Reuven Rubin (1893-1974),
Femme Orientale

Signed in Hebrew and English lower right
Oil on canvas
35 x 32 inches
Framed: 47 x 43 inches

Painted in 1955.

This work is accompanied by a certificate from Carmela Rubin, dated 1999; A second certificate from Carmela Rubin dated 29 June, 2014.

Provenance: The Artist Sam Salz, New York
Estate of Harold Weil, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner.

Exhibited: The Tel Aviv Museum, Israel, Rubin: Retrospective Exhibition, July 1966, Catalogue Number 49.
Israel Museum, Jerusalem [n.d.]

Literature: Exhibition catalogue, Rubin: Retrospective Exhibition, The Tel Aviv Museum, Israel, July 1966, Catalogue Number 49.This important painting from 1955 has an illustrious exhibition history and provenance and has been unseen in public since 1966. Reuven Rubin is justly considered the father of Israeli art, and his long career, from the teens to the 1970's has helped cement his place in history. Rubin's art was constantly changing, and important works from the 1950s are held in great esteem.

Femme Orientale from 1955 is an exceptionally bold and expressive painting which has been known by several titles during its exhibition history: Femme Orientale, L'Orientale and Bukharian Woman. With this work, the artist returns to the same subject as another much beloved portrait from 1924, a portrait also of a Boukarian woman, known as Sophie, now in the collection of the Rubin Museum, Tel Aviv. The pose of the woman in both the 1924 and the present 1955 painting are almost identical: Facing left, hands to waist, plant tucked under the right arm, amber beads and full-breasted figure showing through a thin chemise.

This habit of returning to an earlier subject was something Rubin had in common with many other artists. The subject of fishermen and was a particularly favorite subject of Rubin's, and a similar comparison can be made between his Goldfish Vendor of 1926 and his painting of the same subject from 1955. The 1926 painting is in The Jewish Museum, New York and the 1955 Goldfish Vendor is in collection of the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris.

In her seminal monograph on Rubin's work, Sarah Wilkinson comments on the change that had taken place in Rubin's work in the years between the 1920's and the 1950's. "Although the pose is almost the same in both, the interval of almost thirty years had, as might be expected, wrought great changes in approach and execution. Faithfulness to the actual appearance of the model has been replaced by the play of imagination, and the naïve simplicity by a sophisticated, differentiated handling. The apparent facility with which such a canvas as that of 1955 has been painted often blinds people to the fact that this ease and grace were only obtained as a result of concentrated effort and unremitting work." (Sarah Wilkinson, Reuven Rubin, New York, Harry N. Abrams, 1974, p. 90).

Bursting with color and life, Femme Orientale , 1955 is painted with the swift, sure strokes of an artist at the height of his powers. Here we see touches of orange-red paint dancing across her arms and wrists; boldly sculpted facial features which seem to be etched in stone, exuding power and confidence and a red eye reflecting the light glancing off the red flowers cradled in her arm. All is set against an acid-yellow background that pushes the figure forward to fully engage our admiration and attention.

I am grateful to Carmela Rubin for her assistance with the cataloguing of this work.

Important Notice: This work is located in New York, NY. Items in this sale are located in different locations. Please request a shipping quote at your earliest convenience and at least 48 hours in advance of the auction.

Condition: In very good condition. The canvas is unlined. Under UV: no inpainting