Auction 87 - Jewish and Israeli Art, History and Culture
Including: sketches by Ze'ev Raban and Bezalel items, hildren's books, avant-garde books, rare ladino periodicals, and more
Ivan Sors – Drawings and Prints – Portrait Series of Zionist Leaders (Herzl, Nordau, Weizmann), Portrait Signed by British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, and More – Europe and the USA, First Half of 20th Century
Large collection of drawings by painter, designer and medalist Ivan Sors, prints after his works, photographs and more. [Europe and the USA, first half of 20th century].
The collection includes:
• 47 portrait drawings of Zionist and Jewish leaders, intellectuals and other persons of note – Theodore Herzl, Haim Weizmann, Berl Katznelson, A.D. Gordon, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Max Nordau, Henrietta Szold, Albert Einstein and others. 32 portraits on paper (mixed media; some signed) and 15 on tracing paper (presumably final versions for print). Some subjects are depicted twice, on both types of paper.
• Several prints after these portraits (each print comprises several small portraits, arranged around a map of the Land of Israel or a seven-branch candelabrum; several portraits included in the prints do not have a hand-drawn counterpart in the present collection).
• 6 portrait drawings signed by the subjects, including one portrait of British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, who defeated Winston Churchill in the 1945 elections.
• Some 60 drawings and caricature (mostly ink and pencil), including Dwight D. Eisenhower in military uniform, several portraits of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, a caricature of Albert Einstein holding books, surrounded by mathematical symbols; and more.
• Photographs of the artist and his acquaintances, reproductions of his works and more.
Ivan Sors (1895-1950), painter, caricaturist and medalist, born in Reca, then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Immigrated to Prague as a young man and worked there as an illustrator for several magazines. Following the outbreak of WWII, he left Europe and in 1940 settled in the US, where he started working with a number of Jewish-American publications. His work includes portraits of thousands of public figures and persons of note in Europe and in the US, with a notable portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He is also famous for a series of portrait plaques featuring famous Jewish and Zionist persons, commissioned by collector Samuel Friedenberg.
Some 140 items. Size and condition vary.