Art Off The Wall
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latest ramble.
Ramble 1
Buying Jewish Paintings
I have a family that has commissioned me to find all of the Jewish paintings I can find. He
has given me no budget constraints. I’m not sure why he doesn’t have guidelines set up for me to follow; he
just wants to amass a collection quickly.
I found an oil on canvas that was a Jewish painting called Jewish meeting. The artist was
Amparo Cruz Herrera. The artist is Spanish and this work exuded grace. I liked it a lot. I
purchased it for eight thousand dollars. My benefactor was happy with the purchase.
My client made no distinction between Jewish paintings that were of a religious nature and those
that were only painted by a Jewish person. I bought a rare Leon Bakst that was dated 1910. His subject
was a person in an exotic costume. I’m not sure where my client plans to display it.
The next Jewish painting I found for him was a cityscape in oil of a deserted house in
Veroia. This painting only cost six thousand dollars. Veroia is a Jewish neighborhood in northern
Greece. I thought that this painting was a little bit unsettling.
I found another good Jewish painting for my client. The title of the painting was Juedisches
Oesterreich Jewish Austria and was created by Frank Ettenberg in 2004. The person that sold me the painting
said that the painting evoked a feeling of the artist's state of being face to face with nationalism, his ethnic
identity and an existential situation.
I found another Jewish painting I liked for four thousand dollars. The oil painting called
Birds of Paradise was painted by Maurice Sterne. Sterne was a Jewish immigrant from Russia. He was the
first person to have a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He exhibited 174 paintings,
drawings and sculptures.
I found a Jewish painting of a cat that sold for thirty five hundred dollars. The artist of
this work was Wettingfeld Zarojewski. I could not find any other work from this artist at all. My
client really liked it. He is also a cat lover in addition to being a collector of Jewish art.
There was a wonderful Jewish painting of a woman seated. I fell in love with it on
sight. The woman depicted looks so reflective and comfortable. I feel at ease just gazing at her.
I finally found a religiously significant Jewish painting for my client. The artist was Joan
Landis and the title of the painting was Simhat Torah. This is the painting that was used by Pomegranate
Publishing for their 2003 calendar and their greeting cards. I thought it was lovely.
I liked the Jewish painting by Joan Landis so much that I sought out more of her work. I
purchased two paintings. One of the paintings was named Shabbat and the other one was Mikveh. I took
the three that I purchased to my client and he fell in love with them. He asked me to find more of her
work.
I found more work by Joan Landis and I purchased every one I came across. I found three more
of the Jewish paintings on eBay at reasonable prices. I purchased Shavuot, Purim and Birth for three thousand
dollars each. I felt like I got a bargain.
I liked the colors in the Jewish painting I bought called The Tailor Shop. This painting was
created by Jacob Glushakow. He was an active member of the Jewish community in Baltimore. His parents
were immigrants from Russia at the start of WW1. He has a painting that is still kept in the permanent
collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art.
I was fortunate to find two Jacob Glushakow Jewish paintings on the same buying trip. The
other painting I found was entitled Barn in Maryland. I liked it a lot and my client was very pleased with
what I brought for him and offered me a free life insurance policy as gratitude
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