Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 7

Ben-Zion Weinman
The Prophet, Modernist Judaica Oil Painting Biblical Jewish Rabbi at Prayer

1959

$3,800
£2,889.73
€3,333.17
CA$5,323.10
A$5,957.61
CHF 3,110.80
MX$72,683.14
NOK 39,487.53
SEK 37,471.23
DKK 24,890.51
Shipping
Retrieving quote...
The 1stDibs Promise:
Authenticity Guarantee,
Money-Back Guarantee,
24-Hour Cancellation

About the Item

An oil on board Judaic painting by modern artist Ben-Zion Weinman. The work depicts a standing prophet with white robes raising his arms towards heaven. The work is signed "Ben-Zion" in the bottom right corner. The work is signed and dated "4/14/59" on verso. Provenance: Ex. Sotheby's Parke Bernet Born in 1897, Ben-Zion Weinman celebrated his European Jewish heritage in his visual works as a sculptor, painter, and printmaker. Influenced by Spinoza, Knut Hamsun, and Wladyslaw Reymont, as well as Hebrew literature, Ben-Zion wrote poetry and essays that, like his visual work, attempt to reveal the deep “connection between man and the divine, and between man and earth.” An emigrant from the Ukraine, he came to the US in 1920. He wrote fairy tales and poems in Hebrew under the name Benzion Weinman, but when he began painting he dropped his last name and hyphenated his first, saying an artist needed only one name. Ben-Zion was a founding member of “The Ten: An Independent Group” The Ten” a 1930’s avant-garde group, Painted on anything handy. Ben-Zion often used cabinet doors (panels) in his work. Other members of group included Ilya Bolotowsky, Lee Gatch, Adolf Gottlieb, Louis Harris, Yanhkel Kufeld, Marcus Rothkowitz (later known as Mark Rothko), Louis Schanker, and Joseph Solman. The Art of “The Ten” was generally described as expressionist, as this style offered the best link between modernism and social art. Their exhibition at the Mercury Gallery in New York held at the same time as the Whitney Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, included a manifesto concentrating on aesthetic questions and criticisms of the conservative definition of modern art imposed by the Whitney. Ben-Zion’s work was quickly noticed. The New York Sun said he painted “furiously” and called him “the farthest along of the lot.” And the triptych, “The Glory of War,” was described by Art News as “resounding.” By 1939, The Ten disbanded because most of the members found individual galleries to represent their work. Ben-Zion had his first one-man show at the Artist’s Gallery in Greenwich Village and J.B. Neumann, the highly esteemed European art dealer who introduced Paul Klee, (among others) to America, purchased several of Ben-Zion’s drawings. Curt Valentin, another well-known dealer, exhibited groups of his drawings and undertook the printing of four portfolios of etchings, each composed of Ben-Zion’s biblical themes. Ben-Zion’s work is represented in many museums throughout the country including the Metropolitan, the Whitney, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Phillips Collection, Washington. The Jewish Museum in New York opened in 1948 with a Ben-Zion exhibition. “Ben-Zion has his hands on the pulse of the common man and his natural world” As he emerged as an artist Ben-Zion never lost his gift for presenting the ordinary in ways that are vital, fresh and filled with emotions that are somber and exhilarating, joyous and thoughtful, and ultimately, filled with extraordinary poetic simplicity. Ben-Zion consistently threaded certain subject matter—nature, still life, the human figure, the Hebrew Bible, and the Jewish people—into his work throughout his life. "In all his work a profound human feeling remains. Sea and sky, even sheaves of wheat acquire a monolithic beauty and simplicity which delineates the transient as a reflection of the eternal. This sensitive inter- mingling of the physical and metaphysical is one of the most enduring features of Ben-Zion's works." (Excerpt from Stephen Kayser, “Biblical Paintings,” The Jewish Museum Catalogue, 1952). Ben-Zion continued his style of representational painting based on the abstract, and is perhaps best known for his Biblical paintings and etchings. Ben-Zion received an American Jewish Congress award. In 1987, Ben-Zion died in his home in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. He was 90 years old.
  • Creator:
    Ben-Zion Weinman (1897 - 1987, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1959
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 18.6 in (47.25 cm)Width: 7.5 in (19.05 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    Some scratches and minor paint loss. Please see photos.
  • Gallery Location:
    Surfside, FL
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU38212192912

More From This Seller

View All
Modernist Judaica Oil Painting "Old Jew" Jewish Rabbi at Prayer
By Ben-Zion Weinman
Located in Surfside, FL
An oil on board Judaic painting by modern artist Ben-Zion Weinman. It depicts a portrait in profile of an old Jew. The work is signed "Ben-Zion". Born in 1897, Ben-Zion Weinman celebrated his European Jewish heritage in his visual works as a sculptor, painter, and printmaker. Influenced by Spinoza, Knut Hamsun, and Wladyslaw Reymont, as well as Hebrew literature, Ben-Zion wrote poetry and essays that, like his visual work, attempt to reveal the deep “connection between man and the divine, and between man and earth.” An emigrant from the Ukraine, he came to the US in 1920. He wrote fairy tales and poems in Hebrew under the name Benzion Weinman, but when he began painting he dropped his last name and hyphenated his first, saying an artist needed only one name. Ben-Zion was a founding member of “The Ten: An Independent Group” The Ten” a 1930’s avant...
Category

