Buying Jewish
Paintings
I have a family that has commissioned me to find all of the
Jewish paintings I can find. He has given me no budget
constraints. I’m not sure why he doesn’t have guidelines
set up for me to follow; he just wants to amass a collection
quickly.
I found an oil on canvas that was a Jewish painting called
Jewish meeting. The artist was Amparo Cruz Herrera.
The artist is Spanish and this work exuded grace. I liked
it a lot. I purchased it for eight thousand
dollars. My benefactor was happy with the purchase.
My client made no distinction between Jewish paintings that
were of a religious nature and those that were only painted by
a Jewish person. I bought a rare Leon Bakst that was
dated 1910. His subject was a person in an exotic
costume. I’m not sure where my client plans to display
it.
The next Jewish painting I found for him was a cityscape in
oil of a deserted house in Veroia. This painting only
cost six thousand dollars. Veroia is a Jewish
neighborhood in northern Greece. I thought that this
painting was a little bit unsettling.
I found another good Jewish painting for my client.
The title of the painting was Juedisches Oesterreich Jewish
Austria and was created by Frank Ettenberg in 2004. The
person that sold me the painting said that the painting evoked
a feeling of the artist's state of being face to face with
nationalism, his ethnic identity and an existential
situation.
I found another Jewish painting I liked for four thousand
dollars. The oil painting called Birds of Paradise was
painted by Maurice Sterne. Sterne was a Jewish immigrant
from Russia. He was the first person to have a
retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He
exhibited 174 paintings, drawings and sculptures.
I found a Jewish painting of a cat that sold for thirty five
hundred dollars. The artist of this work was Wettingfeld
Zarojewski. I could not find any other work from this
artist at all. My client really liked it. He is
also a cat lover in addition to being a collector of Jewish
art.
There was a wonderful Jewish painting of a woman
seated. I fell in love with it on sight. The woman
depicted looks so reflective and comfortable. I feel at
ease just gazing at her.
I finally found a religiously significant Jewish painting
for my client. The artist was Joan Landis and the title
of the painting was Simhat Torah. This is the painting
that was used by Pomegranate Publishing for their 2003 calendar
and their greeting cards. I thought it was lovely.
I liked the Jewish painting by Joan Landis so much that I
sought out more of her work. I purchased two
paintings. One of the paintings was named Shabbat and the
other one was Mikveh. I took the three that I purchased
to my client and he fell in love with them. He asked me
to find more of her work.
I found more work by Joan Landis and I purchased every one I
came across. I found three more of the Jewish paintings
on eBay at reasonable prices. I purchased Shavuot, Purim
and Birth for three thousand dollars each. I felt like I
got a bargain.
I liked the colors in the Jewish painting I bought called
The Tailor Shop. This painting was created by Jacob
Glushakow. He was an active member of the Jewish
community in Baltimore. His parents were immigrants from
Russia at the start of WW1. He has a painting that is
still kept in the permanent collection of the Baltimore Museum
of Art.
I was fortunate to find two Jacob Glushakow Jewish paintings
on the same buying trip. The other painting I found was
entitled Barn in Maryland. I liked it a lot and my client
was very pleased with what I brought for him.
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