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Reuven Rubin (1893 - 1974) Romanian, Lithograph

Currency:USD Category:Art Start Price:200.00 USD Estimated At:400.00 - 800.00 USD
Reuven Rubin (1893 - 1974) Romanian, Lithograph
This is a biblical-themed lithograph by Reuven Rubin, a Romanian-born Israeli artist
who painted in the style of Marc Chagall and was Israel’s first ambassador to Romania.

He was born to a Hasidic family, one of thirteen children. In 1912 he left for Ottoman-
ruled Palestine to study art at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. A

year later he studied art in Paris. At the outbreak of World War I, he returned to
Romania, where he spent the duration of the war. In 1921, he traveled to New York City
with his friend and fellow artist, Arthur Kolnik; they met Alfred Stieglitz, who was
instrumental in organizing their first American show at a gallery in the city. Following the
exhibition, they returned to Europe, and in 1923, Rubin emigrated to Mandate Palestine.
Rubin’s Cezannesque landscapes from the 1920’s were both modern and naive; his
paintings reflected a spiritual, translucent light. In Palestine, he became one of the
founders of the new Eretz-Yisrael style. Recurring themes in his work were the bible, the
Prophets, the biblical landscape, folklore and people, including Yemenites, Hasidic Jews
and Arabs, and many of his paintings are sun-bathed depictions of Jerusalem and the
Galilee. Rubin was influenced by the work of Henri Rousseau, and he signed his works
with his first name in Hebrew and his surname in Roman letters.
This is a signed and numbered lithograph depicting an angel comforting a Moses-like
figure holding the Ten Commandments. It is numbered 12 of an edition of 150 in the
lower left and signed on the plate in the lower right. We believe the lithograph is printed
by Mourlot on Arches paper, but we have not removed the paper on the backside of the
lithograph to find out. The overall size is 36 3/4 x 30 in. wide and the sight size is
26 5/8 x 20 1/2 in. wide