Simeon Solomon 1840-1905
The Rabbi
charcoal on paper
51.2 x 34.2
and dated (lower right): S Solomon 1893
1987-390
Photo: Bridgeman images
Simeon Solomon's fascination with faith and the the aesthetic qualities of religious ritual often produced work featuring young men in idealised roles as rabbis, priest or acolytes rapt in mystical...
Simeon Solomon's fascination with faith and the the aesthetic qualities of religious ritual often produced work featuring young men in idealised roles as rabbis, priest or acolytes rapt in mystical contemplation. His young Rabbi is shown in synagogue with the ner tamid (everlasting light) behind him, holding a lulav (palm leaf), one of the four species (arbah minim) usually bound together, indicating that this is the festival of Succot. Although the three other plants used in the Succot ritual are missing from the picture, Solomon had probably not witnessed the celebrations since childhood. Nevertheless, his Jewish subject paintings have been called 'among the best of what is commonly called Jewish art, notwithstanding the fact that the artist, early in life, had become converted from nominal Jewish orthodoxy to a fervent Catholicism'. In 1920 The Rabbi and another charcoal drawing, Thou Shalt Not Tempt, then in the Ben Uri Collection, were reproduced in Renesans ('Renaissance'), the short-lived Yiddish journal, which ran for six issues under the editorship of Leo Koenig (who also served on the Ben Uri council in this year), drawing on a cohort of writers and artists closely associated with Ben Uri.
Provenance
purchased with the assistance of Mosheh Oved 1918Literature
Rachel Dickson and Sarah MacDougall, eds., 'Out of Chaos: Ben Uri; 100 Years in London' (London: Ben Uri Gallery, 2015) pp. 16-17.; 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. 99.Be the first to know – Sign Up
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