Chasing Portraits, Elizabeth Rynecki
Chasing Portraits, Elizabeth Rynecki
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Chasing Portraits
A Great-Granddaughter's Quest for Her Lost Art Legacy

Author: Elizabeth Rynecki

Narrator: Randye Kaye

Unabridged: 10 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/06/2016


Synopsis

The everyday lives of the Polish-Jewish community depicted in Moshe Rynecki's paintings simply blended into the background of Elizabeth Rynecki's life when she was growing up. But the art transformed from familiar to extraordinary in her eyes after her grandfather, Moshe's son George, left behind journals detailing the loss her ancestors had endured during World War II, including Moshe's art. Knowing that her family had only found a small portion of Moshe's art, and that many more pieces remained to be found, Elizabeth set out to find them.

Before Moshe was deported to the ghetto, he entrusted his work to friends who would keep it safe. After he was killed in the Majdanek concentration camp, the art was dispersed all over the world. With the help of historians, curators, and admirers of Moshe's work, Elizabeth began the incredible and difficult task of rebuilding his collection.

Spanning three decades of Elizabeth's life and three generations of her family, this touching memoir is a compelling narrative of the richness of one man's art, the devastation of war, and one woman's unexpected path to healing.

About Elizabeth Rynecki

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Reviews

Goodreads review by Ann on September 16, 2016

More than a memoir – an art history detective story. Elizabeth Rynecki’s great-grandfather painted scenes of Jewish life in Poland, but most of his work disappeared during WWII. In a scene worthy of a novel – but it’s true! – Elizabeth read her grandfather’s diary after he died and discovered he’d wr......more

Goodreads review by Katie on November 07, 2016

Elizabeth Rynecki has spent decades searching for some of her Polish great-grandfather's paintings that have been missing since the start of World War Two. She realizes the importance of recovering his art not only for the Jewish community but the world at large. So many pieces of art were either st......more

Goodreads review by Swensonbooks on April 20, 2017

When Elizabeth Rynecki reads her grandfather's journal of his escape from the Nazis after his funeral, she begins a decades long search for her great-grandfather's art around the world. The story of her transformation from claimant to historian makes this a distinctive and extraordinary account of r......more

Goodreads review by Gretchen on November 18, 2016

An inspiring and yet realistic look at what a family goes through when trying to recover the possessions, history and culture stolen from them by WWII. A compelling read -- I'm already looking forward to the documentary. Full disclosure: I've had the pleasure of knowing Elizabeth since graduate scho......more

Goodreads review by Kathrin on September 01, 2018

This was the August 2018 read of the Litsy Book Club and I went into this book knowing nothing about it... and I started it too late. So when the video chat with the author came around, I was barely at 25%. Nevertheless, the online discussion made me want to get through this even faster. The author......more