"Even inside a five-story brownstone crowded with #paintings, #sculptures and #books, no single work can fully contain the spirit of #Ukrainian-born #artist #BenZion. Still, one #painting comes close: a #portrait of the healer and #rabbi known as #BaalShemTov, seated calmly beneath a tree. Rendered in ochre, gray and green, the canvas draws on #Jewish #mysticism and the natural world, themes that pulse through Ben-Zion’s life and work.

Perfectly preserved from the years Ben-Zion lived there, from 1965 until his death in 1987, the #BenZionHouse, located in #Chelsea in #Manhattan, is anything but a mausoleum. Instead, it feels like a living sanctuary — one that not only celebrates the Jewish artist’s life and work, but continues to inspire the #writers, #poets, #architects, #musicians and #painters who pass through its rooms."

https://forward.com/culture/823600/jewish-art-ben-zion-new-york-house/

A Jewish Expressionist artist's life, preserved in a brownstone

Ben-Zion was a colleague of famed artists like Mark Rothko

The Forward
From the Harvard Art Museums’ collections Head of a Rabbi

Head of a Rabbi