Items Similar to Figural Abstract Mid Century Modern Lithograph Portraits, Judaica, Jewish Print
- Want more images or videos?Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 10
Rita GombinskiFigural Abstract Mid Century Modern Lithograph Portraits, Judaica, Jewish PrintMid 20th Century
Mid 20th Century
$400
About
This is a proof print and is unsigned. it has Jewish Hebraic motifs, a menorah with a Jewish star, a mezusah or megilla scroll by this talented Jewish woman artist. Her whole life long, through the births of two children, the deaths of two husbands, three wars and across two continents, Rita Gombinksi has painted.
Her studio, now an apartment in the Irving Cypen Tower at the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged, nearly brims with works -- in closets, leaning against walls and stacked in boxes. Some date to just months ago. Some are seven decades old. There is one large collage that was completed during the fall of Saigon. On a dresser is a portrait of a young Gombinski and her second husband as newlyweds, done in her intricate abstract style. Works in progress are spread across an old dining room table, now used as a kind of easel.
Rita Gombinski sits among some of her drawings that she is sorting through. Despite this breadth and consistency, it is with some bemusement that Gombinski, who turns 88 this month, takes in a renewed interest in her work.
"I'm trying to be organized," she says as she searches through one of dozens of albums containing small works and photographs of works sold. "Slowly but surely I'm going to put things together. It's not easy because I've done so much."
Gombinski, who owned the Gombinski Gallery with her husband, Mendel, at 900 Lincoln Rd. in Miami Beach, for a decade in the 1980s and 1990s, and two other galleries in New York and Israel, is now the artist-in-residence at the Miami Jewish Home, a title she announces sheepishly. "I donated so much of my art that I have been called the artist-in-residence here," she says of approximately 150 paintings she gave to the home.
She has also donated paintings to the Bass Museum, University of Miami and organizations in Israel, where she lived during the 1970s. Gombinski's work, done mostly in watercolor but also crayon and ink, evolved from her most influential teacher, William Baziotes, an abstract expressionist and surrealist whose works are in the Guggenheim collection. Perhaps more influential, she said, were the patterns from her family's textile company. Quite often she starts by painting a pattern, then inserts a figure.
Gombinski grew up in the Bronx and can still vividly recall her first recognized work: a painting of a cat done in elementary school. In her senior year in high school, she jokes, she received her first official critique after sending an article and illustration from the high school paper to famed New Yorker critic Alexander Woollcott, whose yellowing note card she keeps in a journal:
An abstract painting by Rita Gombinski depicts the artist and her second husband. "I think you have considerable promise -- even if you don't yet know the difference between infer and imply," he wrote, referring to her misuse of the words.
She went on to marry her high school sweetheart, a textile engineer, and in about 1943 moved to South Carolina. He joined the Air Force to avoid being drafted into the army and they moved to Sarasota. But within months he was killed in a training flight. At the time, Gombinski was three months pregnant with her daughter.
Back in New York, living in a veterans' project for widows, she continued painting and raised her daughter. When her father's second cousin came to America after surviving a Russian concentration camp, she decided to remarry.
"After four years, I was ready for another life," she said. A year later, her son was born and in 1952, she received her bachelor's degree in fine arts from the Pratt Institute. She later earned a master's in art education from New York University.
The new family opened their first gallery near Soho. But when Gombinski's father died, they moved to Florida. After several years, she and Mendel moved the family to Haifa, Israel, where they opened a second gallery. When Steven graduated from high school, they returned to Florida and opened their Lincoln Road gallery, which featured not only Rita's work, but works from Israelis and other young artists.
In the 1990s, when Mendel came down with Alzheimer's, Gombinski struggled to maintain the gallery, but found caring for her husband overwhelming. In 1996, he was moved to the Miami Jewish Home. Two years after he died, in 2001, Gombinski moved into the home's independent living building.
While she apologizes repeatedly for the clutter of art, she concedes that it is this art, and the selling and managing of it that has kept her going.
"If it wasn't for all this," she said, "I would have gone bananas."
