Brooklyn, NY – Hundreds of art lovers and collectors descended this past Thursday on the Betzalel art gallery for its grand opening and inaugural Art exhibition displaying the drawings and watercolors of renowned Jewish Artist Itshak Holtz.
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The crowd represented the full spectrum of the New York metro area’s orthodox community. Satmar Chasidim from Williamsburg, Modern Orthodox Jews from Long island and Lubavitchers from Crown Heights amongst others enjoyed fine kosher wines and cheeses as they admired the paintings and the new gallery.
Nachman Hellman of Monsey who was among the attendees, has been a Jewish art collector for 15 years loaned two of his Holtz pieces to the gallery for the exhibition. Hellman complimented the design and display of the gallery saying, “I Believe this will be the most prestigious Judaic art gallery in the United States, it really takes Jewish art to the next level.”
Hellman, like many others at the exhibition, collects mostly Judaic art “it speaks to my neshama” (Hebrew for soul) he explains. He believes that Crown Heights is a suitable location for the gallery because of the local Lubavitch community’s reputation for being both deeply religious as well as cultural.
The star of the evening was unquestionably the artist himself, Itshak Holtz. His drawings and watercolors hanging on the walls captured scenes spanning a lifetime of Jewish history and change, his earliest painting on display was drawn in1962 the most recent – half a century later in 2012.
It was a nostalgic evening for Mr. Holtz who recalled one of his earliest memories of when as a 6 year old in his native Poland he sat on the sidewalk and sketched the mustached Polish Prime Minister with chalk as an amazed crown gathered to watch “It was a good likeness, too” he reminisces.
His love for art and his artistic proficiency only grew as he studied first in the Bezalel Art School of Jerusalem where his family moved before the war and then in New York where he mastered his craft under the tutelage of such personalities as Robert Brackman and Robert Philipp.
But to Itshak holtz his craft has always been more than just technique and colors, as a deeply religious orthodox Jew he seeks to depict scenes of Jewish spirituality and tradition. This drive has brought him back to Jerusalem again and again where he paints for months at a time. The zigzagged streets of Jerusalem and Tzefat, the interiors of synagogues and shops, old men and women, are all magically transformed by his brush. His portrayals of shoemakers and scribes capture the essence of his subjects with empathy and affection. “You have to live that religious life to fully capture it on canvas,” he explains.
The Exhibition attendees responded positively to Holtz’s paintings, hundreds waited on line as he signed Exhibition catalogs for more than 3 hours consecutively.
The operators behind the Gallery are Crown Heights businessman Dovy Andrusier, and Boro Park Art dealer Shmuel Pultman. Andrusier has been buying art from Pultman for20 years and they eventually decided to team up together to create this high end Hasidic art gallery.
“Art has been my long time hobby; this is taking my hobby to the next level” explains Andrusier “I believe Crown Heights is ready for a place like this and I believe the Jewish Art world is ready”.
Pultman lives in Boro Park and since opening his first art gallery almost 20 years ago, he has been at the forefront of the meteoric rise of Chassidic art. He has seen the prices of the finest paintings jump tenfold at the same time as contemporary representational art has declined in popularity.
“Twenty years ago, the most a Judaic artist was able to command for a painting was $20,000-$30,000. The Betzalel Gallery’s most expensive painting has an asking price of $175,000 although there are also paintings starting from $3,000” says Pultman.
Mr. Pultman says that his goal is to educate the Hasidic community about fine art. The opening of the gallery leads one to believe that his dream is getting ever closer to reality.
The exhibition runs until June 10, For more information visit Facebook.com/TheBetzalelGallery
Photos and video:Shmuel Lenchevsky
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Shmuel you rock!
Art has always been a very important part of who we are. Our mesorah is reflected in the artistry of the past as much as it is in the writings.
To me, there is nothing more beautiful than a lev tahor expressing itself through art.
I wish them all the success in the world, and I hope that they inspire young men and women with extraordinary talents to express themselves through art.
Yay for Shmuel Pultman! He is an artist, so you can imagine what a beautiful art gallery this is!!! Stunning paintings in a stunning upscale art gallery. Hatzlocha rabbeh.
Whew! What a welcome respite from all the asifa blather!
If more of our children had art classes [among other kosher extracarricular activities]
we wouldn’t be so traumatized by the slightest breeze.
I love the photo of the guy with a stroller coming out at night to a gallery opening!
Thank you VosIzNeias for bringing us this sort of news too, instead of mostly gloom and doom.
I would Love to see more Jewish Art featured on VIN rather Than jewish Scandel and #4 Could’nt Be more correct about our children having more extracarricular acctivities and not just banning everything as we saw by the asifa
Yidden can’t put food on the table for shabbos let alone buy paintings.this sends the wrong message
Oy vay- ! Men and women in the same room without a mechitza! What pritzus – who knows what this might lead to! Let’s call a special mass meeting to assure this
For now I think Holtz is over priced but it may be a good investment, time will tell;
Good luck Shmuel;