The Other Power

“This book is the story of the act of artistic creation,” wrote novelist A.B. Yehoshua about The Other Power. “It speaks of artistic creation, its attendant madness, its dissatisfaction and wonder.” He added, “The true content is…a description of one central experience, referred to here as ‘the other power’ or ‘the madness of art.'”

“To work is to submit to the domination or the will of some superior power, while being assailed every morning by a nameless despair.” This statement by Yehudit Hendel’s late husband, artist Zvi Mairovitch, epitomizes her work and is the essence of this book which does not fit into any category. It is, perhaps, a spiritual biography. The dominant images are of the painter and his “companions” – his paintings. Some he completed; some he chose to destroy; others remained blank white canvasses that he faced every day. By reconstructing the sights, sounds and episodes of the painter’s life, Hendel turns his work into a kind of metaphor of life and creation.

Poet Mordechai Geldman wrote that Hendel’s writing reminded him of “excellent chamber music.”