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拍品专文
Isidor Kaufmann, perhaps the most important of the Jewish genre painters of the 19th century, was born in 1853 in Arad. His artistic career began at the age of twenty-one when he copied a head of Moses and displayed it in his parents' tobacconist shop. The drawing drew the attention of Baron Acxèl, the Arad chief of police, who convinced the young man's mother of the artistic talent of her son and offered to support the artist financially at the Budapest State School of Drawing. Kaufmann later attended the Imperial Academy of Visual Arts in Vienna, where he studied with Josef Trenkwald, a historical painter who was associated with the Nazarene movement.
Kaufmann's earliest paintings date from 1883-1884 and Viennese art dealer Frederick Schwartz, who represented many of Vienna's burgeoning artists, handled a majority of his work. The work presented by Schwartz's gallery was characterized by depictions of the simplicity of everyday life, all executed in small format and were painted with an amazing attention to detail. These paintings were highly sought-after by Jewish collectors during the artist's lifetime. 'Kaufmann glorified in the unshakable piety and the warm intimacy of the religious traditions of the shtetl. For him, this was something 'exotic' what he did not belong to... Kaufmann's painting fulfilled the function of reminding their owners of the world of their parents, and in particular of their grandparents, of a home they had left as children... Kaufmann's paintings became 'windows' through which the assimilated bourgeoisie in the capitals of central Europe could peer into their past' (G. T. Natter, 'Scribblings and Sugared Water', in Bilder des Weiner Makers, Isidor Kaufmann 1853-1921, Vienna, 1995, p. 37). Yeshiva boys, (as in the present lot), elderly scholars, (as in lot 51) and beautiful Jewish women feature prominently in these richly detailed panels.
The present painting depicts a young Talmudic scholar, a boy of about thirteen, seated on a bench bent over a large volume. He is dressed in a full-length kaftan and on his head is a tight-fitting black kippa. It can be assumed that the boy has already celebrated his bar mitzvah and probably attends a Talmudic school, a Yeshiva, where he receives higher religious training. He studies in a poor and austere environment, warmed by a small cast iron stove atop which sits the boy's meager meal of three apples. Logs to feed the small fire are scattered on the floor at the young boy's feet. In spite of the sparse furnishings, the scene is imbued with cozy, idyllic sentiment and it can be considered an intimate glimpse into Kaufmann's romanticizing view of Eastern European Judaism.
Kaufmann's earliest paintings date from 1883-1884 and Viennese art dealer Frederick Schwartz, who represented many of Vienna's burgeoning artists, handled a majority of his work. The work presented by Schwartz's gallery was characterized by depictions of the simplicity of everyday life, all executed in small format and were painted with an amazing attention to detail. These paintings were highly sought-after by Jewish collectors during the artist's lifetime. 'Kaufmann glorified in the unshakable piety and the warm intimacy of the religious traditions of the shtetl. For him, this was something 'exotic' what he did not belong to... Kaufmann's painting fulfilled the function of reminding their owners of the world of their parents, and in particular of their grandparents, of a home they had left as children... Kaufmann's paintings became 'windows' through which the assimilated bourgeoisie in the capitals of central Europe could peer into their past' (G. T. Natter, 'Scribblings and Sugared Water', in Bilder des Weiner Makers, Isidor Kaufmann 1853-1921, Vienna, 1995, p. 37). Yeshiva boys, (as in the present lot), elderly scholars, (as in lot 51) and beautiful Jewish women feature prominently in these richly detailed panels.
The present painting depicts a young Talmudic scholar, a boy of about thirteen, seated on a bench bent over a large volume. He is dressed in a full-length kaftan and on his head is a tight-fitting black kippa. It can be assumed that the boy has already celebrated his bar mitzvah and probably attends a Talmudic school, a Yeshiva, where he receives higher religious training. He studies in a poor and austere environment, warmed by a small cast iron stove atop which sits the boy's meager meal of three apples. Logs to feed the small fire are scattered on the floor at the young boy's feet. In spite of the sparse furnishings, the scene is imbued with cozy, idyllic sentiment and it can be considered an intimate glimpse into Kaufmann's romanticizing view of Eastern European Judaism.