Moshe Rosenthalis (; November 18, 1922 – August 26, 2008) was a Lithuanian-Israeli painter and an art teacher. As a young artist in Lithuania, then part of the Soviet Union, he adapted the dominant Socialist realist discipline. After his immigration to Israel in 1958, where he lived and created for 50 years until his death, he implemented various art methods, including Abstract, Fauvism, Figurative, Expressionism and diverse media and bases. He painted thousands of drawings, portraits, and engravings. His paintings were characterized by vivid colors and Joie de vivre. Many of his works drew inspiration from the Israeli landscapes, images, and peoples, especially of Jaffa Port and Safed.
Biography Early life and artistic career in Lithuania
Moshe Rosenthalis was born on 18 November 1922 in Marijampolė, Lithuania. Giedrė Jankevičiūtė. Vilnius – Old Port of Jaffa and the Hills of Galilee – Vilnius. In M.Rosenthalis: The Color of Freedom. 2009. p. 11. His father was a grain merchant who had fallen from grace. David Giladi, The artist and his work. Keter Publishing House: Jerusalem, 1984, p. xxi. At three, he strove to draw the street outside his home with a pencil. Rosenthalis received his first art lessons from the painter Aryeh (Levas) Margushilski, then a young art student and later a mentor to many painters in Tel Aviv. David Giladi, The artist and his work. In: Moshe Rosenthalis, Keter Publishing House: Jerusalem, 1984, p. xxi.
In 1940, after completing his studies at the Hebrew High School in Marijampolė, he was accepted to the Kaunas Art School, and studied there for a year. David Giladi, The artist and his work. In: Moshe Rosenthalis, Keter Publishing House: Jerusalem, 1984, p. xxi, xxiii, xxiv. In 1941, after the Germans invaded territories held by the Soviet Union, he fled to the Russian interior. Later, he was conscripted into the Lithuanian division of the Red Army and was wounded in battle. Hannah Koffler. Moshe Rosenthalis – Colorist by Nature. In Homage à Rosenthalis: Three exhibitions and one book. 2009. p. 144. He was appointed as the official painter of his battalion. He painted portraits of military heroes and leaders and organized protagonist exhibitions to raise the soldiers' morale. David Giladi, The artist and his work. In: Moshe Rosenthalis, Keter Publishing House: Jerusalem, 1984, p. xxii.
After his discharge from the army, Rosenthalis settled in Vilnius and enrolled in the Vilnius Academy of Arts, where he studied from 1945 to 1950. Alec Mishori, Moshe Rosenthalis: History of the Jewish People, in The Great Sight, 2013, p. 14e. His teachers include Petras Kalpokas and Antanas Gudaitis; notable artists who studied there were Chaïm Soutine, Pinchus Kremegne and Jacques Lipchitz. David Giladi, The artist and his work. Keter Publishing House: Jerusalem, 1984, p. ix, x. He won two drawing prizes: one for poster design and the other for his diploma work. Hannah Koffler. Moshe Rosenthalis – Colorist by Nature. In Homage à Rosenthalis: Three exhibitions and one book. 2009. p. 144. His final project, "Release of Political Prisoners from the Kaunas Jail in 1940", was on display at the Moscow Art Academy. Today it is on display at the Soviet Art Gallery of Grūtas Park. Giedrė Jankevičiūtė. Vilnius – Old Port of Jaffa and the Hills of Galilee – Vilnius. In M.Rosenthalis: The Color of Freedom. 2009. p. 12-13. In 1950, at age 28, he was accepted to the Lithuanian Artists' Association. Carl Hoffman (August 16, 2012). A treasure lost and found. The Jerusalem Post. The official artistic style in the Soviet Union at that period was socialist realism, manifesting the natural and materialistic world without taking a stand. Rosenthalis had no option but to compromise and follow that school. Hannah Koffler. Moshe Rosenthalis - Colorist by Nature. In Homage à Rosenthalis: Three exhibitions and one book. 2009. P. 145.
