Reuven Rubin
1893 - 1974

1893 - 1974

Elijah and the Chariot of Fire, 1970/71,
Oil on canvas, 116x89 cm.
Signed. Signed and titled on the reverse. Provenance: Henry Krongold Collection, Melbourne, Australia.
The authenticity of the painting has been confirmed by Ms. Carmela Rubin, Rubin Museum, Tel-Aviv.

Reuven Rubin loved painting horses; mostly pairs of them. But where did his love for the subject come from? Ever since 1929, when he painted an oil painting of two Arab horsemen riding horses (one white, the other red) in the heart of an olive grove and an Arab village in the background. At the same time, Rubin documented an Arab horse race that took place at the "Gordon Farm" in the Yarkon estuary. It is also likely that the sight of Arabs on horses – a common phenomenon in Arab communities – resonated with Rubin's fascination with the Orient, to which Reuven had been exposed since his early years in Israel. Later, in the 1960s, when he was overcome with nostalgia for the idyllic Orient, Reuven produced lithographs of Arabs galloping on two horses, an Arab leading two horses, and an Arab riding two horses. Increasingly, Arabian horses became a fantasy that ignited Reuven's imagination and brought mysticism and exoticism to his representations of the Land of Israel. Now, he began to paint his horses: Sometime in that decade, he painted "Sunset in the Negev" in the form of a herd of blue horses against a fading sun. In another painting from that time – a pair of white horses galloping in a field. And in 1964 – two blue horses. Perhaps he envied Franz Marc, the German expressionist, who painted blue horses in 1911. But, towards the end of the 1960s, Reuven's imagination began to soar into visionary realms, as he was captivated by the biblical story of Elijah ascending in a heavenly storm to Elisha's eyes: "And it came to pass, as they went on and talked, that behold a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them both, and Elijah went up in a whirlwind into heaven." (Kings 2 2:12) For Reuven, the dramatic and bewitching sight was a Jewish answer to the Christian myth of the ascension. And while local art is familiar with Nahum Gutman's pair of horses, which are as dazzling a chariot in Jaffa with a well-dressed Arab inside, Reuven's painting of the horses of fire suggested a wondrous, miraculous, transcendent event, whose design against a nightly backdrop enhanced the thrilling light show. In 1969, Reuven created three stained glass windows in the central hall of Israel's Presidential Palace, Jerusalem. The right window was decorated with the image of Elijah's chariot of fire, and its main subject - two horses riding in a heavenly gallop, while Elisha remained on the ground. The two neighboring windows represented King David entering Jerusalem playing the harp and the struggle between Jacob and the angel. Three images of the sanctification of the national-religious being (David = the kingdom of Israel, Jacob = Israel, Elijah = the herald of the Messiah). The current painting was created following and inspired by the stained glass. Here, the figure of Elijah is inscribed in white engraving within the fire of the chariot, as he extends his blue cloak to Elisha, who kneels below on his knees. Reuven did not let go of the theme: another oil painting from the same period represented a window (a vase of flowers on its sill) that opens to the view of two red horses galloping to the heavens, and behind them one of the wheels of the chariot. From his home in Caesarea, Reuven will continue to look out and see the pair of horses galloping across the sky, marveling and admiring the local landscape. Just as Reuven prepared his own ascent (in 1974) to holy and pure heights.

Gideon Ofrat

Dimensioni con Cornice:

110 x 137 cm