Boris Schatz
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Boris Schatz (;
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
: Борис Шац; 23 December 1866 – 23 March 1932) was a
Lithuanian Jewish {{Infobox ethnic group , group = Litvaks , image = , caption = , poptime = , region1 = {{flag, Lithuania , pop1 = 2,800 , region2 = {{flag, South Africa , pop2 = 6 ...
artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...
and
sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
who settled in
Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
. Schatz was the founder of the
Bezalel school The Bezalel academy was founded as an art movement in Israel in the late Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire and Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate periods. The name Bezalel was chosen from the bible, he was a master craftsman, specifically the chi ...
and would be later known as the father of the Bezalel school movement in Israeli art, that waned in the 1920s following the introduction of
modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
in Israel. After Schatz died, part of his art collection, including a famous self portrait by Dutch Master
Jozef Israëls Jozef Israëls (; 27 January 1824 – 12 August 1911) was a Dutch Painting, painter. He was a leading member of the group of landscape painters referred to as the Hague School and was, during his lifetime, "the most respected Dutch artist of th ...
, given to him by the artist, eventually became the nucleus of the
Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...
.


Biography

Boris Schatz was born in
Varniai Varniai (; Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Varnē'') is a city in the Telšiai County, western Lithuania. In the Middle Ages the city was known as Medininkai (Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Medėninkā''). Etymology ''Medininkai'' or ''M ...
, in the
Kovno Governorate Kovno Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Kovno (Kaunas). It was formed on 18 December 1842 by Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, Nicholas I from the western part of Vilna Govern ...
of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
(present-day
Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...
). His father, a teacher in a ''
cheder A ''cheder'' (, lit. 'room'; Yiddish pronunciation: ''khéyder'') is a traditional primary school teaching the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language. History ''Cheders'' were widely found in Europe before the end of the 18th century. L ...
'' (a religious school), sent him to study in a
yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...
in
Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
, Lithuania. In 1883, while at the yeshiva, he enrolled at the Vilnius School of Drawing, where he was a student until June 1885. In 1887, he met the Jewish sculptor
Mark Antokolsky Mark Matveyevich Antokolsky (; 2 November 18409 July 1902) was a Russian sculptor of Lithuanian–Jewish descent. Biography Early life Mordukh Matysovich Antokolsky was born in Vilnius ( Antokol city district), Lithuania (at the time part of ...
, who was visiting his parents. He showed Antokolski a small figurine of a Jew in a prayer shawl he had carved from black stone. Antokolsky secured a stipend for Schatz and encouraged him to apply for the St. Petersburg Academy of Art, but the plan to study there did not work out. Meanwhile, he began to teach drawing privately in Vilnius. In 1888, he moved to Warsaw and taught art in Jewish schools. His first sculpture, “Hendel,” created in Warsaw, is an ode to the Jewish peddler. In the summer of 1889, Schatz married Eugenia (Genia) Zhirmunsky. In 1889, Schatz moved to Paris with wife to study painting at the Académie Cormon and sculpture under Antokolski. In 1890, they lived in a small French town,
Banyuls-sur-Mer Banyuls-sur-Mer (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales Departments of France, department in southern France. Geography Location Banyuls-sur-Mer is located in the canton of La Côte Vermeille and in the arrondissemen ...
, for six months. In 1894, Schatz gained recognition for his sculpture "Mattathias the Maccabee" (present location unknown). At the end of 1895, Schatz moved to Sofia, Bulgaria, at the invitation of Prince
Ferdinand I of Bulgaria Ferdinand I (Ferdinand Maximilian Karl Leopold Maria; 26 February 1861 – 10 September 1948) was Prince of Bulgaria from 1887 to 1908 and Tsar of Bulgaria from 1908 until his abdication in 1918. Under his rule, Bulgaria entered the First Worl ...
, where his daughter Angelika was born in 1897. Genia left him for a student of Schatz's, Andrey Nikolov, later a well-known Bulgarian sculptor, and took Angelika with her. In March 1904, Schatz sailed to the United States to oversee the construction of the Bulgarian Pavilion at the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federa ...
. He remained in the country for ten months, until the end of December 1904. Back in Sofia, he declared himself in love with 16-year-old Theodora (Dora) Gabe, later a renowned Bulgarian poet and children's author. In 1905, heartbroken when she did not return his affection, Schatz left for Berlin, where he stayed with the Zionist illustrator
Ephraim Moses Lilien Maurycy "Ephraim Moses" Lilien (; ; 23 May 1874 – 18 July 1925) was a Polish-Jewish Art Nouveau illustrator and printmaker particularly noted for his art on Jewish themes and his influence on the Bezalel school art movement. He is sometimes call ...
. Lilien introduced him to
Franz Oppenheimer Franz Oppenheimer (March 30, 1864 – September 30, 1943) was a German sociologist and political economist, who published also in the area of the fundamental sociology of the State (polity), state. Life and career Franz Oppenheimer was born int ...
, a supporter of cooperative land settlement in Israel, and Otto Warburg, later president of the
World Zionist Organization The World Zionist Organization (; ''HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit''), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the Zionist Organization (ZO; 1897–1960) at the initiative of Theodor Herzl at the F ...
. Both were enthusiastic about his idea of establishing an art school in Jerusalem. The founding of Bezalel was officially proclaimed on October 8, 1905. In 1911, Schatz married Olga Pevzner, a writer and art history teacher. Their children
Zahara Schatz Zahara Schatz (; 1916–1999), was an Israeli artist and designer. She was the daughter of Boris Schatz, who founded the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. She was best known for the six-branched Temple menorah, menorah she desig ...
(1916–1999) and Bezalel Schatz (1912–1978), nicknamed Lilik, were also artists. Angelika became a painter, too, gaining recognition in the 1930s in France and Bulgaria. For many years, it was believed the relationship ended when Genia and Boris Schatz divorced. Letters discovered in the
Central Zionist Archives Central Zionist Archives (CZA; ) is the official archive of the institutions of the Zionist Movement: the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund, and Keren Hayesod/the United Israel Appeal as well as the archive ...
reveal that they remained in touch. The 1955
Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...
for Art was awarded to Zahara in recognition of the whole Schatz family. While living on the shore of the
Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee (, Judeo-Aramaic languages, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ), also called Lake Tiberias, Genezareth Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest freshwater lake on Earth ...
during the First World War, Shatz wrote a futurist novel entitled ''The Rebuilt Jerusalem'' (''Yerushalayim Ha-Benuya'') in which Bezalel ben Uri, the Biblical architect of the
Mishkan According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...
appears at the Bezalel School and takes Schatz on a tour of Israel in the year 2018. Schatz died while on a fundraising tour in
Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
,
Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
in 1932.


