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Szalit-Marcus, Rachel, 1894-1942

 Person

Dates

  • Usage: 1894 - 1942

Biography

Rachel Szalit-Marcus was a painter and book illustrator. She spent her childhood in Lodz and in 1911 went to study at the Munich Fines Arts Academy. There she met and married Julius Szalit, a successful Jewish actor, and they were together until he committed suicide 1919. In 1916, they moved to Berlin, where Rachel exhibited with the artists of the Secession group and became a member of the November group, young avant-garde artists who joined forces after the November Revolution of 1918. When the Nazis assumed power in 1933, Rachel Szalit-Marcus fled to Paris, a haven for refugee artists. The “Paris School” artists were considered degenerate and banned when France fell to Germany in 1940. In 1942, she was arrested and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp where she was murdered. She painted portraits, flowers, and still-lifes but little remains of her work after her Paris studio was ransacked by Nazis. Her best-known works consist of lithographic illustrations to books by Mendele Mokher Seforim, Shalom Aleichem, Israel Zangwill, Heinrich Heine, and Martin Buber.

Found in 5 Collections and/or Records:

"Das Krankenzimmer" or "The Sick Room", 1920

 Item
Identifier: B333.08.0003.0001.00001
Abstract

Black and white lithograph of "Das Krankenzimmer" or "The Sick Room" which is part of a series of works artist Rachel Szalit-Marcus did for Sholom Aleichem's "Menshelakh un Stsenes" published in 1922. The image is of a older man laying in a bed with a young boy by his side, an woman to his right and a man, probably a doctor, seated at the foot of the bed. Medicine bottles are on the bedside table and a Star of David is over the mans head on the wall.

Dates: 1920

"Die Fahrt Nach Amerika" or "The Journey to America", circa 1920

 Item
Identifier: B333.08.0003.0001.00003
Abstract Black and white lithograph of "Die Fahrt Nach Amerika" or "The Journey to America" which is part of a series of works artist Rachel Szalit-Marcus did for Sholom Aleichem's "Menshelakh un Stsenes" published in 1922. The print has passengers perhaps abord or waiting to board a ship for America. Seven figures are present: three men, one boy and three women. The men and boy wears hats and the women wear scarves on their heads. The group is huddled with their belongings behind a picket fence and...
Dates: circa 1920

"Die Strasse (?)" or "The Street (?)", 1920

 Item
Identifier: B333.08.0003.0001.00002
Abstract

Black and white lithograph of "Die Strasse" or "The Street" with a thrid word that is illegible. It is part of a series of works artist Rachel Szalit-Marcus did for Sholom Aleichem's "Menshelakh un Stsenes" published in 1922. The print shows four people in the street with two peaked straw roofs in the background. The figures of two women, and man and a boy all seem angry and bit grotesque. Anger may be directed towards the boy.

Dates: 1920

"Menshelakh un stsenes : zekhtsen tseykhenungen tsu shlum-elikhms verk" or "Menshelakh and scenes: sixteen drawings to Sholem Aleichem works", 1922

 File
Identifier: B333.08.0008.0002
Abstract "Menshelakh and scenes: sixteen drawings to Sholem Aleichem works" contains sixteen illustrations by Rachel Szalit-Marcus that depict charaters and scenes from Sholem Aleichem's works. Also in the Lowenstein collection are four original signed lithographs by Rachel Szalit-Marcus, three of which are the originals for this publications. Though the relationship between Maria Lowenstein and Rachel Szalit-Marcus is unknown, Marcus' works mixed in with Maria Lowensteins indicates a relationship...
Dates: 1922

Rabbi and Orthodox Man Sitting with Book, 1920

 Item
Identifier: B333.08.0003.0001.00004
Abstract

Black and white lithograph of a rabbi and an orthodox man sitting at a table with an open book they seem to be discussing. The Rabbi has a long beard and both men have long hair and curled pathos. The walls and ceiling are bare.

Dates: 1920

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Berlin (Germany) 3
Jewish men 3
Jewish families 2
Drawings 1
Immigrants 1