Yisakhar Ber Rybak (1897-1935), sketch of an illustrated title page for the calendar Jüdischer Illustrierter Kalender for the Hebrew year 5685 (1924-1925).
Pencil on paper.
Leaf: 18X11 cm. in a 34X27 cm frame. Good condition. Creases. Few stains. Minor blemishes to frame. Unexamined outside of frame.
Yisakhar Ber Rybak (1897-1935), native of Elisavetgrad, Russia (today Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine), painter, graphic artist, and sculptor; one of the most prominent artists of the Russian-Jewish avant-garde. Studied at the Academy of Art in Kiev and in the studio of Aleksandra Ekster. In 1915-16, he was a member of the ethnographic expedition, headed by Shlomo An-ski, that aimed to document the culture of the Jewish communities of Podolia and Volhynia, and, working side-by-side with El Lissitzky, he produced copy-sketches of tombstones and monuments and documented the popular art he observed in the wooden synagogues of villages in the Pale of Settlement. For Rybak, this experience marked the beginnings of an enduring love affair with themes borrowed from popular Jewish tradition, and these themes and motifs provided the elemental foundations for his future work. He became one of the most active and outspoken artists of the "Kultur Lige" ("Culture League"), and taught drawing in the school that operated under the auspices of its art division. In 1921, he moved to Berlin, where he joined the "November Gruppe" and participated in joint exhibitions with other member artists. Rybak subsequently returned briefly to the Soviet Union and then moved to Paris, where he died in 1935.
Provenance: The Estate of Yisakhar Ber Rybak.