Description

This is an early painting of my brother, Leslie – (his birth name is Laszlo, after our father).

This work embodies the FIRE, drama, hope, promise, and love present in our family at its creation – and before…

It was 1959, and Mom was pregnant with me – I was still in the oven, so to speak – the last of Mom and Dad's creations. My sister, Julia, was ten years old, and Leslie was just three.

Back then, we were poor, arriving in America just three years prior with basically nothing after escaping Soviet Communism in Hungary during the 1956 revolt.

Indeed, my brother was a child of the revolt in Hungary, as he was born about five months before it officially began in October 1956, and when we left – seeking freedom.

For me, the fiery red background of this painting symbolizes the explosiveness at the start of Leslie's life and our triumphant escape and arrival in America.

Thousands made the same journey to freedom. We did it mainly by foot, arriving in Austria, where we were assigned a sponsor by the American Red Cross and World Church to help with our transition. Our sponsor was the Presbyterian Church of Newark, New Jersey, and we lived in a small assigned Newark apartment.

Mom and Dad didn't know how to speak English when we arrived, so the church gave us a cheap portable phonograph and numerous English language LP records to help with the learning. Years later, my brother and I would play those records for laughs because they were pretty corny – Phrases like: “Do you want a kiss?” and “I would like coffee” repeated throughout the LP – like a broken record.

That phonograph, which had a hard case and a closing top with a carrying handle, was like a small piece of luggage. It stayed with us for many years and later acted as a base for Dad's many still-life bouquet paintings. He would set it on the floor, drape a piece of fancy fabric over it, and atop it place the bouquet.

My brother and I are only three years apart, so we are close, but he was always light years ahead of me in every way.

When we were kids, he was a sort of “mad scientist” – forward-looking, big on chemistry, with a cabinet full of periodic-table elements, test tubes, and flasks; he once built something called an Atom Smasher, which looked like something from a space movie. Determined, Leslie always talked about doing great things, which is precisely what he did. Along the way, he also claims to have invented the Selfy, as shown in this early photo.

My brother, the fiery little boy depicted in this painting, grew up to become a successful medical doctor and lawyer. He married a lovely, dedicated wife, and together they have three incredible children and numerous grandchildren.

On this faraway day, when I was still a work in progress, Dad was 37 years old. He sat his three-year-old blue-eyed son for a painting, not knowing what the future held for him but that he was headed for big things. With his paintbrush and heart, he created this fantastic piece of hope, love, and promise that lived on and delivered, surrounded by these magnificent memories. ❤️

Through My Father's Eyes

I wrote the following song about Fire, which connects to this work of art and my brother's character.

Song: “FIRE”

Artist: JTAR

And here is a beautiful poem by Emily Dickinson that speaks of the sort of hope embodied in this work of art.

Hope is the thing with Feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

The Poems of Emily Dickinson (Variorum Edition)