This trail starts here

Boris Zaborov was born in Minsk, Belarus. He studied art in Minsk, St Petersburg, and Moscow, and has been living in Paris since 1980 where he now works. His early work, before his departure from the Soviet Union, includes book illustration, notably Oscar Wilde’s Fairy Tales. Such books reflect not only his talent but also his sense of the Word.

Zaborov says that his bronze and platinum sculpture, Books and the Written Word, “is a fitting monument to the importance of the book to Jews – the People of the Book.” It depicts a book – the height of human civilization, now so commonly mass-produced in pocket form – from which letters in various alphabets emerge. The huge sculpture stands 2.8 m high, weighing around four tons, and is situated on a concrete base according to architects Shaul Kaner’s and Michael Seltser’s specifications.

Gift of Leonid and Alexandra Raiz