Talk:Lazar Krestin

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He was born in Kovno, Lithuania and received his artistic education in his native Vilnius at the drawing academy and at the art academies of Vienna and Munich. He finally settled in Vienna permanently and travelled extensively to Palestine and Poland. Much of his work depicts the world of pious Jews on Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Krestin was a member of various prestigious art associations in Vienna and the Jewish Community of Vienna owned several of his works.

Lazar Krestin and studied in Vienna. He worked in Munich, Vienna and Odessa before emigrating to Palestine. He achieved fame in the German art world for judaic genre scenes and his many sober portraits of Eastern European Jews. He was one of the most prominent students of Isidor Kaufmann

The son of a Talmudic scholar, Lazar Krestin was born in Kovno, Lithuania, and studied in Vienna. He worked in Munich, Vienna and Odessa before coming to Jerusalem in 1910 at the request of Bezalel Academy of Art founder, Boris Schatz. Krestin started his career producing diminutive, meticulously fashioned panels in the manner of Isidor Kaufmann. During his travels, he visited Paris where he came into contact with the French Impressionists. In later years he was influenced by their techniques, while maintaining his interest in painting portraits and scenes from Eastern European Jewish life.

The son of a Talmudic scholar, Lazar Krestin (Lithuanian, 1868-1938) was born in Kaunas (Kowno, Kovno) Lithuania, and studied in Vilnius, Vienna. In the second half of the 19th century Vilnius became the "Jerusalem of Jewish fine arts" in Russia. Here a significant role was played by a teacher of drawing at the Vilnius realist school, Ivan Petrovich Trutniov (1821-1912). A graduate from the imperial Academy of Fine Arts and a follower of the classical style in painting, Trutniov came to Vilnius in 1867 to teach drawing. He totally ignored the imperial Russian laws that discriminated againts national minorities. To become his student one only had to be gifted. Trutniov taught over 5.000 students of different nationalities, and among them many Jews. Mordechay Antakolsky, Leib Antakolsky, Abram Griliches, Jaques Lipchitz, Chaim Soutine, Moishe Maimon, Mark Kadkin, Lazar Krestin and others who later became famous painters. Their names are inseparable from Vilnius and the history of Vilnius' art. However after their studies with Trutniov his students used to on to work in different high schools of fine arts in Western Europe and Russia. It often happened that they would stay in those countries and so move with their creative works into other cultures. They are often considered representative of other national artistic traditions. Lazar Krestin worked in Munich, Vienna and Odessa before coming to Jerusalem in 1910 at the request of Bezalel Academy of Art founder, Boris Schatz. Krestin started his career producing diminutive, meticulously fashioned panels in the manner of Isidor Kaufmann. During his travels, he visited Paris where he came into contact with the French Impressionists. In later years he was influenced by their techniques, while maintaining his interest in painting portraits and scenes from Eastern European Jewish life. Portraits illustrates Krestins's method of juxtaposing age and youth, innocence and wisdom. The works reflects Krestin's academic expertise in the use of contrasts of light and dark and his talent for the delineation of fine details seen both in the figures and decorative elements. His freer treatment of the setting mirrors his appreciation of the Impressionists. Krestin's handling of the subject reveals both his interest in Jewish genre scenes while revealing a knowledge of contemporary artistic trends.