has grown into one of the leading artists in the world. Particularly after World War II, he achieved fame, not only in France but in other countries as well, among Jews and non-Jews. After the war, he produced more than one hundred major works of art, based upon Bible stories. Benn completed these paintings, which evoked a warm response in France during the war, while hiding from the Nazis in a bunker. BENN (BEN CYON RABINOWICZ) | (Paris) Born in Bialystok in 1905; has become one of the most prominent artists of our time. Benn has received many awards and citations from the French government and other prestigious quarters. Benn, whose real name is Ben Cyon Rabinowicz, 1s actually a down-to-earth Bialystoker landsman, one of us, someone of whom we can be proud. Benn is the descendant of a prominent family in Bialystok: his grandfather was a rabbi in Nowarodok. His father, Szloyme Jakow Rabinowicz, was a distin- guished architect who designed, among other buildings, the Great Synagogue in Bialystok. Already as a youth of fifteen, Benn drew and painted portraits of those around him. Later, he gained recognition from a wide variety of Jews in Bialystok, painting leading Jewish figures. When the Habimah appeared in town for the first time, in 1926, Benn did portraits of the entire com- pany. Every year afterward, he became more famous as a portrait artist. In Paris, Benn painted many hundreds of impor- tant Frenchmen, Jews and non-Jews, including authors, actors, communal leaders and others. He also honored people from America and other countries with his paintings. Benn’s wife is the famous actress, Gera. 150 In 1929, Benn received a stipend from the Bialy- stok municipality to study art in Paris. He never returned. In Paris, the city of lights and the center of art, the talented young man achieved prominence. His first art exhibit there took place in 1931 and was warmly received by the critics. His subsequent efforts also won critical acclaim. One reviewer dubbed him the “artist with a soul,” because his portraits reflected his personal warmth and sensitivity. His paintings were purchased by the aristocracy in France, museums and art galleries. But throughout the years, in all of his creations, Benn remained the devoted, down-to-earth Jew from Bialystok. His attachment to his Jewish origins has helped him complete his greatest achievement — over one hundred Bible’ pictures, which have astonished everyone. When World War II erupted, Benn found himself in danger in Paris and for several years hid in a cellar with a Christian family. Even there his creativity didn’t die. He vowed that if he survived this ordeal, he would produce one of the greatest works of art, which would thrill Jews and non-Jews alike. He fulfilled his promise, as his Bible paintings will testify. Benn continues to delight art lovers everywhere. He has brought much pride and honor to his Bialy- stoker /andsleit. We are proud to claim him as one of our own. The famous singer Rosa Raisa and her father, Hirshl Burstein, in New York in 1922. The Bialystoker Memorial Book