Boston artist sets record for 'largest watercolor painting.' Art honors Holocaust victims

A new world record was set this week at the world-renowned traveling exhibition, "Auschwitz.Not long ago. Not far away."

The exhibition has been at the Castle at Park Plaza in Boston for the past few months and is getting ready to wrap up its residence in the city on Sept. 15.

To celebrate the exhibitio n, artist and Boston native Eli Portman - who's grandparents survived the Holocaust - decided to undergo a record-breaking, artistic feat.

What record was attained at the Holocaust exhibition?

Portman got the record for creating the world’s largest watercolor painting today (July 31) at the exhibition.

What does the painting depict?

"The watercolor uses 180-square-feet to recreate beautiful watercolor pieces made by prisoners in German Nazi concentration camps during WWII. This breaks the previous record of 160-square-feet, set in Craig, CO in 2020 ," according to a statement on the exhibit .

That watercolor is called "Western Reflections" and depicts a cowboy on a horse. It resides at the Museum of Northwest Colorado.

The imagery of Portman's watercolor is of great significance, drawing inspiration from personal letters and postcards sent by concentration camp prisoners Friedrich Hoyer and Josef Matoušek.

Some history behind the artwork

According to a release on today's painting event, "When the lucky few prisoners who met... requirements had access to watercolor paints and brushes, they would paint peaceful scenes or special images for their relatives. Hoyer , who was imprisoned for being a leading communist and socialist in Augsburg, painted a red rose for his wife’s 50th birthday in 1934. Josef Matousek was a student in Veselí nad Lužnicí before he was incarcerated in the concentration camps in 1940. While in the camps, he was able to send at least three letters that we know of to his family, each of which contained various pieces of art . In one letter, he asked a friend to paint a watercolor depicting a pleasant, rolling field of lush greenery—a stark contrast to the conditions at the camps."

Portman has worked in watercolor for many years. Upon finishing the piece today, he expressed that, “It was an honor to be entrusted to create the world’s largest watercolor in collaboration with the 'Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. exhibition.'"

About the exhibition itself

Hoyer’s card , among other watercolor works done by concentration camp prisoners, is just one of the more-than-700 artifacts featured in the "Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away" exhibition.

The exhibition was created by Musealia in cooperation with the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum and promoted locally by World Heritage Exhibitions. It features authentic, original objects from one of the most devastating periods in history.

“ Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away is an unprecedented exhibition filled with unique artifacts, including Hoyer’s touching gift to his wife and vibrant watercolor paintings, that patrons across this region may never have the opportunity to see again,” Luis Ferreiro, Director of Musealia, said. "Having this record-breaking watercolor created using the original art from concentration camp prisoners just adds to this exhibition’s unparalleled content, which I implore everyone to see before we close on Sept. 15.”

The artifacts in the exhibit include concrete posts that were part of the fence of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp; large portions of an original prisoners’ barrack from the Auschwitz Monowitz camp; a gas mask used by the SS garrison members who staffed the concentration camp system in Nazi Germany; passports; prisoner entry forms; false identity cards used by Jews escaping persecution; and handwritten notes.

Where are tickets available?

To purchase tickets and learn more about this exhibition, please visit TheAuschwitzExhibition.com.

This article originally appeared on wickedlocal.com: Boston artist sets record for 'largest watercolor painting.' Art honors Holocaust victims