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Bidding Information
Lot #
13372
Auction End Date
1/24/2006 1:58:00 PM (mm/dd/yyyy)
Title Information
Title (English)
Maurycy Gottlieb 1856-1879
Title (Hebrew)
מאוריצי גוטליב 1856-1879
Author
[First Ed.]
City
Tel Aviv
Publisher
Karl Bernhut
Publication Date
1961
Collection Information
Independent Item
This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
Description Information
Physical
Description
40 reproductions, 345:250 mm., light age staining. A very good copy in the original slipcase.
Detailed
Description
Forty reproductions of assorted works by Maurycy Gottlieb (1856–1879), Polish painter. Born in Drohobycz, in eastern Galicia, he was the son of a prosperous owner of an oil refinery. At the age of 13, he studied at the art school in Lemberg, and three years later at the Vienna Academy. Later, under the influence of his teacher at the Cracow Academy, professor Jan Matejko, an ardent champion of Polish nationalism, Gottlieb turned from German to Polish subject matter. Gottlieb was subjected to anti-Semitic taunts, and painted a self-portrait called "Ahasuerus," which referred to the legend of the Wandering Jew who was shunned by everyone. In 1876 he received a prize at Munich for his painting, "Shylock and Jessica." The noted publisher Bruckmann then commissioned him to make twelve illustrations for a deluxe edition of Lessing's drama Nathan der Weise. Yielding to anti-Semitic pressure, Bruckmann canceled the commission after seven of the illustrations had been finished. Gottlieb's next major work, "Jews praying on the Day of Atonement," was stimulated by his studying Heinrich Graetz' History of the Jews. The picture caused a sensation in Jewish circles, and the Jewish press hailed it as a genuinely Jewish masterpiece. With the aid of a Viennese patron, Gottlieb went to Rome, where he again met his teacher Matejko, who greeted him as "the most hopeful disciple of Polish art, whom I greet as my successor." After a few months in Rome, Gottlieb went back to Cracow, where he died at the age of 23. Considering the fact that Gottlieb's career covered only four or five years, his extant work is remarkable both in quality and quantity. "Shylock and Jessica" is so well and richly painted that the theatricality of the scene is overlooked, and "Jews Praying on the Day of Atonement" (which embodies a self-portrait) is an indisputable masterpiece. Gottlieb was also an excellent portraitist. His portraits are gems of psychological penetration in an era that often beautified and falsified its sitters. His portraits of girls and elderly women have delicacy, lightness of touch, and charm.
Reference
Description
EJ
Associated Images
2 Images
(Click thumbnail to view full size image)
:
Order
Image
Caption
1
2
Listing Classification
Period
20th Century:
Checked
Location
Israel:
Checked
Subject
Other:
Art
Characteristic
First Editions:
Checked
Language:
Hebrew
Manuscript Type
Kind of Judaica
Art:
Checked
