Skip to main content
  • Design Credit: Kacy Ellis, Photo Credit: Wynn Myers. Dimensions: H 15 in. x W 10.5 in.
  • Design Credit: Jeremiah Brent Design, Photo Credit: Nicole Franzen. Dimensions: H 15 in. x W 10.5 in.
  • Design Credit: Sarah Shetter, Photo Credit: Boris Breuer. Dimensions: H 15 in. x W 10.5 in.
  • Want more images or videos?
    Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 6

Maurycy Trebacz
Old Jewish Shtetl Rabbi Charcoal Judaica Drawing World War II Era

C.1940

$1,000

About

Maurycy Trębacz (1861 – 1941) was one of the most popular Jewish painters in Poland in the late 19th and early 20th century. Many of his paintings were lost in the Holocaust, but a representative selection of his artwork survived.Trębacz died of starvation in the Litzmannstadt Ghetto during the Nazi German occupation of Poland. Maurycy Trębacz, along with Samuel Hirszenberg, Jakub Weinles, and Leopold Pilichowski, belonged to the first generation of Jewish artists in Poland who broke away from the religious prohibition on portraying a human figure (see below). The studies show his mastery of painting, his own unique style and great imagination. Trębacz was noted within the European art-world as a master portrait and landscape painter,[1] but above all he was also a rare chronicler of the contemporary Jewish life, depicting a world that is now lost. His popular subjects included praying Rabbis, old men, street and Jewish domestic scenes, and genre painting depicting the everyday side of life. His psychological portraits of Jews earned him the greatest popularity and critical acclaim, and influenced the work of other Jewish painters in Poland. Notably, Trębacz's oil painting "The Good Samaritan", reportedly stolen in 1904 at the World's Fair, was recently sold at auction at Sotheby's. Born in 1861 in Warsaw, the son of David Trębacz, a house painter, Maurycy (Mojżesz) at the age of 16 years was admitted to the school of drawing by professor Wojciech Gerson and Aleksander Kamiński. Three years later, with the support of Leopold Horowitz, he received a scholarship sponsored by lawyer Stanisław Rotwand, and moved to Kraków where he enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in the studios of Jan Matejko, Leopold Loeffler and Władysław Łuszczkiewicz. From 1882, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich with Sandor Wagner (until 1884) and received the grand silver medal there at the completion of his studies for the work "Martyrdom". Between 1889 and 1890, he studied in Paris at the Académie Colarossi. He lived and worked in Munich for 4 years before returning to Warsaw. Over time, Trębacz worked in Lviv and Drohobych, and eventually moved permanently to Łódź, where he founded and ran a private art school until September 1939. He is often criticized for giving in to popular demand later on in his career. Pressured by financial sponsors, he began to produce sentimental theme portraits pertaining to the bucolic life of country folk. Trębacz made his successful artistic début twice, first at the Munich Kunstverein, and then at the Krywult Salon in Warsaw as a 23-year-old painter. His another big success was the participation of painting "Good Samaritan" (1886, pictured) in a Kunstverein exhibition in Munich as well as at the I National Art Exhibition in Kraków and in Warsaw at the Zachęta Society for the Promotion of Fine Arts. The painting was also awarded a gold medal at the Universal World Exposition in Chicago. Subsequently, Trębacz also received a bronze medal at the Paris Universal World Exposition of 1889. "Good Samaritan" (1886), book engraving from painting by Maurycy Trębacz, Warsaw Maurycy Trębacz died of hunger in the Łódź Ghetto during the Holocaust in occupied Poland, and is buried at the Bracka Street Cemetery in Łódź, grave #490. His wife Pola (Perla) also died in the ghetto in 1941, at the age of 54. They had three children, Edward, Zofia and Bronisław. In the ghetto he lived in Limanowskiego 19 street. Soon after the war ended, some 70 paintings of Maurycy Trębacz (along with works of Izrael Lejzorowicz, Amos Szwarc, Mendel Grosman and others, wrote Dr. Cieślińska-Lobkowicz)[note 1] were located in Poland by Nachman Zonabend on behalf of the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction (JCR) and the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization (JRSO) from the United States. Most, were taken out of the country by Zonabend in 1947 against the official policy on protecting the national heritage, and then split between the YIVO Institute of New York and Yad Vashem. The illegal removal of the collection was criticized by Jewish press not only in the communist Poland, but also in Canada and France.

Details

Shipping & Returns

  • Shipping
    Ships From: Surfside, FL
  • Return Policy

    A return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.

