Tradition! The Fiddler painting stays in the house

(From left: unidentified baby, brother Mathew, mommy holding baby Emily)

I've moved more than 10 times since I left the loving homestead of my youth at age 18. I've lived with dorm-mates, best friends, boyfriends, and a few crazies I'd like to forget.

In all these moves things get lost or grow out of fashion. Furniture dirtied, pictures torn, plates broken. But the one constant has been a giant wood-framed painting depicting a scene from "Fiddler on the Roof." Indeed, the paintings is literally the fiddler upon his rooftop. The piece is bright, with huge swathes of orange and yellow dancing between the black-bearded characters and pointy-roofed home. I am fully aware that it is not a traditionally attractive painting.

Despite this, it has always given me great comfort. It was hung on the wall of my very first house, where I lived as a tiny child in Sacramento — then sat in the upper barracks of the family garage, shrouded in black plastic bags, upon our move to Orange County. There it sat until the day it was sprung free, upon my graduation from high school a decade later.

In appreciation of my humble painting, I've decided to go to the source, and grill my mother about its origins. She knew little, but I enjoyed her answer so I'll present it to you here.

Emily: Where did you get it and when? What motivated you to purchase such a piece?

Ma: We got the Fiddler on one of our first anniversaries at a mall in Sacto (probably 1978 or 1979). It was on display at an art show.  Sorry, but I do not know the artist. I fell in love with it due to the sentimental feelings I've always had for Fiddler on the Roof - Nana loved the musical and I know all the words to all the songs!  When I saw it I just had to have it even though we really couldn't afford it at the time.  I think it cost about $50 which was an absolute fortune to us in our early married years.  It hung over the couch in our living room on Sailboat Way and it was beloved.  However, when we moved down here in the early 1980's it was relegated to a garage because it just didn't work with our taste anymore.  No way could I get rid of it though!

NOTE: My reason for writing this entry is two-fold. I would like to pay tribute to family tradition and I also would like to somehow track down the artist. Does this painting look remotely familiar to you?  If this is your painting, or you know the person who created it, please contact me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). You've got a fan and should be appropriately thanked.

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