1925 Antique Very Large Bronze Bezalel Plaque Exile Jewish Palestine Israel

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1925 Antique Very Large Bronze Bezalel Plaque Exile Jewish Palestine Israel:
$8500.00

inches high, 15 inches wide. Extremely thick, heavy, and beautifully cast bronze plaque weighing 5.3 pounds. Damage to bottom left corner, it looks like it was dropped and that corner was pushed in. Has a very dark patina. Titled "Exile" in Hebrew in a typical Bezalel-style cartouche (shown here are Bezalel carpets of the Tomb of Rachel and Mount Sinai featuring similar cartouches bearing Hebrew titles), and the creator of this work in a smaller cartouche in Hebrew "S. Hirszenberg". Hand engraved presentation stating the date in German on the left of March 15, 1925, and the same date in Hebrew on the right.

The scene on this plaque is a copy of the monumental painting "Exile" by the Polish artist Samuel Hirszenberg, done in 1904. That painting has been lost. In 2014, two scholars wrote a twenty page article that was published in the academic journal "Images", which discussed the tremendous impact Hirszenberg's painting of "Exile" had on other artists, and how it was copied and imitated for decades, even 100 years later. You can find this article on the internet and download it for free.

All large bronze Bezalel plaques are by Boris Schatz, with his initials in Hebrew in a corner of the portrait. No large Bezalel plaques were done by other Bezalel artists such as Raban or Gur-Arieh, only Schatz. This is the sole exception. In my research of Samuel Hirszenberg, I read that at the invitation of Schatz, he left Poland for Jerusalem in 1907 and was a teacher at Bezalel and continued to produce art. He died only a year later in Jerusalem at the age of 43 and Schatz was devastated by his passing. In 1914, Schatz made a memorial plaque to Hirszenberg, which shows Hirszenberg painting his most famous work, "Exile". While this twenty page article goes into great depth about this specific painting and it's influence, and as seen here, shows the memorial plaque by Schatz, my plaque is not shown or mentioned, at all. In fact, my plaque is completely unknown to these two authors of the article for good reason: no examples are found in any museum in the world, including the Israel Museum.

The Bezalel school was broke for most of the time and always on the verge of closing (which it did, in 1929), it only stayed open because of the financial help that was given to Schatz by wealthy Jews in Germany: perhaps this plaque was made on Schatz's orders and mailed as a gift of appreciation to one of those rich supporters as a thank you in 1925? Or was this plaque specially made for one of the Bezalel touring exhibits in Europe, and it was purchased at an exhibit and given as a gift shortly after? I don't have answers to these hypotheticals, but what I do know is that the rarity and I daresay, importance of this Bezalel plaque cannot be overstated.

Pickups / examinations in person are welcome, I'm in New York City. Shipping outside the USA is by FedEx.