He participated in exhibitions throughout Lithuania, and in 1951 gained critical acclaim from Pravda art critic when he took part in a group exhibition held in Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, among 300 canvasses, David Giladi, The artist and his work. In: Moshe Rosenthalis, Keter Publishing House: Jerusalem, 1984, p. ix. and has been awarded the Medal of Excellence by the Supreme Soviet. Hannah Koffler. Moshe Rosenthalis –Colorist by Nature. In Homage à Rosenthalis: Three exhibitions and one book. 2009. p. 145. His works were acquired by museums and institutions throughout the USSR. Three of his works were purchased by the National Museum of Lithuania. David Giladi, The artist and his work. In: Moshe Rosenthalis, Keter Publishing House: Jerusalem, 1984, p. ix. An additional source of income for him was portrait paintings. He painted well-known figures, following the official social realism art. When he drew women, children, and close friends, he took more liberty, and the viewer can notice the future evocative colors and pronounced brush strokes. David Giladi, The artist and his work. In: Moshe Rosenthalis, Keter Publishing House: Jerusalem, 1984, p. xiv, xv.
Life and art in Israel In 1957, because of his wife Sarah's birthplace in Polish Vilnius, the family received an exit permit and moved to Warsaw. Giedrė Jankevičiūtė. Vilnius – Old Port of Jaffa and the Hills of Galilee – Vilnius. In M.Rosenthalis: The Color of Freedom. 2009. p. 14. Contrary to the artistic fetters in Lithuania, Poland was unabated by the Soviet establishment and had artistic freedom, influenced by the cultural trends prevalent in Paris, Western Europe, and the USA. David Giladi, The artist and his work. In: Moshe Rosenthalis, Keter Publishing House: Jerusalem, 1984, p. x. He visited the Warsaw Museum and was overwhelmed by a Polish Avant-Garde exhibition. Hannah Koffler. Moshe Rosenthalis–Colorist by Nature. In Homage à Rosenthalis: Three exhibitions and one book. 2009. p. 144. In 1958, at 36, after living in Poland for seven months, Rosenthalis immigrated to Israel and settled with his family in a shack on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. The Israeli art scene was turbulent by the controversy between two movements: first, artists who advocate loyalty to the Israeli native character, and the second, Ofakim Hadashim (New Horizons), at the helm of Joseph Zaritsky, supported the global abstract school, had the upper hand. Sorin Heller, A local scent. In: Moshe Rosenthalis: The Joy of Color, The Open Museum, Tefen and Omer industrial parks, p. 26.
Rosenthalis was fluent in Hebrew, which he learned at the Jewish School in Marijampolė, and made his living teaching elementary drawing. David Giladi, The artist and his work. In: Moshe Rosenthalis, Keter Publishing House: Jerusalem, 1984, p. xiii, xvi. He learned about modern art by visiting art galleries and studying books. David Giladi, The artist and his work. In: Moshe Rosenthalis, Keter Publishing House: Jerusalem, 1984, p. xiii, xiv, xvi. During his first years in Israel, Rosenthalis continued to paint realistic portraits and topics corresponding to the diaspora along with figurative and evocative subjects. Avraham Ronen, An artist of endless renewal. In: Moshe Rosenthalis: The Joy of Color, The open museum, Tefen and Omer industrial parks, p. 20. Among the figures he painted were the poets Avraham Shlonsky; and the artists Chaim Gliksberg, Shimshon Holzman, and Moshe Ziffer. During these years he participated in group and annual exhibitions in Independence Hall, Tel Aviv Museum, and the Israel Painters and Sculptors Association. David Giladi, The artist and his work. In: Moshe Rosenthalis, Keter Publishing House: Jerusalem, 1984, p. xiii.
