Auction 51
Lot 096:
Portfolio of work by the artist Moritz Oppenheim, the first Jewish artist of the Modern period.
Contains 20 hard paper boards with prints from a series of works on Jewish family life which were famous around the world, done by Arthur Rothman sof New York, stamped and dated on the back of each (“ROT”, 20/06/87). At the beginning are 2 additional leaves from a different artist. 35x28cm.
Daniel Moritz Oppenheim (1801-1882) was the first Jewish artist to make a name for himself illustrating Jewish life in Germany. His work was influenced by his cultural and religious roots, as opposed to many of his Jewish colleagues who chose to convert to Christianity. In his youth he sat in the Rothschild home in Frankfurt and drew their portraits.
From 1865 onward he began a series of pictures on Jewish family life, in synagogues and in Jewish Quarters, and during ceremonies like bar mitzvahs, a rabbi’s drash, wedding, rabbi’s blessing, and others. He dismissed the negative stereotypes prevalent at the time regarding Jewish life in the ghetto. The illustrations were disseminated in special black-and-white editions, and spread around Europe and were owned by many German-Jewish families at the end of the 19th century.
These works are considered extremely rare and almost impossible to acquire.
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