Portrait of Itzik Manger

Chaim Gliksberg

1950

Image

Portrait painting of a man who faces viewer and wears a suit and tie. — Chaim Gliksberg was well-known for his portraits of literary figures. Here, he has pictured Itzik Manger, the celebrated Yiddish poet and playwright. Manger was particularly renowned for his modernist ballads and stylized folk adaptations of the Hebrew Bible, notably, the Book of Esther. During World War II, Manger took refuge in England and finally settled in Israel in the late 1950s, where he found fame and an audience to a degree not enjoyed by other Yiddish writers. Gliksberg painted him in his signature style, one that reflected the influence of the work of French figurative artists such as Cézanne, Gaugin, and Matisse.

Credits

Private collection. © Estate of Chaim Gliksberg.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 9.

Sadie Salome, Go Home!

Verse 1Sadie Cohen left her happy homeTo become an actress lady,On the stage she soon became the rage,As the only real Salomy baby.When she came to town, her sweetheart MoseBrought for her around a…

View Source

Printed page of Yiddish text with image of boat on top and decorated margins.

The heading of this advertisement for an “excursion” offered by the Yiddish daily newspaper Forverts reads: “From where are you a landsman?” (i.e., What town did you come from in the old county?). It…

View Source

Drawing of a nine-fingered hand with a tree of ten circles on palm connected to a foot and centered in concave room covered in circular spiral motifs.

“Insist on yourself . . .” from the Series Great Ideas of Western Man

“Insist on yourself . . .” is from the series Great Ideas of Western Man, an innovative advertising campaign by the Container Corporation of America, which ran from 1950 to 1975. Its mission was to…

View Source

Engage with this Source

Creator Bio

Chaim Gliksberg

1904–1970

Raised in Odessa, painter Chaim Gliksberg began studying the visual arts after moving to Jerusalem in 1925. There he attended the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts, where he began painting portraits of his colleagues. Gliksberg’s style was heavily influenced by the avant-garde French painting of the period, which he first encountered in 1924 while living in Moscow. He spent the remainder of his career living and working in Tel Aviv, painting portraits, interior scenes, and street life of the city. In addition to cofounding the Association of Painters and Sculptors, Gliksberg also taught painting and exhibited frequently in museums across Israel. His A Street in Jerusalem was featured on an Israeli postage stamp, testifying to the importance of Gliksberg’s work to Israeli arts and culture.