
At the tiny town of Mistassini, 14-year-old Samuel decided to enter the local Trappist monastery. In 1955, Morris's sons in Paterson, NJ were contacted by a Catholic priest who turned out to be their long-lost brother! "Father Samuel," as he was now called, had been secretly baptized as a child when he ran a fever, and at the tender age of nine was convinced by Jean Michel to leave his family and journey to Quebec Province, Canada. The papers ran the kidnapping story two days later, but focused on a crazed autobiographical account left behind by Jean Michel that claimed he was a white slave in Africa, and papers commented on how the Frenchman was a "good Christian." Samuel's parents were never to lay eyes on their lost child again. Morris desperately searched the streets in the wake of a blizzard, and policemen across the eastern seaboard searched in vain. On January 2, 1904, Samuel and the Frenchman suddenly vanished. Morris returned the gift and told the Frenchman never to play with his son again. Things came to a head on Christmas, when Jean Michel gave Sammy a toolbox as a gift. They went on outings, played in Central Park and visited nearby St. By the summer of 1903, Morris had left Manhattan's Lower East Side and ran a tailoring shop on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, and his family lived a few blocks away on Jones Street.Ī 40-year-old neighbor, a Frenchman named Jean Michel, grew fond of Morris's eldest boy, nine-year-old Samuel Scher.

This horrid practice, approved by the Catholic Church since medieval times, forever altered the family of Morris Scher, Szmul's oldest son. Unexpectedly, the Schers were haunted in America by an uglier remnant of Europe, the forced baptism and abduction of Jewish children. Even in America, tailoring dominated the Schers' lives, as all of Szmul's children and most of his American-born grandchildren either made cloth, sewed clothes, or sold clothing. One branch of the family immigrated to Paterson, NJ, which attracted many "Lodzers" as another major center of silk manufacturing. In the 1880s, the Schers moved from the small town of Stryków to the big city 12 miles away: Lodz, then a Russian-controlled center for silk manufacturing. Szmul's father, grandfathers, half-brothers, and most of his uncles were also tailors. Tailoring was one of the few trades Eastern European Jews were allowed to practice, and when the Prussians forced Szmul's grandfather or great-grandfather to take a surname in 1797, the whole family became known by the German/Yiddish word for "scissors" - Scher (spelled "Szer" in Polish). "Scher der shneider / Shears the tailor." For Szmul Szer, a Jewish tailor living near Lodz, Poland in the late 1800s, identity and occupation were almost one and the same. Although smooth hardboard panels allow for greater detail, Mashinsky prefers the way his brushes and pallet knives interact with the nature of stretched canvas to produce more impressionistic results.Anna Scher, left, and her daughter Fannie Scher Davis He has honed his painting skills over the years while working on both smooth and textured surfaces. Although Abraham has formal training in the use both watercolors and oils, his preferred media is oil colors. Favourite subjects have included abstract images, landmark landscapes, flower gardens, animals and family portraits.
Abraham mashinsky professional#
Throughout his professional career, Abraham Mashinsky has enjoyed oil painting and watercolour painting as his favourite mediums. His art pieces appear in company and private collections throughout the world His work also represents how even in life you may try to control things and then realize that things will run their own course anyway. Abraham Mashinsky enjoys creating one of a kind art works. His art represents passions and interests throughout his life.

Abraham mashinsky series#
The series of Squares marked this path that would end up leading to abstraction.Īfter earning an art degree from from the Rutgers University, he started doing art professionally. However, his interest in color contrasts and the dissolution of form through light would lead him to create artworks classified as Orphism. His early artworks are classified as cubism. He started creating art as a little hobby and it quickly grew into a daily part of his life.

Upon graduating from high school, he became a student at The Rutgers University, where he studied Fine Art.įrom an early age, Mashinsky became interested in the works of post-impressionist artists.

Throughout his school years, Abraham excelled in all his art classes, winning numerous awards and recognition for his artistic abilities. From early childhood, Abraham demonstrated a strong interest in drawing, painting, and building things. Abraham Mashinsky is an abstract painter from New Jersey.Ībraham Mashinsky was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
