The return of the wandering Jew(s) in Samuel Hirszenberg's art

Abstract

"Few Jewish artists of the turn of the twentieth century created works that became classics in their lifetime. One who did was Samuel Hirszenberg, the Lodz-born (1865) artist, who trained in Cracow, Munich, and Paris, and eventually came in October 1907 to teach at the fledgling Bezalel Art School in Jerusalem, where he died less than a year later. Hirszenberg's huge and haunting 'Wandering Jew' of 1899 (343 x 293 cm), which we revisit here, presently in the collection of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, is certainly one of the most dramatic paintings by a Jewish artist in the nineteenth century, and thus for good reason has been reproduced and discussed repeatedly in various publications. Indeed, the 'Wandering Jew' became one of the classic Zionist icons in the early Bezalel days..."

„Nekoliko jevrejskih umetnika s početka dvadesetog veka stvorilo je dela koja su postala klasika za njihovog života. Jedan od njih bio je Samuel Hiršenberg, umetnik rođen u Lođu (1865), koji se školovao u Krakovu, Minhenu i Parizu i od oktobra 1907. predavao u novonastaloj umetničkoj školi Bezalel u Jerusalimu, gde je umro za manje od godinu dana. Hiršenbergov ogroman i ekspresivni 'Lutajući Jevrejin' iz 1899. (343 x 293 cm) koji ovde ponovo posmatramo, trenutno u kolekciji Izraelskog muzeja u Jerusalimu, svakako je jedna od najdramatičnijih slika jevrejskog umetnika u devetnaestom veku, pa je s razlogom više puta reprodukovana i diskutovana u raznim publikacijama. Zaista, 'Lutajući Jevrejin' je postao jedan od klasičnih cionističkih ikona u ranim Bezalelovim danima...“