Details
- Creator
- Creation YearMid 20th Century
- DimensionsHeight: 20 in. (50.8 cm)Width: 28 in. (71.12 cm)
- Medium
- Movement & Style
- Period
- Condition
- Gallery LocationBal Harbour, FL
- Reference Number
Shipping & Returns
- ShippingRates vary by destination and complexity. We recommend this shipping type based on item size, type and fragility.Ships From: Bal Harbour, 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 SellerLocated in Bal Harbour, FL
4.9 / 5
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
851 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 1 hour
More From This Seller
- By Rita GombinskiLocated in Bal Harbour, FLHer whole life long, through the births of two children, the deaths of two husbands, three wars and across two c...Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil
- By Susan HallLocated in Bal Harbour, FLSusan Hall lives and works in Point Reyes Station, California, a town in the heart of the Point Reyes National S...Category
1970s American Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsEtching, Aquatint
- By Kim MacConnelLocated in Bal Harbour, FLLimited edition (ed. 150)hand signed and numbered silkscreen on heavy rag paper with deckled edges commissioned...Category
1980s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsRag Paper, Screen
- By Henry MooreLocated in Bal Harbour, FLHenry Spencer Moore (1898 – 1986) Moore was born in Castleford, the son of a coal miner. He became well-know...Category
1970s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- By Emilio VedovaLocated in Bal Harbour, FLEmilio Vedova (b.1919, Venice Italy) Screenprint lithograph. Offset lithograph in black and yellow on wove paper...Category
1960s Arte Povera Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Screen
- By Friedensreich HundertwasserLocated in Bal Harbour, FLEuropalia 87 Oesterreich (Austria) by Friedrich Hundertwasser – original vintage poster – offset lithograph with...Category
1980s Neo-Expressionist Figurative Prints
MaterialsOffset
You May Also Like
Femme Assise, Cubist Lithograph
By André Lhote
Located in New York, NY
Andre L'Hote ( (French, 1885–1962)
Composition cubiste à la Femme Assis, 1960
Lithograph in colors
17 1/3 x 12 1/6 in
Signed lower right
44/150
Colors: Blue, Pink and Yellow
Category
1960s Cubist Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Guitarist with Bird
By Sami Briss
Located in Hudson, NY
Artist : Sami Briss
Title : Woman with Bird
Medium : Lithograph
Edition size : 250
Markings : Signed and edition 19/250
Condition : Clean and perfect with no fading. Image measures 1...
Category
1970s Cubist Abstract Prints
Materials
Screen
Girl with Fruit (cubist geometric mid-century modern print)
Located in Hudson, NY
Gerth Biese (1901-1980). Girl with Fruit, 1955. Lithographic print on paper, image measures 17.5 x 19.5 inches. Framed measurement: 23 x 25 inches. Signed , dated, titled and numbere...
Category
Mid-20th Century Cubist Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Untitled (Edition 36/120)
By Camille Hilaire
Located in New York, NY
Camille Hilaire (France, 1914-2004), "Untitled" Edition 36/120, Abstract Cubist Lithograph signed and numbered in pencil, 26 x 19.75, Late 20th Century
Colors: Green, Yellow, Orange...
Category
Late 20th Century Cubist Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
"Sumerische Legenden" Egyptian Style Print
By Willi Baumeister
Located in Houston, TX
Egyptian style print from Baumeister's series titled "Sumerische Legenden". The print is stamped by the artist and dated. It was given as a give from the daughter of Willi Baumeister...
Category
1940s Cubist Abstract Prints
Materials
Digital
NU II: ONE PLATE FROM ESTAMPES ORIGINALES, ALBUM A (BLOCH 805)
By Pablo Picasso
Located in Aventura, FL
Nu II: One Plate from Estampes originales, Album A (B. 805; Ba. 956). Drypoint, on Montval. Hand signed in red crayon by the artist. Edition of 20 (from the total edition of 70 wi...
Category
1950s Cubist Abstract Prints
Materials
Drypoint, Paper
Geometric Look, Limited Edition Lithograph, Alexandra Nechita
By Alexandra Nechita
Located in Mount Clemens, MI
ALEXANDRA NECHITA (1985- ) Romanian-American cubist and mural painter, Nechita began working in pen and ink at the age of two, graduating to watercolors by the age of five, and then ...
Category
1990s Cubist Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
Arlequin au Baton, Original 1987 Event Lithograph, Pablo Picasso
By Pablo Picasso
Located in Mount Clemens, MI
PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973) Spanish painter and sculptor is one of the most recognized figures of twentieth century art. During his artistic career, which lasted more than 75 years, he...
Category
1970s Cubist Abstract Prints
Materials
Lithograph
The 1stDibs Promise
Learn MoreExpertly Vetted Sellers
Confidence at Checkout
Price-Match Guarantee
Exceptional Support
Buyer Protection
Insured Global Delivery