Lot 75: EFROIM SEIDENBEUTEL

EFROIM SEIDENBEUTEL 1903-1945 WOMAN IN A VILLAGE LANDSCAPE signed Seidenbeutel (lower right); signed Seidenbeutel and titled (on the reverse) oil on card 19 by 22 in. 48.3 by 55.8 cm.

Identical twins, Efroim and Menashe Seidenbeutel, were born into an impoverished family where education was encouraged. Their artists talents were evident from an early age and eventually, they attended the exclusive and prestigious Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. They painted together and despite their distinctive artistic styles, it was not unusual for them to add details to each others artwork. In the early 1930s, the Seidenbeutels often traveled to Krakow, depicting the happy and blissful environment there. According to Mieczyslaw Wallis, "their many new paintings had little to do with the well-known monuments of Krakow but were views of the city's suburbs and byways – of red-tiled roofs, vegetable gardens, families sitting down to dinner as smoke rose from the chimneys of their homes." As the 1940s approached, the Seidenbeutels' work began to change, often reflecting the political climate of the impending war and the increasing sense of fear felt among the Jewish community in Poland. The brothers lost their lives at the hands of the Nazis at Flossenburg concentration camp just before it was liberated in April 1945.

The spontaneity and loose brushstrokes in the present lot are typical of Efroim's style. His bother, Menashe tended to be more retrained in his approach.