Nahum Gutman and Reuven Rubin: Early Israeli painters
“So what was the Orange Peel Path like?” “Which path?” asks the lad.
“Orange peel.”
“Which peel?”
“Orange.”
“Ah! You call it ‘the Orange Peel Path’?”
I tell him “yes,” and in my heart, I wonder how to explain that this was no ordinary path, that today it is more like a symbol for me. A symbol of deeds that can and should be done.” – The Orange Peel Path; Adventures from the Early Days of Tel Aviv, by Nachum Gutman
Gutman and Rubin’s vision is as primitive as a child’s and evokes the rich world of fairytales.
At the dawn of the 19th century, waves of Jewish pioneers started arriving in Palestine. Years before the Holocaust, the drive to resurrect an independent Jewish state became stronger as pogroms in Eastern Europe intensified the necessity for a safe haven. Upon arrival, the pioneers found a bare land and a hard life filled with natural, administrative, and financial obstacles. Things got much harder in the 1920s when the local Arab population became openly hostile and confrontational. Yet, those idealistic pioneers who were filled with the values of Zionism and hard work persevered and succeeded. Their vision of an independent state became a reality. Two prominent painters of this early Israeli history were Nahum Gutman and Reuven Rubin.
Gutman and Rubin’s vision is as primitive as a child’s and evokes a rich fairytale world. Their paintings are filled with light, sunshine, and a sense of joy and innocence. Many paintings from the 1920-1930s depict a panoramic landscape with scenes from the country’s inhabitants’ daily lives. There is a sense of optimism and belonging to the land. Some critics say that the optimistic atmosphere reflected the pioneers’ spirit, who felt nothing would stand in their way.
Nahum Gutman
Nahum Gutman (1898 – 1980) was born in Romania, immigrated to Israel with his family at the age of 7, and settled in one of the first neighborhoods of Tel Aviv. The young boy saw the white houses of Tel Aviv, the sands, the sea, and the blue sky.
He later studied at the Bezalel Academy of Arts, then, after WWI, studied painting in Vienna, Berlin, and Paris. In 1926, he returned to Israel and began painting the white houses of Tel Aviv, producing hundreds of paintings and drawings of his adopted city.
It is essential to note Gutman was not only a painter but also a writer (like his father before him), and his paintings often have a narrative element. He wrote and illustrated several children’s books.
In three paintings from 1926, “Lunch Rest,” “The Carrier of the Wheat,” and “Goat Shepherd,” Gutman depicted local Arabs at work or rest. The influence of both French primitive-naive and Expressionist styles is evident in the distorted shapes, sharp contrasts of color, and simplicity of composition. The characters are two-dimensional. All three paintings describe a solid connection to geography and the soil. The bodies are not soft or passive but sturdy and self-confident.
I have read all sorts of analyses about the strong Arab figures’ meaning in Gutman’s paintings. Some suggest they evoke biblical figures of the past with a solid connection to the land. Others suggest that the depiction of the Arab’s physical strength, which runs counter to the slain and helpless diasporic Jew stereotype, was a model by which the new Jewish women and men would be formed. I think Nahum Gutman painted the land he saw through the spirit of his personality and the beauty and colors that excited his eyes.