Art career

In 1895, Schatz accepted an invitation from Prince
Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "courage" or "ready, prepared" related to Old High German "to risk, ventu ...
of
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
to become the official court sculptor and to establish that country's
Royal Academy of Art The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
. In 1900, he received a gold medal for his statue, ''Bust of an Old Woman''. Three years later, in 1903, he met
Theodor Herzl Theodor Herzl (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austria-Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Jewish journalist and lawyer who was the father of Types of Zionism, modern political Zionism. Herzl formed the World Zionist Organization, Zionist Organizat ...
and became an ardent
Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...
. At the Fifth
Zionist Congress The Zionist Congress was established in 1897 by Theodor Herzl as the supreme organ of the Zionist Organization (ZO) and its legislative authority. In 1960 the names were changed to World Zionist Congress ( ''HaKongres HaTsioni HaOlami'') and Wor ...
of 1905, he proposed creating a Jewish art school. In 1906, he founded an art center in Jerusalem, later named "Bezalel" after Bezalel Ben Uri, the
biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...
artisan who designed the
Tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...
and its ritual objects. In the following years, Schatz organized exhibitions of his students' work in
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
and the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
; they were the first international exhibitions of Jewish artists from
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
. Schatz, a fiery visionary, wrote in his will: "To my teachers and assistants at Bezalel, I give my final thanks for their hard work in the name of the Bezalel ideal. Moreover, I beg forgiveness from you for the great precision that I sometimes demanded of you and that perhaps caused some resentment ... The trouble was that Bezalel was founded before its time, and the Zionists were not yet capable of understanding it." Schatz's will was publicized for the first time in 2005.


Bezalel art school

Bezalel opened on Ethiopia Street in Jerusalem in 1906. The idea was to support the development of Jewish art and strengthen national pride by engaging in themes relevant to Jewish nationality. The school's stated goals were "to train the people of Jerusalem in crafts, develop original Jewish art and support Jewish artists, and to find visual expression for the much yearned-for national and spiritual independence that seeks to create a synthesis between European artistic traditions and the Jewish design traditions of the East and West, and to integrate it with the local culture of the Land of Israel.” In 1908, the school moved to a permanent home on what became Shmuel Hanagid Street, which allowed more departments to be opened and the scope of activities expanded. Of the three buildings Schatz purchased from a wealthy Palestinian Arab. one was his personal residence, and the other two housed the art school and a national art museum. The school was established based on the Russian concept of an arts and crafts school and workshop. Bezalel's motto was "Art is the bud, craft is the fruit." The school offered instruction in painting and sculpture alongside crafts such as carpet making, metalworking and woodcarving. In the wake of financial difficulties, the school closed in 1929. Schatz died while fundraising on behalf of the school in the United States. His body was brought back to Jerusalem and buried on the
Mount of Olives The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet (; ; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge in East Jerusalem, east of and adjacent to Old City of Jerusalem, Jerusalem's Old City. It is named for the olive, olive ...
. Bezalel reopened in 1935 as the New Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts.