1stDibs Buyer Protection Guaranteed
If your item arrives not as described, we’ll work with you and the seller to make it right. Learn More
About the Seller
4.9
Located in Surfside, FL
Platinum Seller
These expertly vetted sellers are 1stDibs' most experienced sellers and are rated highest by our customers.
Established in 1995
1stDibs seller since 2014
1,185 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 1 hour
More From This Seller

You May Also Like

Construction Workers Graphite Drawing
By Jack Freeman
Located in San Francisco, CA
This 1976 graphite on paper drawing is by San Francisco painter, Jack Freeman (1938-2014). Freeman studied at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, with Oskar Kokoschka’s School of Visi...
Category

1970s Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Graphite

Construction Workers Graphite Drawing

Jack Freeman
Construction Workers Graphite Drawing, 1976

$255 Sale Price
21% Off
Minimal Expressionist Portrait in Graphite, Mid 20th Century
By Ethel Weiner Guttman
Located in San Francisco, CA
This mid 20th century graphite and Conte crayon on paper is by New York and Bay Area artist Ethel Weiner Guttman (1916-1990). Guttman studied at the National Academy of Art in NY in...
Category

1950s Expressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Crayon, Graphite

Minimal Expressionist Portrait in Graphite, Mid 20th Century

Ethel Weiner Guttman
Minimal Expressionist Portrait in Graphite, Mid 20th Century

$295 Sale Price
21% Off
Figure Study For 'Science'
By John Singer Sargent
Located in New York, NY
This charcoal drawing is a preliminary study for the figure of Science, the subject that comprises the far right panel above the entrance to the library at the Museum of Fine Arts, B...
Category

1920s American Impressionist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Graphite

Figure Study For 'Science'

John Singer Sargent
Figure Study For 'Science', 1920

$95,000
Saying Goodbye to Me - drawing black and white photo-realistic portrait
Located in London, GB
Jose Ladron de Guevara works in oil, charcoal, graphite and pastel. He is fascinated by trying to capture a fleeting moment in his paintings and to portray the essence of energy and ...
Category

2010s Photorealist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal, Pastel, Graphite, Paper

Saying Goodbye to Me - drawing black and white photo-realistic portrait

Jose Ladrón de Guevara
Saying Goodbye to Me - drawing black and white photo-realistic portrait, 2019

$2,883
Layna with Glasses
By Mark Bradley Schwartz
Located in Denver, CO
Lone figure with glasses
Category

2010s Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal, Graphite

Layna with Glasses

Mark Bradley Schwartz
Layna with Glasses

$750
The Storyteller
By Harrison Fisher
Located in Minneapolis, MN
A wonderful detailed original drawing by Harrison Fisher illustrating Hiawatha's Wedding Feast, found on page 99 of Bobbs Merrill's 1906 book, "The Song of Hiawatha", an epic poem by...
Category

Early 1900s American Realist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Pencil

The Storyteller

Harrison Fisher
The Storyteller, 1906

$4,400 Sale Price
20% Off
1940s Charcoal and Pencil Portrait of a Man
Located in Arp, TX
Artist Unknown "Tie and Glasses" c. 1940s Charcoal and pencil on paper 13.5"x17" image 15.5"x19" paper unframed $250 Unsigned *Listed price reflects custom framing selected by seller...
Category

1940s Modern Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Carbon Pencil

1940s Charcoal and Pencil Portrait of a Man

1940s Charcoal and Pencil Portrait of a Man, c. 1940s

$450
Self Portrait
By John Heliker
Located in New York, NY
Self portrait done in charcoal pencil by distinguished American artist John Heliker. Hand signed on the front This work is framed - bears the label of the renowned KRAUSHAAR GALLERI...
Category

Late 20th Century Realist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Charcoal, Carbon Pencil

Self Portrait

John Heliker
Self Portrait, 1991

$2,800
Planes of the Head
By Lu Haskew
Located in Loveland, CO
"Planes of the Head" by Lu Haskew Graphite on Paper 14x12" framed, 10x8" image size ABOUT THE ARTIST: Lu considered it a must to work with live models once or twice a week, and she...
Category

Early 2000s American Impressionist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Archival Paper, Graphite

Planes of the Head

Lu Haskew
Planes of the Head, 2000

$250
Portrait Study
By Lu Haskew
Located in Loveland, CO
"Portrait Study" by Lu Haskew Graphite on Paper 12x10" framed, 10x8" image size ABOUT THE ARTIST: Lu considered it a must to work with live models once or twice a week, and she tho...
Category

Early 2000s American Impressionist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Archival Paper, Graphite

Portrait Study

Lu Haskew
Portrait Study, 2000

$250

Recently Viewed

View More

The 1stDibs Promise

Learn More

Expertly Vetted Sellers

Confidence at Checkout

Price-Match Guarantee

Exceptional Support

Buyer Protection

Insured Global Delivery