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The Asheville Art Museum will present an exhibition of prints, paintings, and drawings by Isac Friedlander (1890-1968) through November 30, 2003. The exhibition, which celebrates Dr. Anna Munster’s generous gift to the Museum of eleven important works by Friedlander and others jointly donated by Dr. Munster, her daughter, Ileana Grams, and her son, M. Daniel Jacoubovitch, provides a long overdue in-depth examination of this artist’s distinguished career. Best known as a printmaker, Friedlander created strong, expressive woodcuts and etchings, often focusing on the human figure at work. His prints include imagery of scenes from his native, rural Latvia and his adopted home, the urban milieu of New York City during the Depression. He was particularly interested in religious subjects, and some of his best-known works contain religious themes, including the Jewish experience, the Holocaust, and African American church services. Friedlander’s prints convey tremendous emotional resonance through his consummate skill with line. Isac Friedlander lived a volatile and exciting life. Born in Latvia in 1890 to a family of political activists, he was imprisoned by Russian authorities for anti-Czarist activities at the age of 16 in 1906, and remained in jail until 1912. After his release, Friedlander studied art in Rome, where the Russian writer Maxim Gorky befriended him. He began concentrating on printmaking in 1915. In 1917, Friedlander was repatriated to Russia, where, during the first heady days of the Russian Revolution and the subsequent short-lived liberal Kerensky regime, he became an arts commissar in the fledgling Soviet republic. However, he became increasingly disillusioned with Soviet realities. Friedlander eventually immigrated to the US in 1929 with the encouragement and help of his cousin, Joseph Hirshhorn. Friedlander married a former artists’ model and settled in New York, where he remained for the rest of his life. A touching portrait of Isac Friedlander and his wife, Gilda, can be seen in the foreground of the print “Coney Island.” Financially, in spite of the many accolades that he won throughout his long career, including prizes from the prestigious Print Club of Philadelphia, the Friedlanders struggled. Patrons like Dr. Munster, a close family friend, and Joseph Hirshhorn, helped keep the family afloat. In the late 1950s, Friedlander befriended a young artist and friend of his daughter, Joseph Gianguzzi, who kindly lent additional works from his extensive Friedlander collection to this exhibition. The Museum invites both Museum members and the general public to an opening reception to be held on Thursday, July 24, 2003, from 5-7 PM. The reception is free with Museum admission. Dr. Anna Munster will share recollections of Isac Friedlander in a gallery talk, followed by a reception. For more information, please call the Asheville Art Museum at 828-253-3227, or visit their web site, www.ashevilleart.org.
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