Theodor Sharnopolsky... My beloved uncle.
In the 1950s he was as old as I am now.
Every summer our mother took us children to
Odessa, to the Black Sea. The day after our arrival the whole of uncle's family
visited us. Then our uncle took me and my twin brother to the beach. He was
sitting in the sun, the only person on the beach who was dressed, with a hat on
his head and drew the figures of the sunbathing half-naked people in his
sketchbook. At the same time he told us ironic stories of those people, as if
he knew them in person.
Now I know that Uncle Theo taught me a lot:
to stand on my own, not to take drawing and painting as a job, but a way of
perception and a kind of contact with the world, he also taught me that irony
does not exclude love and understanding...
Uncle Theodore is buried in Odessa, his
daughter Katia lives in Chigago, my brother Viktor lives near Tel Aviv and I
paint my pictures in Prague - Žižkov.