In the early 1960s, Rosenthalis painted his first abstract works but continued to paint landscapes, human figures, and still life, in a combination of abstract and realistic modes. Avraham Ronen, An artist of endless renewal. In: Moshe Rosenthalis: The Joy of Color, The open museum, Tefen and Omer industrial partks, p. 20. Since 1963, for ten years, Rosenthalis explored the use of color on canvas and practiced the methods of Kazimir Malevich. He used color as direct as possible and abandoned the use of light, shade, and perspective. Many of his paintings comprise small angular areas in horizontal or vertical composition. Usually, the canvas set up in a few brush strokes, produced angular shapes related to the colors and their mutual alteration. Rosenthalis used a dozen delicate brush strokes. He inserted into many of his paintings bluish-gray color at the paintings' center. David Giladi, The artist and his work. In: Moshe Rosenthalis, Keter Publishing House: Jerusalem, 1984, p. xviii, xix. Over the years he concentrated on the structural basics of painting, while the topic became insignificant in his art. His paintings become prosaic, inspecting the correspondence between the color, the effects of light, and the apparent compositions. Hannah Koffler. Moshe Rosenthalis – Colorist by Nature. In Homage à Rosenthalis: Three exhibitions and one book. 2009. p. 148.
In 1973, Rosenthalis stayed as an artist-in-residence at the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, where he experienced the French Modernism, which proved to be a pivotal point of his oeuvre. While in Paris, he studied the works of great modern artists such as Braque, Delaunay, Dufy, Kandinsky, Matisse, and Picasso. Manifestation of their influence can be seen in the increased translucency origin in his work thereafter. These paintings are performed partially, or entirely, in a diluted palette of colors so that their transparency reveals the background so that, also, as an integral function within the color format. After Paris, Rosenthalis used his brush friskily. He installed various geometric shapes, juxtaposed or superimposed. Shading is attained via the translucent effect, which allocates a role to the light and the watered down of paint. David Giladi, The artist and his work. In: Moshe Rosenthalis, Keter Publishing House: Jerusalem, 1984, p. xiii. The tension between cold and warm colors, and between line and form, and he contrived the concept of polarity–not in a realistic way, but as an abstract expression of inner ideas and feelings. Hannah Koffler. Moshe Rosenthalis – Colorist by Nature. In Homage à Rosenthalis: Three exhibitions and one book. 2009. p. 148. In 1990, Raffi Lavie wrote in Ha'ir: "A Rosenthalis' festival is on display... Picasso, Matisse, and Kandinsky would have liked what he had taken from each of them. The temperament, the fluidity of line, and the richness of color... This is a real painting, free of all pretensions of movements or of non-artistic theories.". Raffi Lavie, Ha'ir, 1990.
Since settling in Israel in 1958, for 17 years, Rosenthalis eschewed self-exposure. His Solo exhibition at the Petah Tikva Museum of Art in 1975 was his first major show. Sorin Heller, A local scent. In: Moshe Rosenthalis: The Joy of Color, The open museum, Tefen and Omer industrial parks, p. 27. Dov Homsky wrote about the exhibition in Al HaMishmar: "The painting for Rosenthalis is a happening per se, a purpose per se ... His vision is humanistic. He fused his 'topics' into his 'self' His perception was impromptu and forthright, without intellectual inquiry. We can perceive the artists' love in each detail, the colors game, which is mischievous and sober simultaneously—made in a lyric affection of a very sensitive painter.". Dov Homsky (May 7, 1975). The Painter Moshe Rosenthalis. Al HaMishmar. Adam Baruch wrote in Yedioth Ahronoth: "Even a viewer with the most pronounced contemporary inclinations will doff his hat to painting that is replete, well aware of the theatricality of the occupation, without becoming pathetic–and with the ability to cross or avoid such critical barriers as 'relevance' etc." Adam Baruch (March 31, 1978). Seasoned eye. Yedioth Ahronoth. p. 7.
A 1983 retrospective exhibition at Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art presented Rosenthalis' works from the years 1950–1983.