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"Das Krankenzimmer" or "The Sick Room", 1920

 Item
Identifier: B333.08.0003.0001.00001

Abstract

Black and white lithograph of "Das Krankenzimmer" or "The Sick Room" which is part of a series of works artist Rachel Szalit-Marcus did for Sholom Aleichem's "Menshelakh un Stsenes" published in 1922. The image is of a older man laying in a bed with a young boy by his side, an woman to his right and a man, probably a doctor, seated at the foot of the bed. Medicine bottles are on the bedside table and a Star of David is over the mans head on the wall.

Dates

  • 1920

Creator

Physical Description

Vertical picture in black ink on yellowed paper. Lower left corner torn off and outline of mat from framing is evident.

Biographical / Historical

SZALIT-MARCUS, RACHEL (1894–1942), painter and book illustrator. She spent her childhood in Lodz. Her parents, simple working people, encouraged her artistic talent, and in 1911 sent her to Munich to study at the Art Academy. Here she met Julius Szalit, a successful Jewish actor, whom she married. Szalit later committed suicide. In 1916 Rachel moved to Berlin, where she exhibited with the artists of the Secession group and became a member of the November group, young avant-garde artists who joined forces after the November Revolution of 1918. When the Nazis assumed power Rachel Szalit-Marcus fled to France. In 1942 she was arrested and sent to a concentration camp where she died. She painted portraits, flower pieces, and still-lifes. Her best-known works consist of lithographic illustrations to books by Mendele Mokher Seforim, Shalom Aleichem, Israel Zangwill, Heinrich Heine, and Martin Buber.

Lithographs were mixed in with Maria Lowenstein's works. It is very possible the two artists were friends in Berlin.

Extent

From the File: 1 Files (4 lithographs on paper)

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

Materials in this collection were gathered and preserved by Henry Lowenstein's mother Maria Loewenstein. Materials include legal documents and correspondence from the Nazi government of Germany, identification papers issued by the Nazi government, ration books, personal correspondence including letters from family sent through the Red Cross and friends in the Theresienstadt Concntration Camp and Lodz (Lodj) Ghetto, photographs, legal documents and utility receipts used by Maria Loewenstein to prove she was not a Jew, admission and discharge papers from the Wittenauer Sanatorium, Socialist Democratic Party membership cards, and Henry Lowenstein's videographed oral history and an exhibit book containing a brief written history of his family. The collection also contains artwork created by Marie and Henry Lowenstein. The collection ranges from 1848 to 2013.

Custodial History

Donated by Henry Lowenstein.

Physical Description

Vertical picture in black ink on yellowed paper. Lower left corner torn off and outline of mat from framing is evident.

Dimensions

35 x 26 cm.

General

Title supplied by artist.

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections and Archives Repository

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