Boris Penson, born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is an Israeli painter and teacher. Arrested as a teen for “anti-Soviet activity,” Penson served several years at hard labor. In 1970, Penson was again arrested as a member of the Leningrad Nine, for allegedly plotting to escape Soviet Russia by hijacking a plane, and condemned to ten years imprisonment. In 1972, during Penson’s imprisonment, his work was exhibited at New York’s Jewish Museum. Although much of Penson’s work was confiscated upon his arrest, a number of his paintings were smuggled out of the Soviet Union by a friend. After his release from prison, Penson immigrated to Israel, where he established a studio and continued painting, participating in several international exhibitions.
A Son of the Ancient Race is one of the few paintings with Jewish themes made by Jozef Israëls. It is from a series of paintings and drawings of secondhand clothing peddlers in Amsterdam’s Jewish…
Józef Awin’s reconstruction of the synagogue in the Old Cemetery of Lwów/L’viv, featured here, reflects his clean geometricity and appreciation for Galician wooden synagogue architecture. The cemetery…
There came out among the Israelites one whose mother was Israelite and whose father was Egyptian. And a fight broke out in the camp between that half-Israelite and a certain Israelite. The son of…