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Jewish Painters of Montreal refers to a group of artists who depicted the social realism of Montreal during the 1930s and 1940s. First used by the media to describe participants of the annual YMHA-YWHA art exhibition, the term was popularized in the 1980s by art historian and curator Esther Trepannier.〔Trépanier, Esther. ''Jewish Painters of Montreal: Witnesses of their Time 1930-1948''. Montreal: Éditions de l’Homme, 2008.〕 Since then these artists have been exhibited collectively in public galleries across Canada. In 2009 the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec mounted a touring exhibition ''Jewish Painters of Montreal: a Witness to their time 1930-1948''〔McCord Museum of Canadian History. (Exposition Announcement 2010 )〕 which renewed interest in the group in Montreal,〔Callaghan, Lori "Witnesses to a bygone Montreal" ''The Gazette (Montreal)''. 27 Feb. 2010. (Web. )〕 Toronto,〔Kreindler, David.(Artists Find a Haven in Montreal. ) Shalom Life Feb 22 2010. Web.〕 and Vancouver.〔Novek, Joel. ("Jewish Painters of Montreal: a Witness to their time" ''The Outlook''. Vancouver Jul-Aug 2010. Web. )〕 This collective included two generations of painters — established artists: Jack Beder (1910-1987), Alexandre Bercovitch (1891-1951), Eric Goldberg (1890-1959), Louis Muhlstock (1904-2001); those in mid-career: Sam Borenstein (1908-1969), Herman Heimlich (1904-1986), Harry Mayerovitch (1910-2004), Bernard Mayman (1885-1966), Ernst Neumann (1907-1956), Fanny Wiselberg (1906-1986); and those just beginning: Sylvia Ary (1923-2011), Rita Briansky (1925), Ghitta Caiserman-Roth (1923-2005), Alfred Pinsky (1921-2000), and Moses “Moe” Reinblatt (1917-1979).〔Trépanier, Esther. ''Jewish Painters of Montreal: Witnesses of their Time 1930-1948''. Montreal: Éditions de l’Homme, 2008. p28.〕 As a group during the 30s and 40s, they were united in their choice of subjects — the human figure, Montreal and its people, and the war.〔 As individual artists, their style varied from socialist realism to stylized expressionism with some the subject of recent museum exhibitions in Montreal, Ottawa or New York. == History == These artists were either new arrivals from Eastern Europe or children of immigrants from that region. All were trained artists with a deep appreciation of impressionism and post-impressionism.〔Callaghan, Lori. ''Visual Arts from Painting to Performance Collectives'', ("The seeds of a community" ) English Language Arts Network (ELAN). Web.〕 Most lived east of Mount Royal in Montreal's Jewish neighbourhood where, by 1926, Bercovitch, Mulstock and Reinblatt met informally at Bernard Mayman’s sign store on St Lawrence Boulevard.〔Trépanier, Esther. ''Jewish Painters of Montreal: Witnesses of their Time 1930-1948''. Montreal: Éditions de l’Homme, 2008. p219.〕 Following the opening of the new YMHA (Young Men's Hebrew Association) on Mount Royal Avenue in 1929, the group became associated with its annual art exhibition. As the Depression of the 1930s deepened, many of these artists found themselves in reduced circumstances. Louis Mulstock used discarded sugar sacks as canvas, while in 1936 Bercovitch took a teaching position at the YWHA (Young Women's Hebrew Association). There he instructed a new generation of artists including daughter Sylvia Ary, Ghitta Caisserman and Rita Briansky,〔Trépanier, Esther. ''Jewish Painters of Montreal: Witnesses of their Time 1930-1948''. Montreal: Éditions de l’Homme, 2008. p221〕 all of whom included in the annual YMHA-YWHA art exhibition. Although there were discussions on creating a formal organization of Jewish Artists, as Bercovitch, Goldberg, Muhlstock, Mayervitch and Reinblatt were members of the 1938 Eastern Group of Painters and/or the 1939 Contemporary Arts Society, they were prohibited from other affiliations.〔Trépanier, Esther. ''Jewish Painters of Montreal: Witnesses of their Time 1930-1948''. Montreal: Éditions de l’Homme, 2008. p275.〕 Many of these artists had socialistic leanings which was reflected in their art. Bercovitch had married Russian revolutionary Bryna Avrutick 1915〔 and was hired to teach art in Turkestan by Wassily Kandinsky, then the Soviet Commisaire for Art and Theatre, in 1922.〔 Muhlstock identified with the working class and referred to his imagery as “proletarian art”,〔Anreus, Alejandro, Linden, Diana L. and Weinberg, Jonathan. ''The Social and the Real: Political Art of the 1930s in the Western Hemisphere'' Penn State Press (Philadelphia). 2006. ISBN 978-0-271-02691-6 (Web. )〕 He later described his choice of subject matter as "something I had known and experienced and seen, and so it was the thing I wanted to express".