H.N. Werkman (1882-1945) - De kinderen in het bosch

This print or lithograph is a limited edition from the Groninger Museum dating from 1985, and the large one without a frame measures 50x32 cm. It is in very good condition, and the photographs are an integral part of the description.

H.N. Werkman (1882-1945) - Chassidic Legends (illustration), The Children in the Forest
The Chassidic Legends. The Children in the Forest. This is an impression from the well-known Lithito series.

Early 1941, H.N. Werkman read Die Legende des Baalschem by Martin Buber, a collection of stories about the eighteenth-century Polish Jewish teacher Yisroel ben Eliezer, known as the Baal Shem Tov. Werkman was deeply moved. In a short time he created twenty compositions inspired by these wondrous tales, using stencils, printing ink and other materials from his printing shop. In this way he overcame the artistic block he had felt since the beginning of the German occupation.

In 1942 and 1943, Werkman printed editions of these prints, divided into two series of ten, which he called Suites. They appeared with the clandestine publisher De Blauwe Schuit, for whom Werkman produced a total of forty publications between 1941 and 1944. The texts in this series of forty publications, of which the Chassidic Legends formed part, usually did not directly relate to the war situation, but they did refer to it. With Geuzen songs and psalms, but also modern stories and poetry, the publishers wanted to give their audience a boost. That succeeded, in part thanks to the colorful illustrations by Werkman.

Werkman was arrested in the spring of 1945 by the Sicherheitsdienst. The liberation of Groningen on 15 April came too late for him. On 10 April 1945 he was executed at Bakkeveen together with nine others.