Rediscovering Abraham Jaskiel
About the presentation
Before 1933, Jewish families and artists were an important component of Leipzig’s vibrant cultural life. With their persecution, deportation and murder under National Socialism, their contribution and involvement as well as their life stories were erased from the city’s memory. Their absence has left a void. Filling it and remembering these people is an important task in handling the collection and the history of the MdbK.
The presentation being shown at the MdbK brings together three works by Abraham Jaskiel from his Leipzig period: Weißes Haus (c. 1926), which has been in the MdbK collection since 1936; a still life (1927), which the museum was able to acquire in 2023; and Leipziger Hinterhöfe (c. 1928), which was donated by the Schubert family from Leipzig in 2024. The paintings are complemented by works from the museum’s collection: Schiffe am schwarzen Tor (1999) by Amos Yaskil, Stillleben mit Krügen und Früchten (1924) by Eduard Einschlag and Früchtestillleben (1923/25) by Max Schwimmer.
Text on the painting “Weißes Haus”
Abraham Jaskiel’s small-scale landscape places a bright white house at the visual centre of the painting. With its red roof, the house contrasts with the rather dark colours of its surroundings. Yet the light blue of the sky captures a vibrancy and gives the work an overall cheerful appearance. The brushwork, the extensively abstract interpretation of the motif, the dark outlines and the strong colours correspond to modern painting styles of the 1920s. Jaskiel presented the work at the first “Juryfreie Kunstausstellung” at the GRASSI Museum in Leipzig in 1927. A reproduction is shown in the illustrated section of the catalogue, giving the painting special attention. The city of Leipzig is believed to have acquired the work from the exhibition and transferred it to the MdbK in 1936 together with another painting by the artist entitled “Connewitzer Gasanstalt”. The artist was not rehabilitated after 1945 during the GDR era. Considered “less suitable” for the museum, “Connewitzer Gasanstalt” was sold from the collection in 1946 to the Leipziger Stadtwerke und Verkehrsbetriebe. Fortunately, Weißes Haus remained with the MdbK and has now found important company with the acquisition of the still life in 2023 and the painting Leipziger Hinterhöfe that was donated in 2024.
Text on the painting “Leipziger Hinterhöfe”
Few people know of Jaskiel’s oeuvre from his Leipzig period. Leipziger Hinterhöfe can, at any rate, be considered a very typical and representative work. Jaskiel made portraits of the city: he created paintings with views of today’s Clara Zetkin Park, and he painted the Pleiße, the many Leipzig canals and the churches. His studio was in the south of Leipzig. This painting depicts, perhaps, the intricate architecture of the rear views of Leipzig’s bourgeois Gründerzeit buildings. Jaskiel simplifies the architecture into planes and assembles them – clearly distinct from each other and in different colours – into an overall composition. Fine black detailed drawings such as the branching of the tree, the railing of the balcony in the middle ground of the painting and the moulding made of roofing felt above it are similar to a graphic print. He places the soft, shimmering leaves of the trees and bushes over these strong contrasts and geometric forms. The work of the Leipzig artist oscillates between Impressionist and Expressionist influences and is reminiscent of the landscapes and cityscapes of his friend Max Schwimmer from the same period.
The artist
Abraham Jaskiel was born on 3 March 1894 in Częstochowa, present-day Poland. He came from a Hasidic family and a strictly religious home. It is believed that he completed an apprenticeship as a painter and varnisher under his father. In 1914, he went to Dresden to study at the art academy. In 1920, he moved to Leipzig where he continued to work as a craftsman. He became a member of the association of independent Jewish craftsmen and the managing director of a company for painting, oil and wallpapering work. He also sought to establish himself as a visual artist. In the mid-1920s, he worked as a stage designer, scenographer and graphic artist at various Leipzig theatres, including the Schauspielhaus and the cabaret “Die Retorte”.
In May 1929, he married Auguste Marie Emma Toepffer (1902–1997), who came from a Catholic fur-trader family. She converted to Judaism in the same year and adopted the name Miriam. Their son Zeev was also born in 1929. Jaskiel became more and more successful as a visual artist. In 1927, he took part in the first “Juryfreie Kunstausstellung” at the GRASSI Museum in Leipzig. The work Weißes Haus was acquired by the city from the exhibition. In 1931, he showed watercolours and paintings at the “Ersten Großen Leipziger Kunstausstellung”, which was organized by the united Leipzig artist groups. He exhibited as a member of the artist group “Die Zwanzig”. The Jewish sculptor and graphic artist Rudolf Saudek (1880–1965) and the painters Richard Miller (1905–1959) and Kurt Voss (1892–1967) were likewise members of this association. One year later, Jaskiel participated in the group “Leipziger Künstlerverein / Neue Gruppe” with several works. His oeuvre includes Leipzig cityscapes, portraits, landscapes and still lifes. He engaged intensively with his new home and skillfully staged it. His streetscapes, views of parks and canals and depictions of churches are mostly devoid of people, placing the focus on nature, architecture and space. In his portraits of his home city Jaskiel often adopts a bird’s-eye view. The works create an exciting juxtaposition of architecture abstracted into surfaces, details that evoke graphic art and the shimmering leaves of trees and bushes.
Abraham Jaskiel and his wife were well connected in Leipzig society and took part in the vibrant cultural life. Historical photos show them as a cheerful and outgoing couple, newly in love or surrounded by friends. Jaskiel was active in the city’s intellectual circles. One photo shows him presumably in 1922 with young friends and the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber. He was a board member of the Jewish literary association, member of the Leipziger Kunstverein and a friend of the Leipzig artists Max Schwimmer (1895–1960) and Eduard Einschlag (1879–1941/42). Schwimmer painted a portrait of Jaskie in 1926, which is now in private ownership. Einschlag was born in Leipzig and likewise came from a Jewish family. He did not manage to escape Germany and is believed to have been deported to Poland in 1938 and then to Treblinka in the early 1940s where he was murdered.
The Jaskiel family’s life in Germany came to an abrupt end once the National Socialists came to power in January 1933. Abraham Jaskiel immediately sensed the threat and fled initially to Poland in order to emigrate from there to Palestine. He reached Haifa on 11 April 1933 and attempted to bring his family over. Miriam travelled illegally with Zeev via Lebanon to join her husband. Thanks to the efforts of the Hebrew community in Haifa and the financial support of Miriam’s family, the Jaskiel family were able to stay in Palestine and were granted British citizenship. The swift action saved their lives. Many members of Abraham Jaskiel’s family were victims of the Shoah. The family managed to make a new start in Neve Sha’anan, Haifa. Their second son, Amos, was born in 1935. Abraham Jaskiel continued to work as an artist, founding a museum and an art academy. He died in Haifa in 1987.
Abraham Jaskiel belongs to the so-called lost generation: his work came to an abrupt end as a result of National Socialism, and afterwards was significantly marked by his experience of exile. Today, knowledge of these artists is often extremely limited. Jaskiel, too, did not receive adequate recognition in Germany after 1945. One notable exception was the exhibition “Abschied und Wiederkehr” in Leipzig in 1997, organized by the Ephraim Carlebach Foundation. It showed works by Abraham Jaskiel and his two sons, both of whom he had taught as children.
Amos Yaskil is an internationally renowned artist. He had his first exhibition in Haifa in 1946. He mainly paints landscapes – often in large formats and with bright colours – which are constructed using simplified and abstracted planes. The intense, bright surfaces of colour and their contrasting juxtaposition create fascinating and powerful depictions of landscapes from his native Israel. His works have been exhibited worldwide since 1968. He exhibited in Germany for the first time in 1986. He lives in Tiberias, Israel.
