'A Ladder Set Up On the Earth' - Art Replica

In Antwerp of 1941, during the turmoil of the Second World War, Carol Deutsch, a self-taught artist who belonged to James Ensor’s circle of students, lovingly crafted a gift for his daughter Ingrid’s second birthday. As his Jewish faith increasingly rendered his life insecure, Deutsch decided to bestow upon his daughter this legacy, thus perpetuating the Biblical commandment “And thou shalt show thy son.” He created an opus comprised of ninety-nine gouache paintings depicting familiar Biblical narratives and protagonists. Discontented with mere words, he presented his daughter an artifact, works of art encapsulated within an ornamented wooden case of his own craftsmanship.

Carol Deutsch and his wife Fela were murdered in the extermination camps. However, their daughter Ingrid, who was hidden with a Catholic family in the countryside, survived. When the five-year-old child returned to her grandmother’s apartment in Antwerp, she was greeted by the Bible, which miraculously remained intact. Deutsch left behind a vital estate. By its public display at Yad Vashem, a father’s personal and intellectual bequest to his daughter has become part of the collective legacy - a symbol of stalwart resistance to everything the Nazis attempted to obliterate.