Maltz Museum Presents Boris Lurie: Nothing To Do But To Try, Opening October 18

CLEVELAND, OHIO (OCTOBER 12, 2026) – The Maltz Museum invites visitors to experience the remarkable story and art of Holocaust survivor Boris Lurie in Boris Lurie: Nothing To Do But To Try, on view October 18, 2026 through January 27, 2027. This first-of-its-kind exhibition explores the life and work of Lurie (1924–2008), an acclaimed artist, writer and Holocaust survivor who turned to art to confront devastating trauma, haunting memories and a lifelong quest for freedom. Featuring more than 200 artworks and archival objects, including never-before-exhibited personal materials, the exhibition offers a rare and intimate look at how one survivor used creative expression to bear witness to history.   Born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Russia, in 1924, Boris Lurie moved with his family to Riga, Latvia, when he was just one year old. He was 16 when Nazi forces occupied Riga in 1941. His grandmother, mother, sister and girlfriend were among approximately 25,000 Jews murdered in the Rumbula Massacre. Lurie and his father survived years of forced labor and imprisonment in concentration camps before their liberation in 1945. After arriving in New York the following year, Lurie began creating paintings and drawings that gave visual form to his experiences during the Holocaust.   His earliest body of work, known as the “War Series,” captures haunting memories of imprisonment, forced labor, loss and survival. Created largely in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust, these deeply personal works remained private throughout his lifetime.   “At the Maltz Museum, we are committed to sharing compelling stories that bring history to life and help audiences connect the past to the world we live in today,” said Aaron Petersal, Executive Director of the Maltz Museum. “By bringing visitors face-to-face with Lurie’s art and personal archive, this exhibition offers a powerful opportunity to encounter one survivor’s experience and consider how memory continues to shape the way we understand ourselves and one another.”   Moving through five chapters of Lurie’s life, visitors will encounter his story through the art and objects he left behind, from family photographs carried through the war and haunting paintings and drawings created in its aftermath to diaries, correspondence, archival documents and later works that reveal how memories of Riga and the Holocaust continued to shape his art decades later.   Exhibition highlights include:

• Lurie’s “War Series,” nearly 100 paintings and drawings created primarily in 1946 as he grappled with his wartime experiences. The works depict concentration camp scenes, forced labor, barbed-wire landscapes, distorted figures, nightmares and portraits. Lurie did not exhibit the deeply personal series during his lifetime.
• Roll Call in Concentration Camp (1946), which draws upon Lurie’s memories of imprisonment and the daily realities of camp life. Other drawings depict forced factory labor, encounters with guards and camp-wide alerts.
• Original photographs of Lurie and his family in prewar Riga that he managed to keep throughout the war, some still visibly creased from having apparently been carried folded in a pocket.
• Personal archival materials, including diaries, correspondence, photographs and documents that reveal Lurie’s lifelong efforts to preserve Holocaust history and confront his own memories. The exhibition’s title comes from Lurie’s own writing about teaching himself to paint: “since no one taught me anything about art, there is nothing to do but to try.” The words reflect a theme that would run throughout his life and work: survival as an act of creation, and creation as an act of survival.

  Boris Lurie: Nothing To Do But To Try invites visitors to reflect on the human consequences of hatred, the importance of preserving personal histories and the enduring power of art to foster understanding and connection. The exhibition is on view October 18, 2026 through January 27, 2027, concluding on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It is organized by the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust with the Boris Lurie Art Foundation and curated by Sara Softness, Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.   Organized by the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust with the Boris Lurie Art Foundation, Boris Lurie: Nothing To Do But To Try is presented in Cleveland by the Maltz Museum.

EXHIBITION SEASON SPONSORS

Leadership Season Sponsor The Milton and Tamar Maltz Family Foundation

Impact Season Sponsor Audrey and Albert Ratner Susan and Dean Trilling

BORIS LURIE: NOTHING TO DO BUT TO TRY SPONSORS

Presenting Exhibition Sponsor Boris Lurie Art Foundation

Exhibition Sponsor Noreen Koppelman-Goldstein and Barry Goloboff Rita and Bruce Mandel The Fernanda and Josef Friedman Holocaust Education Fund The Maurice Saltzman Youth Panel of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland

COMMUNITY PARTNER IN HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE

 

Sponsors current as of 9/28/26

  About the Maltz Museum The Maltz Museum explores the kaleidoscope of the American experience, using the courageous lessons of Jewish history as well as those of other individuals that have thrived despite marginalization, to advocate for a world that builds understanding and connection.