Natan Spigel (also: Nathan, Szpigiel/Spiegel/Szpigel) (1892–1942) was a Jewish painter born in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

.http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/lodz/noted.htm, Shtetlinks, Noted Citizens of Lodz, Szpigiel (SPIEGEL), Natan (1900-1943), Retrieved February 1, 2011. Spigel was a key member of the influential

Expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

group Yung-yidish. He exhibited his works throughout Europe until his internment in

Radomsko Radomsko () is a city in southern Poland with 44,700 inhabitants (2021). It is situated on the Radomka river in the Łódź Voivodeship. It is the county seat of Radomsko County. Founded in the 11th century, Radomsko is a former royal city located ...

ghetto A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

in 1939. Natan was murdered in

Treblinka Treblinka () was the second-deadliest extermination camp to be built and operated by Nazi Germany in Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the Treblinka, ...

in 1942, and only about 20 of his works survived the Shoah-Holocaust.

Life and artistic career

Natan Spigel was born into an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

family in

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

, now in Poland, in 1892. ( see autobiographic letter to Prof. Otto Schneid). The remnants of his family are now based in London. He studied art as a young man and then in 1910 traveled to Rome on sponsorship, where he continued his studies with Henryk Glicenstein. His first major success, in Paris, was the invitation to show in the 1924 Salon d'Automne, although his first public exhibition was in Łódź in 1921. He was invited to exhibit in London at the

Ben Uri Gallery The Ben Uri Gallery & Museum is a registered museum and charity based at 108a Boundary Road, off Abbey Road in St John's Wood, London, England. It features the work and lives of émigré artists in London, and describes itself as "The Art Museum ...

in 1930 and also, at a joint exhibition with

Jacob Epstein Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American and British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1910. Early in his ...

. In Poland Natan Spigel was regularly exhibiting his work, with shows in Łódź,

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

and Warsaw (1921, 1928 & 1937). Spigel considered himself a Jewish painter, and his painting reflected this focus, depicting scenes of Jewish life in Poland, as well as portraits and still-life, in both watercolours and oils. A particularly distinctive feature of some of his watercolours was his use of varnish to give age and contrast. Spigel was a key member of the

group Jung Idysz. He was also a member of ‘Start’, a group of mainly Jewish, Łódź artists, who exhibited across Poland throughout the 1920s and '30s. By the 1930s, his work was in collections in Poland, London, and Israel. Shortly after the

German invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, in 1939, Natan Spigel, together with his family, was interned in the

. He continued to paint during this time. He was murdered in the Treblinka extermination camp in 1942. Today Natan Spigel’s work can be seen in public collections in Tel Aviv, London,

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

, and

Ein Harod Ein Harod () was a kibbutz in northern Israel near Mount Gilboa. Founded in 1921, it became the center of Mandatory Israel's kibbutz movement, hosting the headquarters of the largest kibbutz organisation, HaKibbutz HaMeuhad. In 1923 part of the ...

. Only about 20 of his paintings are definitely known to have survived.

References

External links

Spigel's work in Central Jewish Library
see : natanspigel.com see: https://archive.org/details/ottoschneidpapers ′ {{DEFAULTSORT:Spigel, Natan 1942 deaths Polish painters 1890s births Jewish Polish artists Jewish painters Polish people who died in Treblinka extermination camp Nazi-era ghetto inmates Artists from Łódź Polish Jews who died in the Holocaust