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Jacob Steinhardt (1887-1968), sketch for an illustration. 1950. Mixed media on paper. 70X50 cm. Thin paper. Good condition. Fold lines. Stains and creases. Several tears and pinholes to edges. Sketch for a triptych delineating three ages in the history of the Jewish people – the exodus, the Babylonian captivity and the 20th-century Jewish return from diaspora (three horizontal panels, titled in German: "Pyramiden", "Babylon", "Kibbuz"). At left, German text in Steinhardt's hand (signed and dated 1950), giving printing instructions. Jacob Steinhardt (1887-1968) was born in Zerkow, Prussia. Studied painting in Berlin under Lovis Corinth and etching with Hermann Struck. Co-founded, with the artists Ludwig Meidner and Richard Janthur, the expressionist group "Die Pathetiker". With the outbreak of World War I, Steinhardt enlisted in the German army and was positioned in Lithuania, where he became familiar with the traditional lifestyle of local Jews. His portrait sketches of Lithuanian Jews were exhibited by the Berlin Secession in 1917, and earned him a place as member of the group. After the war, he started making woodcuts inspired by war images and his awakened Jewish identity. In 1933, he immigrated to Palestine with his wife and daughter and after several months in Tel Aviv settled in Jerusalem. In 1949, Steinhardt was appointed the director of the graphics department of New Bezalel. Between 1953 and 1957, he headed the school. Steinhardt, a prominent artist of German Expressionism, was famous mainly for his woodcuts; however, he never abandoned the easel. His work manifests humane protest alongside nostalgia for biblical times and the Shtetl. Heinspired a generation of students who continued his expressionist style.