The Rubin Museum in Tel Aviv Shows a Selection of Reuven Rubin Paintings

Written by Moshe Weizman Wednesday, 01 June 2011 23:12

Tel Aviv. Israel - The Rubin Museum is currently showing selected highlights from the museum's permanent collection, spanning Reuven Rubin's earliest works painted in Europe following the First World War, through his early Eretz-Israel art to his late, lyrical landscapes ot the 1960s and 1970s. The exhibition is on view until November 30th. Although born in Rumania and trained in art in Paris and Rumania, Reuven Rubin in many ways is a distinctly and distinctively Israeli artist. He studied briefly at the Bezalel School of Art in Jerusalem, and he exhibited in the first art exhibitions in Jerusalem in 1922. His exhibit of 1924 was the first one-man show in the Jerusalem exhibits, and his one-man show in 1932 launched the Tel Aviv Art Museum.

He designed scenery for Habimah, Israel’s National Theater, and Rubin was one of the first Israeli artists to achieve international recognition. Rubin served as Israel’s first ambassador to Rumania, from 1948-1950. His autobiography, "My Life—My Art", was published in 1969, and he received the Israel Prize in 1973 for his artistic achievement.

Most important, though, was Rubin’s attempt to create an indigenous style of art. Influenced heavily by the work of Henri Rousseau, he sought to fuse this style with Eastern nuances. Hence his custom of signing his first name in Hebrew and his surname in Roman letters. Among Rubin’s most memorable works are his paintings of the Yishuv, particularly his landscapes and his paintings of the Israeli worker. Biblical themes also occur frequently in his work. His work was extremely popular both at home and abroad, and if his later work was less complex and profound than his earlier productions, it did not lessen his popularity. Rubin painted Jerusalem throughout the 1920s', almost always in a wide panoramic view, as though mainaining a certain distance demanded by the artist's humility versus the magic of this elevated city. In his mind it always remained a legend. In his later depictions of Jerusalem from the 1930s' on and particularly following 1967 and the reunification of the old city, his poetic-mystic approach became more noticeable.

Rubin also painted many self-portraits throughout his life, whether in his native Rumania, in Paris, Tel Aviv, New York or Caesarea. He employed diversified techniques such as drawings, wood-cuts, watercolors, sculptures and oils. The self-portrait provides the artist with the possibility of a dialogue with himself, thereby examining his own self-awareness. It is also a point of departure for the observation of the world surrounding him, providing a "stage" for his own interpretation and self-expression. The still-life genre was certainly one of Rubin's favorites as attested by his many flower paintings as well as those depicting bowls of fruit, mostly pomegranates. These works express the new-found happiness in his new homeland, the land of Israel. It started with a single flower in a glass and it developed into rich and colorful bouquets. Another popular element which reappears in his early works are the goldfish in glass bowls introducing a local version of the Henri Matisse-like Mediterranean joie de vivre.

The Rubin Museum is an artist-house-museum in the historical heart of Tel Aviv, formerly the home of the painter Reuven Rubin, where he resided with his family and worked from 1946 until his death in 1974. Constructed in 1930, the house on 14 Bialik St. opened to the public as a museum in 1983. A choice selection from the Museum's permanent collection of Reuven Rubin's paintings has been on display, replaced periodically by guest exhibitions focusing on the early period of Israeli art. There are 4 floors in the Museum: the new children's workshop is located on the basement level, opening to the backyard. The street level floor houses the main gallery, as well as the entry hall and the Museum's shop. An additional gallery is located on the second floor, where the visitor will also find the library and reading room. Rubin's own studio, preserved as it was in his life time is located on the third floor. This floor also houses a biographical display of photos, documents and sketches unfolding Rubin's life-story, intertwined as it was with the local artistic and cultural scene. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.rubinmuseum.org.il

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