Encourage One Another

Original Acrylic Painting by Henny Kupferstein

Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 16 x 20 in
Year: 2025
Original Work: One of a kind
Artist: Henny Kupferstein

About the Painting

I imagine myself as this chassidic girl, exhausted and cold, waiting for this obligatory wedding to end. I encounter this Severely Other alien, an English-speaking little girl with a smartphone, who compliments me and treats me like a Muse. I have never experienced being a muse, and only with encouragement did I consent to holding a fake limp rose and pose. Mainly, because the adults were too self absorbed to notice, protect, intervene, or judge. Also, I may have thought it a curious opportunity to see myself on camera. I don’t judge her for not mustering a smile. Her pout is enough to show that she did the best she could. I brightened the colors with neon paint, and backed off the face when I felt that I captured her expression. I’m glad she doesn’t look like a generic portrait on my wall. She does draw you in, but not for long. A fleeting muse, not amused. Unlike Picasso, the photographer saw her as an independent individual with agency, rather than an object of inspiration.  The overall sentiment suggests a fleeting moment of connection and recognition between two individuals from different worlds or backgrounds, observed with a sense of non-judgment and empathy. Maybe I just wanted to rescue her from her holocaust.

Details

• Original acrylic painting on canvas
• 16 x 20 in
• Completed May 10, 2025
• Unique artist catalog number: 051025
• Signed original
• Certificate of authenticity available
• Ships from San Diego, California
• Carefully packaged for shipment

Please contact the artist regarding institutional acquisition, exhibition, local delivery, or special shipping arrangements.

Original artwork — only one available.

The painting is currently permanently mounted in this custom frame and presented as a complete work. For collectors who prefer the painting unframed, the artwork is also available for purchase without the frame.