Julius Rosenbaum 1897-1956
Portrait of Charlotte
oil on canvas
80 x 52
(lower left) 'Julius Rosenbaum'
1987-341
@Julius Rosenbaum estate
Photo: Bridgeman images
The sitter, Charlotte Melnikov (née Nissen), wife of Russian-born sculptor, Avram Melnikov, was also a painter and exhibited with Ben Uri in 1948. Julius Rosenbaum's wife Adele Reifenberg also painted...
The sitter, Charlotte Melnikov (née Nissen), wife of Russian-born sculptor, Avram Melnikov, was also a painter and exhibited with Ben Uri in 1948. Julius Rosenbaum's wife Adele Reifenberg also painted Charlotte, probably in the same sitting, and both portraits were exhibited at Ben Uri in 1950.Rosenbaum worked in a realistic expressive style and one reviewer (Barbara Wright, Arts Review, 14.10.57) remarked of his 1957 Memorial exhibition at Ben Uri Gallery that there was 'no gaiety' in his work - which she attributed to his experience as a refugee. His 'Portrait of Charlotte' challenges this remark, however, for despite the sitter's unsmiling expression, the bold palette and expressive brushstrokes conjur a lively presence.
Provenance
presented by Dr. Alec Lerner and Lord Marks, 1950Exhibitions
Julius Rosenbaum 1879-1956 Memorial Exhibition;Paintings, Drawings etc., by Julius Rosenbaum 1903-1949, Adele Reifenberg 1915-1949, Ruth Collet (Recent Work);Migrations: masterworks from the Ben Uri CollectionLiterature
'Finchleystrasse: German artists in exile in Great Britain and beyond 1933-45' (London: Ben Uri Gallery and Museum in association with the German Embassy London, 2018), p. 43.; Walter Schwabe and Julia Weiner, eds., Jewish Artists: the Ben Uri Collection - Paintings, Drawings, Prints and Sculpture (London: Ben Uri Art Society in association with Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd, 1994), p. 89.2
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