Patrick Comerford
The circus in the Oval Office last Fridays, in the same week as the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the subsequent unified response from the most influential European leaders, have raised the spectre of war spreading through Europe, as we mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the 80th anniversary of the end of the Holocaust.
All those threads – war in Europe, the dismemberment of Ukraine, and the Holocaust – are brought together in the life story and work of Naomi Blake, a sculptor and Holocaust survivor who was an advocate of understanding between faiths. I appreciated this recently as I was looking at her abstract sculpture ‘View’ in the gardens of Fitzroy Square in London. The sculpture in bronze resin measures 240 x 160 x 35 and marked the 1977 Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 1977.
Fitzroy Square is the only Georgian square in the central London area known as Fitzrovia, although the name of the Fitzroy Tavern nearby on Charlotte Street may have had as much influence as Fitzroy Square on the name of Fitzrovia.
The names of Fitzroy Square, Fitzroy Street and the Fitzroy Tavern recall the family name of Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, who inherited the land through marriage and whose descendants developed the area in the late 18th and early 19th century.
Fitzroy Square was built in four stages. The east and south sides were designed by Robert Adam and were built by his brothers James and William Adams in 1794-1798. The north and west sides were built in 1827-1829 and 1832-1835 and are stucco-fronted. The south side suffered bomb damage during World War II and was rebuilt with traditional facades to remain in keeping with the rest of the square. The square was largely pedestrianised in the 1970s, as part of a scheme designed by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe.
I first got to know Naomi Blake’s work within the past ten years when I stayed twice at the Royal Foundation of Saint Katharine in Limehouse in the East End of London. There the gardens have two of her sculptures, ‘Genesis’ (1994) and ‘Love is My Meaning’ (2000).
Naomi Blake was born in Mukaĉevo, Czechoslovakia (now Mukacheve, Ukraine) to Jewish parents in 1924. The youngest of 10 children, her original name was Zisel Dum – she was named Zisel, meaning ‘sweet’, by her parents.
She survived the Holocaust as a child in Auschwitz, although many members of her family died there. In 1942, her family included 32 members: four grandparents, her parents, nine siblings, six spouses and 10 young nieces and nephews.
In 1944, when Naomi was 20, most of her family was deported to Auschwitz and she was separated from everyone except her older sister Malchi; her father, another sister and her nieces and nephews were led into the gas chambers. She returned to Mukacevo in July 1945 to find her family home in ruins and that of the 32 family members before the war, only had seven survived by 1945.
After World War II, she lived in Milan, Rome and Jerusalem, before making her home in North London. She changed her name to Naomi in 1948 and she left Israel in 1952 to seek medical help and rejoin members of her family.
She met and married a young German refugee, Asher Blake, they settled in London, and they were the parents of two children, Jonathan and Anita (Nin). The early days were not easy as she knew no-one, spoke poor English and had no qualifications. But Asher encouraged Naomi to pursue her love of sculpture as a career. She enrolled at the Hornsey School of Art, now Middlesex University, and she studied there in 1955-1960.
Naomi’s work began with ceramic pots and portrait sculpture, progressing to figurative and then abstract work. Sculpting originally in clay and then in polystyrene for casting in bronze, she gradually reintroduced figurative elements in her work, showing the influences of Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.
Her work developed through a cycle of embryonic forms, enclosed and protected figures, gradually opening out ‘to free the figure from its haven to stand against all adversity and spread its free wings.’ With her great interest in Jewish life and learning, she also sculpted imposing, expressive Biblical figures, bringing to life their strength and character.
Through her work, Naomi Blake promoted understanding between faiths. Her work has been exhibited in many galleries in Britain and abroad, and her sculptures can be seen in many places of worship such as the cathedrals in Bristol, Chelmsford and Norwich, Saint Ethelburga’s Church, London, Saint Botolph’s Church, Aldgate, Saint James’ Church, Muswell Hill, All Saints’ Church, East Finchley, the Royal Foundation of Saint Katharine’s, Limehouse, and synagogues in Finchley, Hampstead Garden, Kingsbury, Leeds and Oxford, as well as the National Holocaust Centre in Newark, Nottinghamshire.
Her work is also in many royal collections and in public places such as Great Ormond Street Hospital and the University of Leicester, as well as Fitzroy Square.
Naomi Blake’s ‘Genesis’ (1994) in Saint Katharine’s is a figure of a mother and child with an inscription explaining that the work was given in honour of Lady Elizabeth Basset and ‘to promote understanding between people of different faiths.’
In spite of her Holocaust experiences, Naomi Blake believed ‘there is something positive in the human figure – there is a lot of good in people … with my past, if I were pessimistic, somehow, it wouldn’t have been worthwhile surviving.’
Naomi Blake died on 7 November 2018.
Her daughter Anita Peleg, published two books devoted to her life and work: Naomi Blake: Dedication in Sculpture, a comprehensive catalogue of her sculptures; and Glimmer of Hope: The Story of Naomi Blake, telling the story of how she defied the odds and survived to bring joy to thousands.
