The largest collection of Soviet Jewish art outside the Soviet Union will have its American premier here tomorrow at the Klutznick Exhibition Hall in the B’nai B’rith building, the B’nai B’rith announced today. It includes 40 paintings and a score of lithographs. Most of them depict Judaic themes and represent nine living artists, some of whose Jewish works have been suppressed in the Soviet Union’s efforts to stifle Jewish culture.
The collection was assembled by Dr. Herbert Marshall, director of the Center for Soviet and East European Studies at Southern Illinois University, and his wife, Fredda, a sculptress of international repute, It was first shown in London. After the Washington exhibit, which closes April 26, it will go to Cleveland where it is scheduled to open May 1. B’nai B’rith is arranging for other showings in other major American cities including New York, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and Dallas.
JEWISH ARTISTS HAVE LED DUAL EXISTENCE
Dr. Marshall, a leading translator of Soviet literature, and his wife studied and worked in the Soviet Union during the 1930’s and visited there frequently since. They were granted permission to purchase the works and take them abroad by Mrs. Ekaterina Furtseva. the Soviet Minister of Culture, according to B’nai B’rith.
The exhibit feature the works of Solomon Gershov, who studied art in Vitebsk, the Russian “shtetl” made famous by Chagall, Gershov, now 66, was imprisoned during the Stalin ear of anti-Jewish terror but survived. Thirty-one of his works are in the current exhibit. Many deal with the folklore themes characteristic of Chagall’s early paintings. Chagall himself is not represented in the collection.
The collection includes a crayon portrait by Leonid Pasternak, father of the author of “Doctor Zhivago” Boris Pasternak. There are also oil and waters by Alexander Tyshler, former chief artist for the Moscow State Theater and the State Gypsy Theater. Anatole Lvovich Kaplan of Leningrad, who is ranked by some authorities with Goya as a lithographer, is also represented. Kaplan, now 78, also depicted Jewish characters from Sholom Aleichem stories.
The B’nai B’rith said that Gershov, who is still active in his Leningrad studio, and many other Soviet Jewish artists have pursued “a dual existence” in their work. They painted “themes of Socialist realism for security and public recognition, while also creating Jewish themes that were banned from Soviet art galleries and could be seen only in private homes.”
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