Karl Haendel, 'Questions for My Father 10' (2023). Pencil on paper, 136 x 113 cm.
The Jewish Museum has recently acquired two works by Karl Haendel: Questions for my Father (2023) and Salt Box #1 (2009). These works represent different modes of the artist's labor intensive drawing practice, though both indicate his perpetual engagement with his Jewish identity, often expressed through vulnerability, honesty and humor.
On what joining this collection means to Haendel: 'It makes me think of my grandparents. They were all born in Eastern Europe and came to New York in the 1930s and 40s with little money and less English. Seeing their grandson's art in a museum on fancy 5th Ave would have been something for them - and they definitely would have used the word fancy.'
18 April 2026
