The Schatz Memorial Exhibition
Boris Schatz was born to a traditional family living in the small Latvian village of Vorno. For five years, from the age of fifteen, he lived in Vilna, then Russia. There he studied, both in a yeshiva and an art school. The few sketches that remain of that period prove that Schatz even then was interested in history and Jewish genre subjects. In 1889, on the recommendation of the sculptor Godewski he travelled to Paris. There he studied with the romantic realistic sculptor Antokolsky and attended the painting atelier of Cormon. In 1895 he responded to an invitation to work for the Royal Bulgarian Court, and to head the Royal Academy there. During ten productive years he created monuments, sculptures and paintings. In 1903 he became acquainted with Herzl and returned to sculpting Jewish subjects. All this while he was preparing his great dream of living in Israel and establishing an art school and museum in Jerusalem.
This great hope was immediately realized on his arrival here in 1906. He strived to create a Jewish Art and attempted to influence well known artists to come and work in Jerusalem. He set up both art and crafts departments and from then on his life was dedicated to this great project. Constant financial pressures limited his activities. Frequent visits abroad were made to enlist help for Bezalel. Works of Jewish ceremonial art were collected for the Museum and to this day form an important nucleus of its present collection.
Boris Schatz died in Denver, Colorado, during a trip in the U.S.A. where he was visiting to interest people in the Bezalel.
The Schatz memorial exhibition marks thirty years since his death. In 1933 an even larger show of the artist’s work was on view at the Bezalel National Museum, the institution which Schatz founded and fought for all his life. At that time photographs and documents supplemented the exhibition and they showed Schatz as a pioneer in the development of art in Israel.
The present exhibition is limited to the artist as a sculptor and painter. However, it is retrospective in a historical sense. The Bezalel National Museum feels that this time the artistic side of Schatz should be emphasized. The viewer, we believe, will more sympathetically understand the problems that faced Schatz over fifty years ago as a European artist working in a cultural vacuum, whose intention was to create an art tradition. The exhibition also offers the not too frequent opportunity of viewing the artist’s life work.
Only a few of Schatz’s works created before his arrival here, done primarily in Bulgaria, are on show. However, in the exhibition we stress his portraits of famous Zionists and Biblical figures in which we see Schatz as a true Jewish artist. He was the first to see in the renaissance of Jews in Israel the vital background for the creation of a Jewish art-style. This is the basis of Schatz’s creative drive which eventually brought him to a parallel development, the need to make people in this country art-conscious by having them become craftsmen and by setting himself up as an example of a serious artist who daily is confronted with purely aesthetic problems.
In this way Professor Schatz formulated the “Bezalel” idea and also lived the life of an artist. Doing so he became the corner-stone of art in Israel.
The Bezalel National Museum wishes to thank all those that helped in making this long awaited exhibition a reality. To Mrs. Rahel Yanait Ben-Zvi, wife of the President of the State of Israel, special thanks for heading the Honorary Committee.
Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem
Dear Mrs. Schatz,
Thank you for your letter of November 19, 1962 in which you inform me regarding the opening of a retrospective memorial exhibition of your late husband’s work. Prof. Baruch Schatz.
The deep friendship we had for each other since our arrival in this country is well known. Therefore, I was delighted to learn that his friends and admirers have joined in setting up an exhibition of his work to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of his death.
Your husband’s contribution to Jewish art in general and to Israeli art in particular was tremendous. Prof. Schatz was the first artist that conceived as well as executed his Zionist ideal in his own way as a Jewish artist even before the Second Aliyah over fifty years ago. He trained teachers and through them students. His name will live for generations.
Very sincerely,
Y. Ben-Zvi
(signed)
The Schatz Memorial Exhibition
Boris Schatz was born to a traditional family living in the small Latvian village of Vorno. For five years, from the age of fifteen, he lived in Vilna, then Russia. There he studied, both in a yeshiva and an art school. The few sketches that remain of that period prove that Schatz even then was interested in history and Jewish genre subjects. In 1889, on the recommendation of the sculptor Godewski he travelled to Paris. There he studied with the romantic realistic sculptor Antokolsky and attended the painting atelier of Cormon. In 1895 he responded to an invitation to work for the Royal Bulgarian Court, and to head the Royal Academy there. During ten productive years he created monuments, sculptures and paintings. In 1903 he became acquainted with Herzl and returned to sculpting Jewish subjects. All this while he was preparing his great dream of living in Israel and establishing an art school and museum in Jerusalem.
This great hope was immediately realized on his arrival here in 1906. He strived to create a Jewish Art and attempted to influence well known artists to come and work in Jerusalem. He set up both art and crafts departments and from then on his life was dedicated to this great project. Constant financial pressures limited his activities. Frequent visits abroad were made to enlist help for Bezalel. Works of Jewish ceremonial art were collected for the Museum and to this day form an important nucleus of its present collection.
Boris Schatz died in Denver, Colorado, during a trip in the U.S.A. where he was visiting to interest people in the Bezalel.
The Schatz memorial exhibition marks thirty years since his death. In 1933 an even larger show of the artist’s work was on view at the Bezalel National Museum, the institution which Schatz founded and fought for all his life. At that time photographs and documents supplemented the exhibition and they showed Schatz as a pioneer in the development of art in Israel.
The present exhibition is limited to the artist as a sculptor and painter. However, it is retrospective in a historical sense. The Bezalel National Museum feels that this time the artistic side of Schatz should be emphasized. The viewer, we believe, will more sympathetically understand the problems that faced Schatz over fifty years ago as a European artist working in a cultural vacuum, whose intention was to create an art tradition. The exhibition also offers the not too frequent opportunity of viewing the artist’s life work.
Only a few of Schatz’s works created before his arrival here, done primarily in Bulgaria, are on show. However, in the exhibition we stress his portraits of famous Zionists and Biblical figures in which we see Schatz as a true Jewish artist. He was the first to see in the renaissance of Jews in Israel the vital background for the creation of a Jewish art-style. This is the basis of Schatz’s creative drive which eventually brought him to a parallel development, the need to make people in this country art-conscious by having them become craftsmen and by setting himself up as an example of a serious artist who daily is confronted with purely aesthetic problems.
In this way Professor Schatz formulated the “Bezalel” idea and also lived the life of an artist. Doing so he became the corner-stone of art in Israel.
The Bezalel National Museum wishes to thank all those that helped in making this long awaited exhibition a reality. To Mrs. Rahel Yanait Ben-Zvi, wife of the President of the State of Israel, special thanks for heading the Honorary Committee.
Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem
Dear Mrs. Schatz,
Thank you for your letter of November 19, 1962 in which you inform me regarding the opening of a retrospective memorial exhibition of your late husband’s work. Prof. Baruch Schatz.
The deep friendship we had for each other since our arrival in this country is well known. Therefore, I was delighted to learn that his friends and admirers have joined in setting up an exhibition of his work to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of his death.
Your husband’s contribution to Jewish art in general and to Israeli art in particular was tremendous. Prof. Schatz was the first artist that conceived as well as executed his Zionist ideal in his own way as a Jewish artist even before the Second Aliyah over fifty years ago. He trained teachers and through them students. His name will live for generations.
Very sincerely,
Y. Ben-Zvi
(signed)