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Reuven Rubin
Reuven Rubin (Hebrew: ראובן רובין, Yiddish: רובין זעליקאָװיטש; November 13, 1893 – October 13, 1974) was a Romanian-born Israeli painter and Israel's first diplomatic representative to Romania.
Reuven Zelicovici (later Reuven Rubin) was born in Galaţi to a poor Romanian Jewish Hasidic family. His father, Rebbe Yoel, served as a synagogue cantor and beadle, and his mother Faige, a rabbi's daughter, was married in an arranged match at the age of 15. Reuven was the eighth of 13 children, of whom only three survived. His artistic talent began to emerge at the age of three, while studying in cheder, a religious school for boys. Some of his paintings, sent in by his brother's friend, were published in a children's magazine, but his interest in art received no encouragement at home.
After creating a mizrah plaque for a synagogue in his hometown, he began to attraction attention and won a government prize. At the age of 15, he worked as a bookkeeper for a wine shop. A non-Jew who saw him working on a painting in the courtyard bought two of his paintings for the equivalent of $400. He persuaded the family to move to Falticeni, where his paternal grandmother lived. Here they had a small farm and their finances improved. In 1911, Dr. Adolf Stander, a Zionist leader, provided him with a scholarship and recommended that he study art at the Bezalel art school in Jerusalem.
In February 1912, he set out for Palestine but was not happy with the school's approach and being assigned to an ivory carving workshop. In 1913, he left for Paris, France, to pursue his studies at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. At the outbreak of World War I, he returned to Romania.
In 1921, he traveled to the United States with his friend and fellow artist, Arthur Kolnik, with whom he had shared a studio in Cernăuţi. In New York City, the two met artist Alfred Stieglitz, who was instrumental in organizing their first American show at the Anderson Gallery. Following the exhibition, in 1922, they both returned to Europe. In 1923, Rubin emigrated to Mandate Palestine.
Rubin met his wife, Esther, in 1928, aboard a passenger ship to Palestine on his return from a show in New York City. She was a Bronx girl who had won a trip to Palestine in a Young Judea competition.
The history of Israeli art began at a very specific moment in the history of international art, at a time of Cezannian rebellion against the conventions of the past, a time typified by rapid stylistic changes. Thus Jewish national art had no fixed history, and no canon to obey. Rubin began his career at a fortunate time.
The painters who depicted the country’s landscapes in the 1920s rebelled against Bezalel. They sought current styles in Europe that would help portray their own country’s landscape, in keeping with the spirit of the time. Rubin’s Cezannesque landscapes from the 1920s were defined by both a modern and a naive style, portraying the landscape and inhabitants of Israel in a sensitive fashion. His landscape paintings in particular paid special detail to a spiritual, translucent light.
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Reuven Rubin
Reuven Rubin (Hebrew: ראובן רובין, Yiddish: רובין זעליקאָװיטש; November 13, 1893 – October 13, 1974) was a Romanian-born Israeli painter and Israel's first diplomatic representative to Romania.
Reuven Zelicovici (later Reuven Rubin) was born in Galaţi to a poor Romanian Jewish Hasidic family. His father, Rebbe Yoel, served as a synagogue cantor and beadle, and his mother Faige, a rabbi's daughter, was married in an arranged match at the age of 15. Reuven was the eighth of 13 children, of whom only three survived. His artistic talent began to emerge at the age of three, while studying in cheder, a religious school for boys. Some of his paintings, sent in by his brother's friend, were published in a children's magazine, but his interest in art received no encouragement at home.
After creating a mizrah plaque for a synagogue in his hometown, he began to attraction attention and won a government prize. At the age of 15, he worked as a bookkeeper for a wine shop. A non-Jew who saw him working on a painting in the courtyard bought two of his paintings for the equivalent of $400. He persuaded the family to move to Falticeni, where his paternal grandmother lived. Here they had a small farm and their finances improved. In 1911, Dr. Adolf Stander, a Zionist leader, provided him with a scholarship and recommended that he study art at the Bezalel art school in Jerusalem.
In February 1912, he set out for Palestine but was not happy with the school's approach and being assigned to an ivory carving workshop. In 1913, he left for Paris, France, to pursue his studies at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. At the outbreak of World War I, he returned to Romania.
In 1921, he traveled to the United States with his friend and fellow artist, Arthur Kolnik, with whom he had shared a studio in Cernăuţi. In New York City, the two met artist Alfred Stieglitz, who was instrumental in organizing their first American show at the Anderson Gallery. Following the exhibition, in 1922, they both returned to Europe. In 1923, Rubin emigrated to Mandate Palestine.
Rubin met his wife, Esther, in 1928, aboard a passenger ship to Palestine on his return from a show in New York City. She was a Bronx girl who had won a trip to Palestine in a Young Judea competition.
The history of Israeli art began at a very specific moment in the history of international art, at a time of Cezannian rebellion against the conventions of the past, a time typified by rapid stylistic changes. Thus Jewish national art had no fixed history, and no canon to obey. Rubin began his career at a fortunate time.
The painters who depicted the country’s landscapes in the 1920s rebelled against Bezalel. They sought current styles in Europe that would help portray their own country’s landscape, in keeping with the spirit of the time. Rubin’s Cezannesque landscapes from the 1920s were defined by both a modern and a naive style, portraying the landscape and inhabitants of Israel in a sensitive fashion. His landscape paintings in particular paid special detail to a spiritual, translucent light.
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