Self-portrait of Solomon Alexander Hart

Solomon Alexander Hart 1806-1881 was a British painter.

He was born in Plymouth, England, the son of Samuel Hart, a Jewish engraver and teacher of Hebrew.

He remained an observant Jew all his life.

He served as an engraver’s apprentice in where he studied at the Royal Academy, and excelled in miniature painting.

Hart became celebrated as a painter of historical scenes and characters, and in 1854 was appointed professor of painting in the Royal Academy.

The Feast of the Rejoicing of The Law
at The Synagogue in Leghorn, Italy, 1850
by Solomon Alexander Hart
Oil on canvas
The Jewish Museum, New York City 

Like other 19th century British artists, Solomon Alexander Hart travelled, visited Italy, and documented the sites he saw. In this romanticized canvas, he depicts a procession during the celebration of Simhat Torah in the Synagogue at Leghorn, whose lavish interior he observed while traveling through Italy.

Simhat Torah, The Procession of The Law.
by Solomon Alexander Hart
Oil on canvas

Yom Kippur
by Maurycy Gottlieb, Polish (1856-1879)
Oil on canvas

 Gottiebwas only twenty three years old when he painted this. His prolific work had already established him as a master Jewish portrait-maker. Among the men and women shown above here in prayer in their separate sections on Yom Yippur is a self-porttrait to the right of the Torah.

The Talmudists
by Max Weber (1881-1961)
oil on canvas
The Jewish Museum

Max Weber was a Polish-American painter who worked in the style of cubism before migrating to Jewish themes towards the end of his life.

Born in Bialystok, then part of Poland occupied by Russia, he immigrated to America with his parents at the age of 10. He studied art at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn under Arthur Wesley Dow.

In 1905 he had saved enough money to travel to Paris and study at Matisse’s School of Paris where he learned modernism and cubism from the likes of Henri Rouseau and Pablo Picasso.

In 1909 he returned to New York and helped to introduce cubism to America.

In 1930 the Museum of Modern Art held a retrospective of his work, the first solo exhibition at that museum of an American artist.

The Rabbi
by Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
Oil on canvas

It dipicts a rabbi in serious study of the Talmud.

Marc Chagall was born in Liozno (Russian Empire),  near Vitebsk, now in Belarus, the eldest of nine children in the close-knit Jewish family led by his father Khatskl (Zakhar) Shagal, a herring merchant, and his mother, Feige-Ite. This period of his life, described as happy though impoverished, appears in references throughout Chagall’s work. Currently the Chagall’s house on Pokrovskaya Street in Vitebsk is restored as part of the Marc Chagall’s Museum.

After he began studying painting in 1906 under famed local artist Yehuda Pen. Chagall moved to St. Petersburg some months later, in 1907. There he joined the school of the “Society of Art Supporters” and studied under Nikolai Roerich. encountering artists of every school and style. From 1908-1910 Chagall studied under Leon Bakst at the Zvantseva School of Drawing and Painting.

This was a difficult period for Chagall; at the time, Jewish residents were only allowed to live in St. Petersburg with a permit, and the artist was jailed for a brief period for an infringement of this restriction. Despite this, Chagall remained in St. Petersburg until 1910, and regularly visited his home town where, in 1909, he met his future wife, Bella Rosenfeld.

The biographies of the artists were brought to you by Wikipedia.

deletereply nemo4sun wrote on Oct 4, ’08 how rich and wonderfull very fitting but you forgot jon stewart 🙂

deletereply pestep55 wrote on Oct 4, ’08 Thank you — wonderful post /:-)

Comment deleted at the request of the author.

deletereply pestep55 wrote on Oct 4, ’08 I only know a comedian named Jon Stewart (host, anchor type) so no help here /:-)

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Oct 4, ’08 Nemo must be pulling my leg again.

deletereply philsgal7759 wrote on Oct 4, ’08 Wonderful blog Love the artwork

deletereply starfishred wrote on Oct 5, ’08 THIS WAS SO WONDERFUL I especially like Hart

deletereply nemo4sun wrote on Oct 5, ’08 hey! comedy is art 🙂 i followed your theme 🙂

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Oct 5, ’08 ok, Nemo, I get it !

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Oct 5, ’08 Hi Heidi, Hart is my favorite, although I’m sure there are others out there, too. His work is the most realistic looking.

deletereply pestep55 wrote on Oct 5, ’08, edited on Oct 5, ’08 I looked up Jon Stewart, in addition to the art of comedy, among other things it seems he does poster art.

editdeletereply lauritasita wrote on Oct 5, ’08 Thanks pestep55. I’ll check it out when I get a chance.

deletereply pestep55 wrote on Oct 5, ’08 lauritasita said pestep55 You can call me pest, pep or Pat /:-)

deletereply wickedlyinnocent wrote on Oct 6, ’08 Thanks for the images, artists and information, that was an excellent post and Hart is my favourite too.

deletereply forgetmenot525 wrote on Oct 6, ’08 absolutely fascinating insight into another way of life, thank you, love the self portrait of Solomon Alexander Hart, so expressive. thanks Laurita. You mentioned a book of all those paintings. There is actually a book of the paintings of John Duncan, if I remember rightly it has the painting of St Bede on the front, it’s out of print but usually available on e-bay or amazon

deletereply pestep55 wrote on Oct 11, ’08, edited on Oct 11, ’08 Thought of you when I read this: http://aslowread.multiply.com/journal/item/313/Jon_Stewart_on_Sarah_Palin?replies_read=2