Ben Uri Gallery and Museum company logo
Ben Uri Gallery and Museum
Skip to main content
  • Menu
  • Homepage
  • What's on
  • About Ben Uri
  • Exhibitions
  • Collections
  • Research Unit
  • Museum Partnerships
  • Essays / Catalogues
  • BU TV
  • Podcasts
  • Bookshop
  • Kids Programme
  • Arts and Mental Health
  • Bloomberg Connects
  • Archives
  • Support Us
  • Contact Us
  • FAQ
Facebook, opens in a new tab.
Youtube, opens in a new tab.
Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Twitter, opens in a new tab.
LinkedIn, opens in a new tab.
Join the mailing list
Send an email
Cart
0 items £
Checkout

Item added to cart

View cart & checkout
Continue shopping
Facebook, opens in a new tab.
Youtube, opens in a new tab.
Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Twitter, opens in a new tab.
LinkedIn, opens in a new tab.
Join the mailing list
Send an email
Menu
Alfred Wolmark

Alfred Wolmark

  • Overview
  • Works
  • Biography
  • Exhibitions
  • Publications
  • Previous artist Browse artists Next artist
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Alfred Wolmark, The Last Days of Rabbi Ben Ezra

Alfred Wolmark

The Last Days of Rabbi Ben Ezra
oil on canvas
(with slip) 185.5 x 318
@Alfred Wolmark estate
Photo: Ben Uri Gallery
Wolmark's monumental canvas illustrates the famous line from Robert Browning’s poem ‘Rabbi Ben Ezra’: ‘Let age speak the truth, and give us peace at last'. The artist made two extended...
Read more
Wolmark's monumental canvas illustrates the famous line from Robert Browning’s poem ‘Rabbi Ben Ezra’: ‘Let age speak the truth, and give us peace at last'. The artist made two extended trips to his native Poland in 1903-5 and 1905-6 to carry out studies for the painting, basing himself in the University city of Krakow, then a centre of Jewish artistic activity associated with the Jewish national revival. 'The Last Days of Rabbi Ben Ezra' formed the centrepiece of Wolmark's first solo exhibition at the Bruton Galleries in London in 1905, the year of the British ‘Aliens Act’ - designed to stem the tide of Jewish immigrants at source. Its inclusion can been interpreted as an act of cultural identity, in which the artist both asserted and reconciled his Polish, Jewish and English roots – perhaps underlined by the inclusion of a self-portrait in the background centre of the painting. Purchased in Berlin in April 1911 by Mr. Sally Guggenheim, this iconic painting was taken to the Villa Guggenheim in Switzerland, then passed by descent to the current owner, Eli Guggenheim, hanging for several decades in the family dining room in San Antonio, Texas. From May 1997 through to July 2012 the painting was on loan to the Judaica department in the Jewish Museum, New York. In 2015, marking Ben Uri’s centenary, the Guggenheim family offered the painting on long term loan to the Ben Uri Collection.
Close full details

Provenance

E. Guggenheim and R. Guggenheim, on long term loan to Ben Uri Collection

Literature

Rachel Dickson ed., From Adler to Zuławski: A Century of Polish Artists in Britain (London: Ben Uri Research Unit, 2020) pp. 40-41; Sarah MacDougall 'From Warsaw to Whitechapel: exploring cultural and artistic identity in the early work of Alfred Aaron Wolmark (c. 1876-1961)' in eds., J. Malinowski, T. Sztyma-Knasiecka et al Conferences of the Polish Society of Oriental Art, Vol. 3: Jewish Artists and Central-Eastern Europe 19th Century to World War II (Warsaw: Conferences of the Polish Society of Oriental Art in co-operation with DiG, May 2010); Rachel Dickson and Sarah MacDougall, Rediscovering Wolmark: a pioneer of British modernism (London: Ben Uri Gallery, 2004).
Share
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Email
Previous
|
Next
3 
of  26

Join our mailing list

Categories *

Sign up

* denotes required fields

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. If you are not happy with this, you can opt-out below. 

 

Read More

Homepage

What’s On

About

Contact

Support

Exhibitions

Collections

Research Unit

Essays / Catalogues

Loans 

 

BU TV

Podcasts

Health

Kids

Press

 
Facebook, opens in a new tab.
Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Twitter, opens in a new tab.
Youtube, opens in a new tab.
Pinterest, opens in a new tab.
LinkedIn, opens in a new tab.
Vimeo, opens in a new tab.
Artsy, opens in a new tab.
Join the mailing list
Send an email
Privacy Policy
Accessibility policy
Manage cookies
Copyright © 2023 Ben Uri Gallery and Museum
Site by Artlogic

We use cookies to make our website work more efficiently, to provide you with more personalised services or advertising, and to analyse traffic on our website. For more information please read our cookies policy. If you don't agree to the use of our cookies, the quality of your experience of our website may be lessened.

Manage cookies
Accept

Cookie preferences

Check the boxes for the cookie categories you allow our site to use

Cookie options
Required for the website to function and cannot be disabled.
Improve your experience on the website by storing choices you make about how it should function.
Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website.
Allow us to identify our visitors so that we can offer personalised, targeted marketing.
Save preferences