They Called Me Mayer July

"...a remarkable, illustrated book"

Monique Polak’s review in The Gazette (Montreal), December 29, 2007.

The need to remember also fuels They Called Me Mayer July, a remarkable, illustrated book, co-written by Mayer Kirshenblatt and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, a father-daughter team. Kirshenblatt, who was born in Apt, Poland, in 1916, moved to Canada in 1934; he took up painting only when he retired in his 70s. His daughter, a professor at New York University with an interest in folkloric studies, encouraged him to paint his memories of Apt.

What emerges in this volume - through Kirshenblatt's paintings and the narration he supplies to accompany them - is far more than a portrait of a town. He and his daughter recreate a richly populated world, seen largely through the eyes of a child.

Everyone in Kirshenblatt's Apt had a nickname. His was Mayer July because July (Tamez in Yiddish) was the hottest month of the year and the boy was considered a hothead. Malkele Drek (drek is Yiddish for excrement) earned her unfortunate nickname when she fell into a latrine. Kirshenblatt remembers Malkele was pretty enough, but that her nickname discouraged potential suitors. In his characteristically understated style, Kirshenblatt tells us Malkele "disappeared with everyone else."

Though Kirshenblatt, his parents and brothers came to Canada well before the Second World War broke out, his paintings and story are an important contribution to Holocaust studies. The Nazis tried to annihilate European Jewry systematically. When Kirshenblatt was a boy, Apt was predominantly Jewish; today, all that's left of its Jewish past is a rundown cemetery. But Kirshenblatt has brought Apt and its inhabitants back to life. "I consider myself a storehouse of memories," he writes.

"...a stunning and gripping volume"

They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Before the Holocaust is a stunning and gripping volume. The book is difficult to categorize: part art book, part memoir, part ethnography, part history; it defies and transcends conventional genres. It promises to stimulate attention across a wide array of interests and demographics. Some will flip through the book, admiring Mayer Kirshenblatt’s evocative paintings of Jewish life in interwar Poland.Others will study his meticulous instructions on subjects ranging from how to harness a horse to how to make a dreydl. Still others will peruse the author’s recollections of his early education in Apt, or of his emigration by steamship to Canada. My four-year old daughter, whose readings I never thought I would be referencing in an academic book review, loved the painting “Boy with Herring” and marveled at the idea of carrying home a fish wrapped in newspaper with brine dripping from the head and tail. Two generations removed, my parents both picked up the book and read it cover to cover during their week-long visit a few weeks ago. I can think of few books that could garner this much attention from such diverse readerships.

"...amazing book," Nancy Miller

I'm making my way through your amazing book. I am completely fascinated by it all--the paintings, of course, but the narrative--and the effects of documentation. As you know my ancestors come from farther east and emigrated earlier--but I find the details illuminating....

That's really what does it, the herring, all the how-to-make drawings--a dreydel!!!My maternal grandfather was someone who also could figure out how to make anything. I don't think we know enough about that kind of creativity and resilience.

You are so lucky to have this legacy and to have been able to record it for posterity.

Mazel tov,
All my admiration,

Nancy
October 25, 2008

"...absolutely stunning," Blu Greenberg

I have been wanting to contact you ever since my visit to Berkeley last November. I found your father's paintings and accompanying narratives to be absolutely stunning. What a remarkable talent he has! I felt privileged to walk through the streets of Apt with him,  almost as an insider. While viewing the exhibit, I did not have time to read through all of the narratives, but when I returned home, I sat down and did not move for hours, until I had read every page.  It is an extraordinary gift to Jews after the Shoah, and it will be a treasure for years to come.

 

What a beautiful thing  you have done as a daughter!  I have long admired your work, and now add to that admiration a new dimension--an appreciation of what a special human being you are.

 

May you and your father be blessed with many years to come.

 

Blu Greenberg
April 28, 2008

"... a marvelous book," Kristin G. Congdon, Journal of Folklore Research

This book would have been compelling if it had been only words or paintings with little description. But with both text and images, we have a treasure. Having studied that which many of us call “memory painting” for almost three decades, I now understand the full power of this genre. This is a marvelous book. I believe it will certainly live on long after all of us are gone. It’s that important.

Mayer July (Mayer Kirshenblatt) was a small, rebellious child, who grew up before World War II in Apt, the Yiddish name for Opatów, a small town in Poland. He played hooky often, which allowed him the time to explore his hometown, keenly learning about the work, play, and ritual aspects of his neighborhood. Encouraged by his daughter, co-author Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Mayer July tells the story of his youth in text and paintings. What is most striking about this lengthy book is how well he remembers life in his Jewish hometown.

