Early Education
Diploma, Vilnius School of Drawing, 1885
Boris Schatz's father, a cheder teacher, sent the young Schatz to study at a yeshiva in Vilnius, Lithuania. However, Boris rebelled against Orthodox Judaism and its taboo on graven images. In 1883, while still at the yeshiva, he enrolled at the city's School of Drawing. He received his diploma in June 1885.
Mattathias the High Priest
Postcard from Boris Schatz (Sofia, Bulgaria) to Madam Cusniaz (Odessa, Russia), May 23,1905
Front of postcard: Photograph of “Mattathias the Priest”
Honorable Madam Cusniaz
I am leaving for America. In a few months, I will be traveling to Palestine to organize the school of which I have dreamt for so long. I wish I had received your response earlier. Please reply immediately.
My hearty regards to your husband and daughters.
Wishing you good health,
Yours, Boris Schatz
This postcard shows one of Schatz’s most important sculptures, Mattathias the High Priest (also known as Mattathias the Hasmonean), created in Paris as part of a planned series of sculptures depicting Jewish national leaders. From 1896, as the royal court sculptor in Sofia, Bulgaria, he produced sculptures of Bulgarian folk types, playing a central role in shaping Bulgarian national identity through art. The expertise he gained during this period would prove valuable in later years when formulating the concept behind the Bezalel School in Jerusalem.
In this postcard, he announces his intention to establish an art school in Palestine.
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Boris Schatz
Born Russian Empire, 1866-1932
Mattathias the Maccabee (head)
1894
Plaster
50 x 40 x 40 cm
Collection of The Schatz Foundation, Jerusalem
Photo: © Yair Talmor
The Wandering Jew
Postcard to Boris Schatz, Hotel Kaminetz, Palestine, 1907
Front of postcard: Reproduction of "Der Ewige Jude" by S. Hirschenberg
Der Ewige Jude (The Wandering Jew) by the Polish Jewish realist painter Samuel Hirschenberg (1899) highlights the distress of the Jewish population in Europe following the pogroms at the end of the 19th century. Hirschenberg immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1907 and became a lecturer at the Bezalel School. He died in 1908.
The postcard, sent to Boris Schatz from Jerusalem, thanks him for providing work and a home to ”The Wandering Jew.” The author of the postcard is unclear, but may be Professor Hirschenberg himself.
The postscript on the side of the card is from Yaakov Kantrowitz, a student of the inaugural class of Bezalel.