Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery of the Washington DCJCC shows Yefim Ladyzhensky

Sunday, 16 September 2007 11:47

Washington, DC - A new exhibition of engaging paintings and works on paper by Yefim Ladyzhensky reflects the Soviet artist’s mastery of color and composition. It also reveals his unhappiness under the Soviet system and his loneliness after he immigrated to Israel in the late 1970s. “Reconciling Worlds: The Work of Soviet Artist, Yefim Ladyzhensky” at the Washington DC Jewish Community Center’s Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery. The exhibition continues through Dec 30.

Born in Odessa in 1911, Ladyzhensky got his start as a scenic designer for plays and films. Later, he created many series of compositions including his temperas inspired by Russian author Isaak Babel’s book Red Cavalry, scenes from the Lyublin Cemetery in Moscow and his naïve, and sometimes humorous, oil painting series entitled, “Growing Up in Odessa.”

Ladyzhensky immigrated to Israel in 1978, hoping to find a supportive community of fellow artists and intellectuals. Instead, feeling underappreciated and misunderstood, he became seriously depressed, yet continued to produce art works. His feelings of rootlessness are reflected in his work from that period. Ladyzhensky committed suicide in 1982, only a few years after leaving the Soviet Union in favor of what, he had hoped, would be a better life in the Israel.

The exhibition draws attention to Ladyzhensky’s identities as a Jew, an artist and part of an elite group of Soviet artists and intellectuals as well as his skill working with various media, content and style. “Reconciling Worlds” features 18 paintings and works on paper.

“Through this exhibition of Ladyzhensky’s art, we are able to look though a window into Soviet censorship in the 20th century and the artist’s own feelings of isolation after immigrating to Israel, not always with sorrow, but with a hint of humor and innocence,” said gallery director and curator Wendy Fergusson.

The exhibition is divided into four sections. “Odessa” features colorful tempera and oil paintings based on childhood memories of Odessa’s street scenes as well as family and community life. “Red Cavalry” includes enchanting paintings on the themes of the stories of Isaac Babel. The third section, “Non-Jewish Jew,” (named for a 1950s essay by writer Isaac Deutscher) includes artworks that reflect Ladyzhensky’s internal conflict created by being a Soviet intellectual and artist as well as a secular Jew. And “Eternal Jew” (a commentary on the 1940 Nazi propaganda film) reflects the artist’s last meditations on life and personal identity through a series of self portraits, some of which foreshadow the artist’s suicide at the age of 70.

Programs and Publication

In conjunction with “Reconciling Worlds,” the Washington DCJCC will offer several public programs in October and November including a series of silent films from Odessa (as part of the Washington Jewish Film Festival) and a reading of excerpts from Babel’s Red Cavalry. Visit www.washingtondcjcc.org/center-for-arts/gallery or call (202) 777-3208 for information. In addition, a free brochure with color illustrations will be available in the gallery.

The Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery is open Sunday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. The Washington DCJCC, located in the nation’s capital and serving residents of the metropolitan area, is located at 16th and Q streets, N.W., four blocks east of the Dupont North Metro station. For information the Washington DCJCC’s contact (202) 518-9400 or www.washingtondcjcc.org .