Nachum Gutman

Lot description

Construction in Neve Shaanan, 1930, oil on canvas, 72x93 cm, Signed and dated. The authenticity of the painting has been confirmed by Prof. Hemi Gutman, the artist’s son. Collection of Rubin and Faigie Zimmerman, Israel. The atmosphere that Nachum Gutman found in Jaffa left an imprint on him that lasted throughout his life and work. He was drawn to its manners, to the slow rhythm of life, to the figures who moved through its streets, to the smell of the port, and to the glaring light that colored every corner with a chromatic richness he had not known in his cold early days in Eastern Europe. “In the Oriental atmosphere that surrounded us, I sensed a strong ferment of the will to live, of healthy instincts and a natural bond with the landscape, ” Gutman attested. “I later tried to give expression to these in my paintings.” It was a love rooted in a local and intimate childhood experience. “A particular kind of art that grows out of a place, providing a full and unaffected translation of landscape, ” wrote Adam Baruch. The Land-of-Israel current to which Gutman belonged sought to detach Jewish art from the diaspora and to find a new visual language of a new Jew, native to the country and connected to its soil. The figure of the Oriental Arab was a symbol of that instinctive directness to which the Sabra aspired. The sense of belonging to the land and the landscape was a living reality for Gutman; he did not adopt this view out of ideology. It was, simply, the backdrop of his homeland. He absorbed it through his body, in Neve Tzedek on the border of Arab Jaffa, where he grew up and learned to see while honing his tools as an artist. The carriage in the painting moves slowly through the streets of Jaffa. Under the influence of the German Expressionism that Gutman had encountered in real time, the horse blazes in intense oranges and reds, the street dissolves into patches of deep blue and warm yellow, and the buildings in the background flatten into sharp shapes that no longer obey the traditional perception of deep space. Gutman sees the carriage with his mind's eye. This is the Gutmanian vision present throughout virtually all of his work. It expresses the magic, warmth, and simplicity he experienced in his childhood in Jaffa. The motif of the carriage is, for Gutman, what the sunflowers were for Van Gogh, and not by chance. The carriage was an inseparable part of the atmosphere of early Jaffa, the means of transport of the city's dignitaries, a symbol of that very rhythm that enchanted him. A carriage that gradually disappeared from the streets with the city's expansion and the modernization of life. The colors in his paintings grew more intense the further he was removed in time from his childhood memories. They became more vivid, more emotional, as if Gutman were trying to grasp what was being blurred and lost at the hands of time. “His brush still paints the legend of childhood, which is preferable to any reality, ” wrote the scholar Ehud Ben-Ezer of him. This painting bears witness to that: A Land of Israel painted as a lost Eden, in the very days when Jaffa was being swallowed up in the landscape, within the metropolitan skyline of Tel Aviv. Rubin and Faigie Zimmerman are among the most prominent and inspiring figures in the Israeli collecting and philanthropic community. Over many decades, the couple demonstrated a profound commitment to culture, education, healthcare, and social welfare in Israel, combining a genuine passion for art with a broad public vision and a lasting impact on society. Living and working between Canada and Israel, the Zimmermans succeeded in building cultural and human bridges between communities, making support for major Israeli institutions an integral part of their public activity. They were among the significant benefactors of some of Israel’s leading cultural and academic institutions, including the Israeli Opera, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Tel Aviv University, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. At the same time, they devoted considerable effort and resources to humanitarian and social causes, supporting a wide range of organizations and initiatives in healthcare and welfare. Faigie Zimmerman was particularly distinguished for her philanthropic and community work. Among her many initiatives, she founded the Aryeh Yehuda Israel Foundation, established to advance educational, cultural, and community-oriented goals while continuing a tradition of philanthropy and civic engagement. The foundation became a further expression of the couple’s worldview — one that regarded culture, education, and community support as essential to creating a strong and thriving society. Alongside their public activities, the Zimmermans assembled one of the finest and most significant private art collections seen in Israel. Their collection is regarded as one of the most important private collections of Israeli art. It includes rare and exceptional works by some of the most influential artists in the history of Israeli art, among them Mordecai Ardon, Reuven Rubin, and Nachum Gutman. The works were acquired with great care during the 1960s and 1970s, a period considered pivotal in the development of the Israeli art market. Their selections reflected not only remarkable connoisseurship but also a deep understanding of the cultural and artistic significance of these artists and their role in shaping Israeli identity through art.