Nachum Gutman
1898 - 1980

1898 - 1980

Hassan Bek Mosque (Mahmoudiya Mosque), Tel Aviv, 1928,
Oil on canvas, 63x56 cm.
Signed.
The authenticity of the painting has been confirmed by Prof. Hemi Gutman, the artist’s son.
Exhibition:
• Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Nachum Gutman, Mark Sheps, April-September 1984.
• Nachum Gutman Museum, an exhibition on the subject of Tel Aviv,
February-May 2005.

The famous painting titled "Hassan Bek Mosque, " one of Nahum Gutman's well-known works that represents his closeness and love for the city of Jaffa, is actually a depiction of the Mahmudiyya Mosque, located west of the Hassan Bek Mosque, near the city wall and the port, and built about a hundred years before it. While the renowned and conspicuous Hassan Bek Mosque overlooks the beach and promenade and was built by Jaffa's last military governor under Ottoman rule in 1916, named after him, the Mahmudiyya Mosque was constructed between 1812 and 1814 by Mahmud Abu Nabut, the governor of Jaffa during the peak of Ottoman administration. The Mahmudiyya Mosque was built as part of an effort to rehabilitate Jaffa after the devastation caused by Napoleon's conquest in 1799, while the Hassan Bek Mosque was constructed to curb the expansion of the new city - Tel Aviv – towards the sea. Both governors, each responding to the events of their time, were known for their cruelty and ambitious initiatives in the field of construction and development in Jaffa. It is unclear exactly when the mistake in identifying the mosque occurred and how the title 'Hassan Bek Mosque' became attached to the painting, a title that continues to appear in museum records, catalogs, and books. In any case, a precise examination of the architectural and environmental details clearly proves the confusion: the most prominent identifying feature is the minaret. In Gutman's painting, the minaret has two balconies and a rounded tip, similar to the minaret of the Mahmudiyya Mosque, whereas the minaret of the Hassan Bek Mosque has one balcony and a pointed tip... The structure of the mosque itself is also different. The round white domes that appear in Gutman's painting are related to the architectural structure of the Mahmudiyya Mosque and not to the rectangular shape of the Hassan Bek Mosque. Its proximity to the port is hinted at in Gutman's painting by the two boat masts peeking out from behind, on the left side of the image – a detail that could not exist in the opposite location of the Hassan Bek Mosque, which faces the sea and overlooks it from afar. Today, the Mahmudiyya Mosque, whose marble columns were originally brought from Caesarea and Ashkelon, and which faces Ruslan Street near the Clock Square, is the fourth largest mosque in the country and serves the Muslim community of Jaffa regularly.

The painting "Mahmudiyya Mosque, " therefore, belongs to the early and formative period of Nahum Gutman, which began in 1926, upon his return from six years of study and training in Europe. In his autobiographical book, "Between Sands and Blue Skies, " he wrote: "In fact, I appeared as a painter with my own character only after returning from Europe to the Land of Israel. And I knew that this was the first chapter of my artistic world: the renewed encounter with that Eastern quality in terms of light, color, and plastic values – which I observed in my childhood years in the streets of Neve Tzedek, Neve Shalom, Jaffa, and Jerusalem." (Nahum Gutman and Ehud Ben-Azar, Between Sands and Blue Skies, p. 210) In the artist's eyes, Gutman measures the degree of saturation of the lights and shadows, the vibrant colors, and the Eastern-folkloric atmosphere surrounding him, but from the viewer's perspective, this appears as a testimony to everyday life in the city of Jaffa and its oriental-romantic features as perceived in the 1920s: the white mosque with the minaret against the background of blue skies, white laundry fluttering on the rooftops, crowded streets with a caravan of camels, a donkey-riding figure emerging from an alley, and an open square containing a gathering of middle-eastern female figures as Gutman saw them: wrapped, mysterious, and full-bodied. And in the background, not visible but felt: the sea and the port of Jaffa.

Dr. Tali Tamir

Размеры с рамой:

73 x 82 см