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.
Amedeo Modigliani painted La Juive before he developed the signature style of his late work: portraits of women with elongated necks and faces. But a hint of that style can be seen here in the…
Like most of Henry Valensi’s other “Symphony” paintings, Symphonie Vitale does not refer to a specific piece of music, but instead reflects the principles of Musicalism, the art movement founded by…
O House of Jacob!
Come, let us walk
By the light of the Lord.
For you have forsaken [the ways of] your people,
O House of Jacob!
For they are full [of practices] from the East,
And of soothsaying…