〔Hill, Charles. "Interview with Louis Muhlstock (Artist) 15/09/1973". National Gallery of Canada (Web. )〕 Harry Mayerovitch wrote on social issues such as Montreal housing in the leftist ''Canadian Forum'' (Toronto): "Nothing has been done to alleviate the overcrowding of low wage earners; nothing to render slum property a less profitable investment; nothing to provide new housing for that shockingly large proportion of our population which lives in sub-standard dwellings ...".〔Mayerovitch, Harry. ''The Canadian Forum''. May 1940. National Gallery of Canada. ("Is Housing to Be Forgotten?" ) Web.〕 Of the younger generation, Caiserman (after 1964 Caiserman-Roth) was the daughter of Hananiah Meir Caiserman, a union organizer and Po’alei Zion (Labor Zionism) activist〔Jewish Women;s Archive ("Ghitta Caiserman-Roth". ) Web〕 while Alfred Pinsky was the son of an American communist leader.〔Trépanier, Esther. ''Jewish Painters of Montreal: Witnesses of their Time 1930-1948''. Montreal: Éditions de l’Homme, 2008. p263.〕 In the late 30s and early 40s, Caisserman, Pinsky and Briansky attended the Art Students League of New York where they studied under muralist Harry Sternberg of the Federal Art Project. In New York they were exposed to the work of Mexican artists Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco and the social purpose of art was debated in both America and Canada. In 1941, Reinblatt viewed Orozco's 1932 mural in New York on his honeymoon while in 1948 both Caiserman and Pinsky, then married, traveled to Mexico to study mural art.〔Trépanier, Esther. ''Jewish Painters of Montreal: Witnesses of their Time 1930-1948''. Montreal: Éditions de l’Homme, 2008. p264.〕 These artists also responded to the degradation of human rights in Nazi-Germany and Quebec's restrictive 1937 Padlock Law against socialist and communists.〔Herland, Karen. ("Reminiscing about Jewish Montreal". ) ''Concordia Journal.'' Concordia University. Web〕 During the 30s, Muhlstock who was a member of the Canadian League Against War and Fascism later commented: "Perhaps if the war wasn’t on I might not have gone in that direction, you see." As Canada's military commitment deepened, World War 2 became a topic for paintings, cartoons and political posters. Mayerovitch, appointed art director for the National Film Board of Canada in 1940, produced many soviet-style posters,〔Trépanier, Esther. ''Jewish Painters of Montreal: Witnesses of their Time 1930-1948''. Montreal: Éditions de l’Homme, 2008. p245.〕 while Reinblatt enlisted in the Royal Canadian Airforce in 1942 and was an official Canadian War Artist by 1944.〔ARTSask, (Moe Reinblatt ). Web〕 In 1945 Pinsky as union representative with the Royal Canadian Navy〔Trépanier, Esther. ''Jewish Painters of Montreal: Witnesses of their Time 1930-1948''. Montreal: Éditions de l’Homme, 2008. p207. ISBN 978-2761925310〕 also choose war as a subject matter, but like Mulstock and Reinblatt depicted the workers behind the war effort rather than combat. Muhlstock’s ''Female Worker, Rear View'' (1943), of a female worker dressed in coveralls depicted the gender equality of workers during the war years.〔 During the 30s and 40s, these artists exhibited in prominent venues of the day. All, with the exception of Sylvia Ary, exhibited at The Art Association of Montreal (now the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts annual exhibitions.〔 In the mid 30s Mulstock exhibited with the Canadian Group of Painters in Toronto and along with Beder, Bercovitch, Borenstein, Goldberg, Mayman, and Wiselberg with the Contemporary Arts Society of Montreal.〔Trépanier, Esther. ''Jewish Painters of Montreal: Witnesses of their Time 1930-1948''. Montreal: Éditions de l’Homme, 2008. p276.〕 By 1948 the more senior artists of the group: Beder, Bercovitch, Borenstein, Heimlich, Mayervitch, Muhlstock, Neumann, and Reinblatt had all exhibited with the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.〔 Members of this group were also represented in the 40s by Montreal gallerist Rose Millman first at Dominion Gallery and after 1948 at West End Gallery. After the YM-YWHA moved from the downtown core in 1950, West End Gallery increasingly served as a meeting place.〔Trépanier, Esther. ''Jewish Painters of Montreal: Witnesses of their Time 1930-1948''. Montreal: Éditions de l’Homme, 2008. p14.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jewish Painters of Montreal」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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