Jim Dine: Jewish Fate

A lovingly illustrated poetic tribute to the hardware store of Jim Dine's youth

Jewish Fate is an evocative autobiographical poem by American artist Jim Dine (born 1939) accompanied by 18 lithographs of one of his favorite motifs--tools. Dine reminisces about his childhood days spent at his grandfather's hardware store in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked weekends and summers for ten years from the age of nine, sorting screws and opening barrels of nails to help out in the overflowing store.

Among the vivid memories of his former co-workers, one can trace the development of Dine's love for the aesthetics and utility of tools, the imagery of which continues to inform his artistic practices today. This longtime affection is seen in the drawings of hammers, rollers, brushes and wrenches depicted in this book, all realized in the artist's inimitable unfinished style.