1940s American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Rabbi in Prayer, Judaica Oil Painting
By Israel Abramofsky
Located in Surfside, FL
Israel Abramofsky (September 10, 1888 - January 16, 1975) was a Russian-born artist, who trained in Paris and settled in the United States, known for his landscape works and works depicting Jewish life in Eastern Europe. Abramofsky was born in Kiev, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) and left Czarist Russia...
Category

20th Century Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Modernist Judaica Oil Painting Blessing the New Moon, Jewish Prayer
Located in Surfside, FL
This is a modernist Judaic painting of a Jewish scene of the Kiddush Levanah prayer. The monthly hebrew blessing on the new moon. It is not dated but I am estimating it to the 1940s...
Category

1940s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Burlap, Oil

Modernist Rabbi Judaica Painting on Gold Background
By Harry Sternberg
Located in Surfside, FL
A contorted Rabbi looking upward is depicted in a naive, and almost child-like manner. Vibrant colors, and gestural brushstrokes fill the composition, enhancing the flatness of the figure. Harry Sternberg, artist, teacher, and political activist was born in New York City's lower east side in 1904. He was the youngest of eight children born to his mother, a hungarian immigrant, and his father, an immigrant from Russia, . His passion for art came early; by age 12 he had begun saturday art classes at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Sternberg continued to advance his formal art education through 1922, studying at at New York's prestigious Arts Students League alongside Raphael Soyer, Yasuo Kuniyoshi and other notables of the day. His career as a professional artist began in 1928 when he consigned a group of his early prints with the dealer Frederick Keppel in New York. In 1933 he returned to the Art Students League of New York as an instructor, where he taught etching, lithography and composition, continuing to teach there for over 34 years. During the Great Depression he was a WPA artist, and his murals are in post offices in Chicago, Chester and Sellersville, Pennsylvania. Sternberg came to national prominence as a printmaker, painter, and muralist, in the Depression era and during World War II. Sternberg was an acclaimed member of a vital generation of American artists dedicated to exposing social injustices and offering support for an egalitarian society. His interest in the plight of American workers...
Category

20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Acrylic, Illustration Board

Modernist Rabbi at Study Judaica Oil Painting
By Ben-Zion
Located in Surfside, FL
Genre: Judaica Subject: Religious Medium: Oil Surface: Board Country: United States Dimensions: 17.5" x 21.75" Dimensions w/Frame: 24" x 28" Born in 1897, Ben-Zion Weinman celebrated his European Jewish heritage in his visual works as a sculptor, painter, and printmaker. Influenced by Spinoza, Knut Hamsun, and Wladyslaw Reymont, as well as Hebrew literature, Ben-Zion wrote poetry and essays that, like his visual work, attempt to reveal the deep “connection between man and the divine, and between man and earth.” An emigrant from the Ukraine, he came to the US in 1920. He wrote fairy tales and Judaic poems in Hebrew under the name Benzion Weinman, but when he began painting he dropped his last name and hyphenated his first, saying an artist needed only one name. Ben-Zion was a founding member of “The Ten: An Independent Group” The Ten” a 1930’s avant...
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil, Board

Holocaust Memorial Oil Painting Judaica Rabbi Composed of Figures Artists Frame
By Maurice Newman
Located in Surfside, FL
Maurice Newman was active/lived in Massachusetts / Lithuania. Maurice Newman is known for sculpture-abstraction, impressionist landscape painting, diorama. Born in Lithuania, Mauric...
Category

1960s American Modern Portrait Paintings

Materials

Oil

You May Also Like

Rabbi, Oil Painting by Donald Roy Purdy
By Donald Roy Purdy
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Donald Roy Purdy, American (1924 - ) Title: Rabbi Year: circa 1960 Medium: Oil on Masonite, signed l.r. Size: 36 x 24 in. (91.44 x 60.96 cm)
Category

1960s Post-War Figurative Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Oil on Canvas 1969 Depicting Jewish Priest with Signature in the Back
Located in Palermo, Sicily
Oil on canvas 1969 depicting Jewish Priest, with signature in the back.
Category

Vintage 1960s Israeli Mid-Century Modern Paintings

Materials

Paint

Rabbi with Torah, Oil Painting by Sandu Liberman
By Sandu Liberman
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Sandu Liberman, Romanian/Israeli (1923 - 1977) Title: Rabbi with Torah Scroll Year: Circa 1970 Medium: Oil on Canvas, signed and dedicated verso S...
Category

1970s American Realist Figurative Paintings

Materials

Oil

Rabbi, Modern Oil Painting on Masonite by Donald Roy Purdy
By Donald Roy Purdy
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Donald Roy Purdy, American (1924 - ) Title: Rabbi Medium: Oil on Masonite, signed l.r. Size: 36 x 24 in. (91.44 x 60.96 cm)
Category

Late 20th Century Post-War Figurative Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Rabbi, 1970s Oil Painting by Donald Roy Purdy
By Donald Roy Purdy
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Donald Roy Purdy, American (1924 - ) Title: Rabbi with Torah Year: circa 1970 Medium: Oil on Masonite, signed l.r. Size: 30 x 22.5 in. (76.2 x 57.15 cm) Frame Size: 38 x 31 i...
Category

1970s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil

Rabbi with Torah, 1970s Oil Painting by Donald Roy Purdy
By Donald Roy Purdy
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Donald Roy Purdy, American (1924 - ) Title: Rabbi with Torah Year: circa 1970 Medium: Oil on Masonite, signed l.r. Size: 36 x 24 in. (91.44 x 60.96 cm) Frame Size: 45 x 31 in...
Category

1970s Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Masonite, Oil