After Isidor Kaufmann

After Isidor Kaufmann

(Austria, b. Romania, 1853-1921)
Portrait of a Jewish Woman in Traditional Dress
Russia
About 1990-2000
Wood, papier-mâché, lacquered and painted
Gift of Jack and Marilyn (z”l) Belz and family, 5765

This Russian lacquer box was acquired from the Project Judaica Foundation established by Mark Talisman (1941–2019). As the Chief of Staff to Congressman Charles Vanik, Talisman played an integral role in drafting the 1975 Jackson-Vanik amendment, which was intended to facilitate the emigration of Soviet Jews to the United States.

Inspired by his travels in the Eastern bloc and former Soviet Union, Mark Talisman wished to bring the beauty of Jewish tradition to the world of Russian folk art. Drawing upon a diverse array of Jewish visual sources, Talisman commissioned Russian folk artists to create lacquer boxes with Jewish motifs.

The imagery on this painted lacquer box was inspired by an earlier portrait of the Austro-Hungarian Jewish painter, Isidor Kaufmann, showing a Jewish woman in traditional dress, including a sterntichel (head covering) with embroidered flowers and a woven brusttuch (kerchief panel) with a floral pattern draped around her neck and hanging over her blouse.

Literature:

Furman, Jacobo. Treasures of Jewish Art from the Jacobo and Asea Furman Collection of Judaica, 268-69. New York:  Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 1997.