Portrait of Saul Tchernichovski

Leonid Pasternak

1923

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Portrait painting of man wearing a suit and gazing toward the right with one hand tucked under his coat lapel. — Saul Tchernichovski (1875–1943) is considered one of the great modern Hebrew poets. His poems are part of the canon of Israeli literature, and his portrait appears on Israeli currency. Pasternak painted this portrait in 1923, when both men were living in Berlin, although Pasternak had painted Tchernichovski’s portrait several years before, in Russia. In 1921, Pasternak left Moscow, never to return, as he felt that the political situation would not allow him to continue his work as an artist. His post-impressionist style was not in fashion in Russia at the time, and he had greater prospects in Western Europe. His declining health and that of his wife also determined his decision to leave. He remained in Berlin until 1938.

Credits

Collection Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Gift of the artist, Berlin, 1935.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 8.

The Night before the Exam

Leonid Pasternak painted young men of the Moscow intelligentsia in student accommodations engaged in an evening study session fueled by tobacco and tea, with a bed depicted on the left and a samovar…

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Silver oval container of decorative leaf design and woven, embroidered case next to it.

De Pinto Etrog Container

During the holiday of Sukkot, four plant species are used in rituals in the synagogue. One of these is the etrog (citron). While containers to protect the etrog later became more common, they were…

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English text about Jewish history and pagan gods interspersed with images of a crowd of people on the horizon, someone chiseling an animal-head sculpture, and silhouetted figures talking.

The Story of the Jews: A 4,000-Year Adventure

From The Story of the Jews: A 4,000-Year Adventure, a comic strip history of the Jewish people from biblical times to the end of the twentieth century.

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Creator Bio

The impressionist painter Leonid Pasternak was born in Odessa and trained there and in Munich. In 1889, he settled in Moscow, where he taught at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture from 1894 to 1918. Although not a nationalist painter, he often painted Jewish subject matter and was close to Jewish intellectual circles, producing illustrations for publications of the Society for Jewish Folk Music. He moved to Berlin in 1921, leaving behind in Moscow his son, the poet and novelist Boris Pasternak, a convert to Russian Orthodoxy who shared none of his father’s Jewish interests. Leonid Pasternak lived in Berlin until 1938, when he fled to England, living first in London and then Oxford.

Details

Public Access

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