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Yala H. Korwin — Visual Arts Page



Yala Helen Korwin, a Holocaust survivor, was born on February 7, 1933 in Lvov, Poland and died May 30, 2014 in New York City. She was a poet, artist, author, essayist, librarian and teacher. She created over 400 paintings and sculptures, some of which are on display in the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.

Korwin was a precocious child artist who received spankings for scribbling on the walls of her parents' apartment. As a high school student, she excelled at writing imaginative stories for her Polish Language classes. But the outbreak of World War II brought drastic changes to her life. Having survived a labor camp in the heart of Germany, and having no place to return to, she let the winds carry her to France, where she lived as a refugee for ten years. A breakthrough came after she emigrated to the United States in 1956 with her husband Paul Korwin and their two children, Danielle and Robert. In 1965 she enrolled at Queens College, where she majored in French Literature with a minor in Art. She eventually earned her BA degree Magna Cum Laude, then a Masters degree Summa Cum Laude. She went on to author six books. Korwin's first published work was a library tool, the two-volume Index to Two-Dimensional Art Works in Books, published in 1981 by Scarecrow Press. Her first collection of poems, To Tell the Story: Poems of the Holocaust, was published in 1987 by the Holocaust Library. Her poetry has also been published in literary journals, anthologies, textbooks, and has been set to classical music. Korwin considered herself to be a more traditional poet and especially favored the sonnet, which, she said, allows the poet to say all one needs in just fourteen lines, without unnecessary verbosity. Her books are available through amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and other major book retailers.

Dawn, a watercolor

Dusk, a watercolor

Thanksgiving Mood, a watercolor



Morning Marina, a watercolor



Evening Marina, a watercolor

Frenzy, a cardboard print

Hunters, a hydrocal

And So On, a watercolor



History, colored pencils and collage

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