Some 60 items relating to the work of the painter Saul Raskin. Ca. 1930s to 1960s. English, with some Yiddish and Hebrew.

The collection includes: • Invitation cards to Raskin's exhibitions and to various events held in his honor, including an invitation to a reception to welcome Raskin back to New York following a visit to Palestine (1946); invitations to events marking his birthdays; invitations to his exhibitions at the Hebraica gallery in New York; an invitation to a retrospective exhibition at the Mishkan LeOmanut Museum of Art at Kibbutz Ein Harod on the occasion of his 85th birthday (1963); and more. • Brochures for various exhibitions, and brochures advertising the publication of books dealing with Raskin's works. • Brief autobiographical summary, printed on glossy paper (English). • Article by Raskin on the subject of the Labor Legion in Migdal, typewritten (English). And more.
The collection also includes a small drawing in pencil, on lined paper: cello player (unsigned), and a number of handwritten items by Raskin, including: • A biographical information sheet. • A list titled "Jewish Art in Theory and Practice" (outline for a lecture?), written in pen on the back of a brochure advertising the launch of a new portfolio comprising 20 color reproductions and titled "Saul Raskin: Twenty Full Color Plates" (1953). • Brief letter, signed, written on a printed brochure advertising the publication of Raskin's book, "Saul Raskin: 125 Paintings, Drawings, Etchings" (ca. 1938).

Size and condition vary.

Saul Raskin (1878-1966), born in Nogaisk (today Prymorsk, Ukraine), and trained in the art of lithography in Simferopol, Crimea. Wandered throughout Europe and studied art in Odessa, Germany, Switzerland, France, and Italy. Immigrated to the United States in 1904, where, among other things, he produced caricatures and cartoons for Yiddish journals, and illustrations for books. He also taught art and served as an art critic. At the age of 43, following a visit to Palestine – a deeply moving experience in his life – he began his career as a professional painter. Many of his works focused on Jewish tradition; these included illustrations for the Mishnaic "Ethics of the Fathers", the Passover Haggadah, and the Five Megilloth. Raskin was regarded as one of the greatest of American Jewish painters. He self-identified as a Zionist, visited Palestine and the State of Israel a number of times, and painted works that featured its landscapes and inhabitants.

32 drawings by Ruth Schloss (1922-2013).
Watercolor, pen, charcoal, India ink and felt pen on paper.
Most of the drawings are individual or group portraits. Other drawings depict animals, views and workers at work. Two of the drawings are signed "Ruth Schloss" (Hebrew).

Ruth Schloss (1922-2013) was born in Nuremberg and immigrated to Palestine with her family in 1935. At sixteen she began her studies at Bezalel, then joined the group of founders of Kibbutz Lehavot HaBashan. Schloss devoted her talents to the art and printing enterprises of the kibbutz movement, working as an illustrator for the "Mishmar Liladim" newspaper, and as a book cover designer for "Sifriyat Poalim". From ca. 1950 to 1952 she studied art at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, and after returning to Israel she left her kibbutz, due to the rift in the Kibbutz Movement. Schloss was a member of the Communist Party and her paintings, in the style of Social Realism, often conveyed a socialist message of exposing societal power relations and class distinctions. She painted the weaker members of society – downtrodden women, hungry children, workers and residents of transit camps. Later, she turned to the lives of women, to the helplessness of birth and the decline of old age – all of which she painted with the sensitivity of a woman seeing human-beings rooted in their surroundings, as the poet Nathan Zach wrote of her – "her motto remained the same over the years. Life itself. Without any embellishment".

Approx. 20.5X14.5 to 25X35 cm. Good overall condition. Stains. Few tears and small open tears along the edges of some leaves. Pieces of paper for reinforcement on verso of one work, at the corners.

References:
1. Broader Horizons, 120 Years of Israeli Art, from the Ofrat Collection to the Levin Collection. Selected Works, Part II, by Gideon Ofrat. Jerusalem: Vienna-Jerusalem Foundation for Israeli Art, 2013. Hebrew.
2. Ruth Schloss, Retrospective. Curator: Tali Tamir. Mishkan Museum of Art, Ein Harod website. Hebrew.