Artist Alva
Accession number 1987-8
Alva’s “painting and graphic work moved between figuration and abstraction in a broadly expressionist style and often engaged with his Jewish faith.” After returning to London at the end of 1940 to find his studio destroyed by German bombs, he reviewed his pre-war paintings becoming aware that another chapter of his life had come to a close. As the subjects of his pre-war work were hardly suitable to the grim prospect before him, he began painting a series of Biblical images including ‘Ecclesiastes’, ‘Cain’, ‘Isaiah’, ‘Jeremiah’, ‘Elijah’ and ‘Saul’.
His ‘Moses’ is depicted high in the mountains looking down over the river Jordan, which Joshua will later cross together with the People of Israel when they enter the Promised Land. Moses is prevented from entering the Promised Land himself because of his actions earlier in the Israelites’ wilderness wanderings. In this image, he is both looking forward – his beard mirroring the river that his people must cross – and back as he reflects, in a predominantly dark space on the trials he has endured in the Exodus. We can suppose a high degree of empathy from Alva with this Moses in this place where he reviews his life and actions before his death.
How does it feel to be the one to liberate your people but then to spend the remainder of your life on the journey from slavery to the edge of the Promised Land? In this image, Alva suggests an answer to that question.
