Thursday July 9, 2020
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Dr. Mary Lee Webeck, HMH Holocaust and Genocide Education Endowed Chair
Take a virtual tour through our Bak Gallery and see a short video with our CEO giving a brief museum overview.
The Samuel Bak Gallery and Learning Center in loving memory of Hope Silber Kaplan is home to the nation’s only permanent Samuel Bak collection with 130 pieces rotated periodically. Holocaust Museum Houston is exceptionally honored that the Samuel Bak Gallery and Learning Center serves as a permanent, international gallery for his paintings, works donated directly to the Museum by the artist. The Bak Learning Center will help visitors understand the content of his works, as well as the rich symbolism used in his paintings. A rarity in the U.S., the gallery itself is circular, comprised of three intimate galleries.
Bak was born in 1933 in Vilna, Poland. His artistic talent was first recognized during an exhibition of his work in the Vilna Ghetto when he was nine years old. Bak and his mother survived the Holocaust through the efforts of his father, his aunt and a Benedictine nun known as Sister Maria who gave Bak and his mother shelter in a convent in Vilna. While both Bak and his mother survived, his father and four grandparents all perished at the hands of the Nazis. Bak’s life-and-death experiences inspired his prolific collection of artwork.
The galleries will continuously display the exceptional work of the artist while teaching children and adults to apply an understanding of the events of the Holocaust and other genocides to their own lives and respond to them successfully by developing social resiliency.
First time using Microsoft Teams? Here's what you do:
- If you've previously installed the Teams application, you'll be asked if you want to open it. Click 'Cancel'.
- Then click the option to 'Join on the web instead'.
- Chrome will ask you if you want to allow teams.microsoft.com to use your microphone and camera. Select 'allow' (or block if you don't want to be seen or heard in the meeting).
- You'll be prompted to enter your name. Then click 'Join now' to join the meeting.
- The message 'Someone in the meeting should let you in soon' will be displayed. Be patient - the meeting organizer will admit you.
- Once admitted, you can click on the movie-camera icon or the microphone icon to toggle your video and microphone on and off.