Archive

Part of the Boris Schatz Archive is housed in the
Information Center for Israeli Art The Information Center for Israeli Art (ICIA) is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the Israeli art in Israel. Over 12,000 artists files are housed in the Center in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. History As a r ...
at the
Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...
, Jerusalem. It contains some 300 archival items documenting the work process of his career: personal correspondences, photographs, sketches, invitations and other documentation. The Boris Schatz archive contains some unique documents, minutes of meetings of the Bezalel committee, prizes awarded to Schatz by the Sofia Palace and the King of Bulgaria and Boris Schatz's diploma. The archive also contains a poem by Levin Kipnis, in his handwriting, which had never been published; a postcard written in French from a young Angelica Schatz to her father Boris; a letter written in Yiddish from Boris Schatz to his close friend and administrative assistant, Mordechai Narkis; and a draft of a letter in French from 1925 to Baron Rothschild requesting financial aid for Bezalel. The materials are very diverse, and is written in many languages, including Hebrew, Yiddish, Bulgarian, French and German. The Information Center is in the process of digitizing and cataloging the collection to make the images more accessible.Link
to the digitized archive at the
Information Center for Israeli Art The Information Center for Israeli Art (ICIA) is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the Israeli art in Israel. Over 12,000 artists files are housed in the Center in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. History As a r ...
at the
Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...
, Jerusalem


Awards and recognition

* 1898 silver medal in ''Science and Art'',
Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
, Bulgaria * 1900 gold medal for ''Bust of an Old Woman'' * 1900 silver medal at Exposition Internationale, Paris * 1904 silver medal at 1904
Louisiana Purchase Exposition The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federa ...
,
St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...


Published works

* ''The Rebuilt Jerusalem: A Day Dream'' (Heb.: Yerushalem HaBenuyah) (in Hebrew), Jerusalem: 1924 * ''On Art, Artists and their Critics'' (in Hebrew), Jerusalem: Bnei Bezalel, 1925 * ''Baruch Schatz, His Life and Work – Monograph. Part I'' ( o additional volumes were published edited and translated by Mordechai Narkiss). Jerusalem: Bnei Bezalel, 1925 * ''The Rebuilt Jerusalem: A Day Dream'' (Heb.: Yerushalem HaBenuyah) (in Hebrew), revised and corrected centenary edition, edited by Yakir Segev, Tel Aviv: Resling, 2024


See also

*
Visual arts in Israel Visual arts in Israel or Israeli art refers to visual art or Plastic arts, plastic art created by Israeli artists or Jewish painters in the Yishuv. Visual art in Israel encompasses a wide spectrum of techniques, styles and themes reflecting a ...


References


Further reading

* Schatz, Boris (1925). ''Boris Schatz His Life & Work a Monograph'', Jerusalem: B'nai Bezalel. * J. Klausner (1927). ''Boris Schatz : 31 oil paintings'' (in English and Hebrew), Jerusalem * Nurit Shilo-Cohen, ed. (1983). ''"Betsal'el" shel Shats, 1906-1929 / Bezalel, 1906-1929'', translated from Hebrew into English by Esther Rosalind Cohen, Jerusalem: Israel Museum * Yigal Zalmona (1985). ''Boris Schatz'' (in Hebrew), Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House Ltd. * Nurit Shilo Cohen (1994). "The 'Hebrew Style' of Bezalel, 1906–1929", ''Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts'', vol. 20, pp. 140–163 * Meir Ronnen (20 July 2006). "The last Schatz," ''The Jerusalem Post'' * Diana Muir Appelbaum, "First, Build an Art School",
Jewish Ideas Daily Jewish Ideas Daily was a website that reported on the news, culture, and political issues relating to Judaism and Israel. Its mission was to be "the premier aggregator and originator of Jewish ideas on the web". It was founded in January 2010 un ...
, Aug. 1, 201

* Aviva Lori (January 2013).
The long-lost daughter of the father of Israeli art
— the story of Angelica Schatz (Boris Schatz's unknown daughter)


External links


SCHATZ, BORIS
in the
Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on the ...
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schatz, Boris 1867 births 1932 deaths People from Telšiai District Municipality People from Telshevsky Uyezd Lithuanian Jews Jewish Lithuanian sculptors Lithuanian sculptors Lithuanian Zionists 20th-century sculptors 19th-century sculptors Academic staff of Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Burials at the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives