Reuven Rubin

Joseph Stieglitz Gallery, Tel Aviv, 1950s
Thence by descent

Jerusalem, David Citadel; Herzliya, Gymnasium, Solo Exhibition, 1924, no. 12, p. 5
Bucharest, Regina Maria, Expozitia Rubin, November 1924, no. 19, p. V, illustrated in black and white in the exhibition catalogue 
Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv Museum, Modern Israel Art in its Beginnings, 1290-1930, May 1957, no. 18
Jerusalem, Israel Museum; Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Rubin, Retrospective Exhibition, May-June 1966, no. 15
Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Dreamland: Reuven Rubin's Encounter with the Land of Israel in His Paintings of the 1920s and 1930s, 2006-2007, no. 69, p. 139, illustrated in color in the exhibition catalogue

Reuven Rubin, Reuven; An Autobiography and Selected Paintings, Tel Aviv, illustrated p. 66

This work is in extremely good condition. The canvas is unlined. The paint layer is clean. There is no visible abrasion or weakness to the work. When viewed under ultraviolet light, one can see that there are a few fairly broad retouches in the light area beneath the head of the donkey on the right side of the picture. There are also a few retouches in the light colors in front of the donkey in the upper center and to the right of the donkey on the right side. There is one other horizontal line of retouches at the top of the olive tree in the upper left. These retouches probably address remnants of old dirt which were not removed in cleaning. The work was tidied up with retouches rather than properly cleaned. There does not seem to be any actual damage to the work. Although presumably some small retouches would be required, if this restoration were re-examined, the amount of actual retouching could be significantly reduced by at least fifty percent. The painting can also be hung in its current condition. The above condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Sotheby’s is honored to offer two exceptional examples of Rubin’s work from the 1920s. (See also lot 29)

Exemplifying Rubin’s celebrated early style, The Road to Meron combines a bright, optimistic palette with a balanced and flattened composition. The Arab village in the distance is as crisp and clear as the stop along the road where Rubin introduces one of his oft-repeated subjects, the milkman.

The character of the milkman, made famous by such tales as Shalom Aleichem’s Tevye The Milkman, is symbolic of Jewish life in Eastern Europe, and so bridges the gap between Rubin’s early years in the Diaspora and his new life in Eretz, Israel. Rubin repeatedly paints this human embodiment of the lush fertility of the land of Israel throughout the 1920s. In this example, the Hassidic milkman’s piercing blue eyes, broad shoulders and strong arms unite to give him both an air of spiritual transcendence and the hearty, earthbound strength of the new Jewish pioneers.

Rubin, a secular Israeli artist, recently immigrated from Europe, romantically portrays the pluralistic society of his new home. The road to Meron is populated by both the Hassidic pilgrim riding on a donkey, likely traveling to Meron to commemorate Lag Ba’Omer at the tomb of Shimon Bar-Yohai, and the Arab mother riding with babe in arms. These figures are later visually repeated in one of Rubin’s best known paintings from this period, The Dancers of Meron, 1926, from the Rubin Museum collection. In the later work, the Arab woman is replaced by a religious Jewish mother but in both works, the woman cradles a baby at her breast and is wrapped in a pale pink scarf. This repeated visual theme connects the two paintings, almost like a sequence of events - on the road to the celebration, and the celebration itself. The sensitive portrayal of these varied figures speaks to the artist’s vision of harmony in his new land.

This painting is a preeminent example of Rubin’s seamless integration of figures and landscape. The rolling Galilean hills, strewn with olive trees, envelope the characters in their folds, as they travel along their winding path. In both a gentle embrace of his new home, and an infusion of symbolism, Rubin lovingly paints charming details into this idyllic pilgrimage scene: a western umbrella to protect from the persistent Mediterranean sun, the milk-producing goat stealing a bite from a carob tree. “According to legend, a Carob tree nourished Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yohai while he and his son Eliezer hid from the Romans in a cave, where he wrote the Book of Zohar.” (Carmela Rubin, Dreamland: Reuven Rubin and His Encounter with the Land of Israel in His Paintings of the 1920s and the 1930s, exhibition catalogue, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2006, p. 217)