In reading this amazing autobiography, we learn about varied customs, including writing petitions, performing black weddings, engaging in ritual baths, getting a circumcision, preserving eggs in limewater, and the shaving of corpses. Mayer July meticulously describes his town’s landscape, the buildings, trees, markets, cemeteries, and orchards. We get an understanding of what goes on in the town’s photography studio and soap and candle factories. We learn about fiddle players, singers, cellists, professional water-carriers, actors, postmen, chimney sweeps, dogcatchers, rope makers, tinsmiths, milk ladies, thieves, and wigmakers. The book is full of folklore about murders, plagues, rituals, ghosts, miracles, farewell gifts, menstruation, and the importance of looking after the dead.

National Geographic recommends They Called Me Mayer July

"They Called Me Mayer July is a hefty memoir illustrated with over 200 witty and sweet portraits of daily Jewish life in a small Polish town before 1934, by artist Mayer Kirshenblatt, who taught himself to paint at 73." Recommended by National Geographic as a Holiday Gift Idea and in their Ultimate Travel Library.

"The perspective of age and the wonder of youth..."

"Divided into four sections: “My Town,” “My Family,” “My Youth,” and “My Future,” They Called Me Mayer July (University of California, 978-0-520-24961-5) is an extraordinary work of memory, dedication, and love. Mayer Kirshenblatt, who grew up in Poland and moved to Canada in 1934, upon the urging of his daughter Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, painted the places and people of his youth. Accompanied by legends, infamies, and commonplaces, the movingly rendered paintings describe everything from making soup to a swing in an orchard to the illegal slaughter of a cow. This is a completely unique book that captures Jewish life and culture with both the perspective of age and the wonder of youth." ForeSight Sidebar: Fusion Feast for the Eye and Heart by Heather Shaw. November/December 2007.

"This book is a treasure!" ...stunning and a joy to behold"

Customer reviews on World Buyer Guide:

They Called Me Mayer July is a beautiful book, both in the written word and the art work. It details the day-to-day lives of the Jewish people who lived in their 'schtetles' before the Holocaust and it goes into the various personalities, nick names, and jobs that were done during those years. Artistically, the detail is stunning and a joy to behold. For those of us whose ancestors came from these places, it gives us the opportunity to see and read what life was like, both the good and the difficult. I was so impressed that I bought a book as a gift for a friend and have recommended it to others. We owe a debt of gratitude to the author and his daughter for giving us this wonderful gift."

The Shtetl - You Are There
This book is a treasure! It provides reminiscences in text and in paintings of a Polish Jewish shtetl, Apatow or, as the Jews called it, Apt. Like Grandma Moses, Kirshenblatt began painting late in life and, like her, has produced primitive, lively, intimate illustrations of his remembered world. The text is equally intimate describing the people, their nicknames, and their lives. Anyone interested in furthering his or her knowledge of the shtetl, as told by one of its last living inhabitants, must read this book."

"...inspired detail...remarkable freshness...This book is a treasure."

When he was 73, Mayer Kirshenblatt was encouraged by his family to start painting. He says, “Regrettably, I have very little imagination.” But he had a phenomenal memory, and in THEY CALLED ME MAYER JULY (Univ. of California, $39.95), he has recalled in inspired detail his childhood village of Apt in pre-war Poland. His objective here was to remember how people lived (and not how they died). The text is a collaborative effort between the artist and his daughter, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Professor of Performance Studies at NYU. She began taping her father’s memories forty years ago, and the resulting text has a remarkable freshness, well matched with Mayer’s colorful and closely observed paintings. This book is a treasure. Carla Cohen. Politics and Prose

Ett barns minnen och målningar av det judiska Polen: They Called Me Mayer July

Vad som har gjort Europa så framgångsrikt är alla de folkgrupper och kulturer som har stötts och blötts och assimilerats och korspollinerats under århundradenas lopp.

En av dessa kulturer är den judiska som har spelat en betydligt större roll i Europas historia än vi tidigare har insett.

Jag har tidigare recenserat Paul Kriwaczeks mästerfulla bok om den Jiddischspråkiga judiska kulturen i Europa:De europeiska judarnas historia och när jag var på biblioteket tidigare idag så hajade jag till när jag såg en stor och riklitg illustrerad bok i samma anda: Mayer Kirshenblatt och Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimbletts magnifika They Called Me Mayer July. Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland before the Holocaust.