The Fast of Av, Yehudo Epstein, signed and dated Vienna 1924. A landmark in the history of 20th-century Judaica painting, created by one of the greatest Judaica painters of his day. Oil on canvas, 107x192 cm. Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Yehudo Epstein (1870-1945) was revered as one of the most important Jewish painters of his time. His painting The Fast of Av is the largest and most ambitious of his works, and is an exquisite and powerful rendition of Jews mourning the Destruction of the Temple on Tisha Be-Av. As according to custom, the mourners are seated on the floor, without shoes, reading from the Book of Lamentations. In the center, their prayer leader recites aloud Jeremiah's prophecy about the impending destruction of the Temple and the Exile from the Land of Israel. With his outstretched arm and uplifted eyes, this powerful figure himself recalls the Prophet whose words he delivers.
The Fast of Av clearly demonstrates Yehudo Epstein's masterful use of light and shadow. His mourners are draped in darkness, recalling the themes of Destruction and Exile, and the tortured history of the Jewish People. And yet, leading this shadow-enveloped minyan is a figure illuminated by Heavenly light. For, despite his words of doom, exile and destruction, Jeremiah also provides the People of Israel with words of hope and rebuilding, the promise of returning to their former their glory.
Considering the devastating historical events that would soon follow, Epstein's painting may itself be seen as a form of prophecy. Painted in 1924, The Fast of Av foreshadows the impending destruction of European Jewry during the Holocaust. But it also recalls the long-promised return of the Jews to the Holy Land. A heavy darkness, penetrated by Divine light.
Yehudo Epstein was born in Mogilev, Belarus in 1870. He spent most of his life in Austria, and his last years in Johannesburg. Exceptionally talented and versatile, Epstein painted scenes of everyday Jewish and popular life, portraits, landscapes, and biblical scenes, and enjoyed much success during his own lifetime. He received his first painting lessons in Vilnius. Unable to study at the Acadamy of Arts in St. Petersburg (due to his Jewish origins), he moved to Vienna and enrolled in the Academy of Art, where he was a student from 1888-1894 and a professor from 1923. Epstein won numerous prizes for his work. In 1920 he was honored with a comprehensive exhibition of his paintings at the Künstlerhaus in Vienna. During World War I, he was a member of the art group at the K.C. War Journalist Headquarters. In 1935 he emigrated to South Africa, settling in Johannesburg until his death.
The Fast of Av is a landmark both in Yehudo Epstein's highly successful career, and in the history of early 20th C Judaica painting. During this period, Epstein and his contemporaries found particular inspiration in biblical subjects, which provided a welcome opportunity to dramatize and glorify the Jewish People's past, both for a Jewish and Gentile audience. At the same time, they also created of large-scale paintings of contemporary Jewish life, which they used to convey the spiritual and political turmoil felt by Jewish communities of their day.
Yehudo Epstein's The Fast of Av is a powerful expression of these two interests. It is a seamless melding of the biblical and contemporary Jewish experience, and a masterpiece of one of the greatest Jewish painters of the 20th century.
An exceptional and impressive museum piece.