Untitled (The Blessing)
Object numberM2025/082:004
TitleUntitled (The Blessing)
Creator Perle Hessing (artist)
DescriptionPerle Hessing, Untitled (The Blessing), Oil on canvas, signed and dated 1986.
The painting depicts a domestic Jewish ritual rendered in a stylized, folk-art manner. This scene likely represents the tradition of Birkat HaBanim (the blessing of the children), often given by a father (or parent) to his children on Friday night during Shabbat. The tallit, Sabbath candles and Kiddush cup anchor the moment in ritual; the angel introduces a spiritual element suggesting divine protection. The fruit basket may symbolise abundance, fertility and blessings for the future.
Self-taught, naive-style painter, Perle Hessing, draws on her Jewish faith, childhood memories, and personal story of survival. Born in 1908 in Poland, later settling in Australia in 1951, she began painting in her fifties, encouraged by Desiderius Orban (1884-1986), a Hungarian-Australian painter and art teacher. Her work is inspired by biblical stories from the Old Testament, folklore of shtetl life, Jewish rituals, as well as lived experience as a migrant. Her art is symbolic, blending narrative with personal and collective memory. Perle is the mother of artist Leonard Hessing (1931-2004), who was part of Australia's abstract expressionists. Keen to see how he might succeed in Europe, he ended up in London. She moved to the UK in circa 1973 where she died in 2001. In 2023, a collection of 24 paintings was generously donated to the Sydney Jewish Museum by her grandson, Theo Hessing.
The painting depicts a domestic Jewish ritual rendered in a stylized, folk-art manner. This scene likely represents the tradition of Birkat HaBanim (the blessing of the children), often given by a father (or parent) to his children on Friday night during Shabbat. The tallit, Sabbath candles and Kiddush cup anchor the moment in ritual; the angel introduces a spiritual element suggesting divine protection. The fruit basket may symbolise abundance, fertility and blessings for the future.
Self-taught, naive-style painter, Perle Hessing, draws on her Jewish faith, childhood memories, and personal story of survival. Born in 1908 in Poland, later settling in Australia in 1951, she began painting in her fifties, encouraged by Desiderius Orban (1884-1986), a Hungarian-Australian painter and art teacher. Her work is inspired by biblical stories from the Old Testament, folklore of shtetl life, Jewish rituals, as well as lived experience as a migrant. Her art is symbolic, blending narrative with personal and collective memory. Perle is the mother of artist Leonard Hessing (1931-2004), who was part of Australia's abstract expressionists. Keen to see how he might succeed in Europe, he ended up in London. She moved to the UK in circa 1973 where she died in 2001. In 2023, a collection of 24 paintings was generously donated to the Sydney Jewish Museum by her grandson, Theo Hessing.
Production date 1986
SubjectJewish life, Jewish artists, , family life
Object namepaintings
Dimensions
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum collection, donated by Theo Hessing.
In appreciation to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) for supporting this archival project.