View of Haifa, a painting by Julius Rothschild (1885-1954), the first painting teacher at the Bezalel Academy of Art. Haifa, 1915.
Watercolor on thick paper. Signed and dated: "Julius J. Rothschild / Haifa, 1915".
The painting depicts a caravan of camels at the seashore with the homes of Haifa in the background. The Technion is seen on the left, in its first location in the Hadar HaCarmel neighborhood.
Julius Jotham Rothschild (1885-1954) was born in Germany, studied architecture and interior design in Berlin, and completed his art studies in Weimar in 1905. He came to Palestine in 1906, together with Boris Schatz and Ephraim Moses Lilien, and was the first painting teacher in the Bezalel Academy of Art, which was founded that year. Following complaints by students about his professional level, Rothschild was fired from Bezalel after one year, and returned to Germany together with his wife Frieda Kaminitz (daughter of Eliezer Lipman Kaminitz, owner of Kaminitz hotel in Jerusalem).
Rothschild returned to Palestine in 1913, after studying architecture in Germany, and worked as a draftsman for the archaeological delegation for the excavations in the Ophel. Later on he moved to Haifa and assisted in the construction of the Technion, where he worked as a teacher. During World War I, the Ottoman government placed him in charge of restoring ancient tombstones in Palestine and in Syria, and after the war he worked as an archaeologist at various sites in Palestine.
For more information about Rothschild see: Lavi Shay and Tina Yankelevich, "Portrait of a Yekke from the Second Aliya". In Et-Mol 194 (2007) [Hebrew].
54X29 cm. Good condition. Paper slightly darkened. Stains. A few tears at the left edge (small, not affecting painting).
Provenance: Rimon Family Collection.

Lilith, drawing by Abel Pann (1883-1963).
Pencil and Pastel on paper. Signed.
Handwritten instructions to the printer appear on top of the leaf – "Vignette, 1/4 page". A different version of this drawing was printed in the end of the first part of the "Bible in Pictures" by Abel Pann ("Genesis, from the Creation until the Deluge". Jerusalem: Palestine Art Publishing Ltd., [ca. 1924]).
22.5X31 cm. Good condition. Stains and some creases. Pencil inscriptions on back of the leaf. Two pieces of adhesive tape are pasted on the back, at the top.

Three Jews Studying together, watercolor by Joachim Kahane (Ząbki, Poland, 1890 – Lodz Ghetto, 1943?). [Lodz], 1931.
Watercolor on paper. Signed and dated. A piece of cardboard is pasted to the back of the painting's frame with the printed caption: "Wystawa Prac Kahanego Joachima" [Polish: "Exhibition of works by Joachim Kahane"]. An additional inscription by hand appears below the caption, in Polish.
Polish painter and sculptor Joachim Kahane studied architecture and painting in Lvov and in Vienna. In 1910 was one of the founders of the "Circle of Jewish Art Enthusiasts" in Lvov – a circle that aimed to promote and preserve Jewish art, and in the framework of this circle he organized exhibitions, drawing and sculpting lessons and lectures about Jewish Art History. In 1919 Kahane was appointed president of the circle, and two years later he moved to Lodz, where he worked as an art teacher in a Jewish school. In the 1920 and 1930s his works were displayed in a number of exhibitions in Poland. Over the years Kahane abandoned painting in favor of sculpting and created mainly metal reliefs. Numerous works created by him depicted biblical or Jewish themes. Kahane perished in the holocaust, in the Lodz Ghetto, in ca. 1943.
21.5X13 cm, framed: 31X22.5 cm. Good overall condition. Unexamined out of frame.

A woman with a Bowl of Grapes, painting by Roman Kramsztyk (1885-1942).
Oil on canvas. Signed.
Roman Kramsztyk was born in Warsaw in 1885 to a wealthy Jewish family. His grandfather was the Reform rabbi Izaak Kramsztyk. He studied at Kraków Academy of Fine Arts (1903-1904) under the artist Józef Mehoffer, and at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts (1904-1908) under the artist Johann Caspar Herterich. From 1909 he lived intermittently in Paris and in Poland. Kramsztyk's works were displayed in many exhibitions in Poland and outside it, including in Paris, Berlin, Venice, London, New York, and Moscow. In 1914, his works were displayed in an exhibition of the New Secession in Berlin alongside works by Henri Matisse, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Max Liebermann. During the interwar period, he was active in artistic life in Poland and in Paris. In 1922, he was a cofounder of the Rytm Association of Polish Artists.
When World War II broke out, Kramsztyk was living in Poland, and in 1940 he was imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto. Even though he was offered an escape from the ghetto, he chose to remain there, devoting his time to painting, using his works to document the lives of the Jews in the ghettos and the atrocities of the Nazi occupation. Kramsztyk was murdered in 1942 during the deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka.
88X112 cm. Good condition.

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Rzadkie malarstwo Romana Kramsztyka

O artyście: Urodził się w 1885 roku w Warszawie. Jeden z wybitnych malarzy w Polsce; pochodzi od dobrze sytuowanej i wyróżniającej się rodziny. Jego ojciec był lekarzem dziecięcym.

Odbiera wyższe wykształcenie za granicą; eksponaty wystawiane są w "Zachęta" (w Instytucie Sztuki Plastycznej) w Warszawie już w 1909 r. iw Paryżu; 1912, w Barcelonie i w "Secesji" w Berlinie; 1913 w Krakowie odbywa się wielkie jednoosobowe widowisko; w 1914 r., tuż przed wybuchem I wojny światowej, wraz z Matisse'em, Renoirem, Maxem Liebermanem i Korynem pojawia się na wystawie "Nowa Secesja" w Berlinie. Po pierwszej wojnie światowej, studiuje malarstwo w Niemczech u profesora Hersteina. Między dwiema wojnami światowymi, żyje i pracuje w Polsce i Paryżu. Bierze udział w międzynarodowych wystawach w Londynie, Nowym Jorku i Moskwie oraz na Biennale w Wenecji. Podczas okupacji niemieckiej mieszka w getcie warszawskim, gdzie maluje sceny z życia i okropności pod rządami nazistów. Zamordowany przez żołnierza "komandosów Vlassova", w czasie "akcji" latem 1942 r.