This landscape from the thirties is representative... Lot 23

This landscape from the thirties is representative of Rubin's later style. Having made the acquaintance of the landscape and its inhabitants during the twenties when his paintings dwelled upon the minutest details of his immediate surroundings he appears in the meantime to have internalized a sense of "at home" familiarity. He now contemplated theista from a panoramic somewhat distant viewpoint with a more lyrical approach. Rubin tramped the Galilee trails on the way to Zfat (Safed) and as ever olive trees were close to his heart. Unlike those of the twenties the olive trees of the forties and subsequently seemed to progressively forfeit their material form and their silvery foliage appears to be dissolving in the light. Up the path stands a building with a roof of red tiles and a khan (caravansary) over whose dome a tower and two coned cypress trees tower like sentries on guard. On the track itself a shepherd with a flock of black goats; from the other side they are regarded by a donkey and its rider at rest in the shade of a thick olive tree. The human figures are quite tiny in relation to the impact of Nature. On the slopes of the distant hilltops Arabillages and pine cypresses dot the clumps of white houses; below them the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) isisible beneath a pale blue sky and white feathery clouds tinged with the pink of sunset. The impression is that Rubin is not so much contemplating or investigating his surroundings rather he is overcome by the beauty and gentle colour of the landscape. Howsoever familiar the sights andistas they continue to excite and arouse him. Carmela Rubin Reuven Rubin 1893-1974 (Israeli) Entrance to Safed oil on canvas 65.50 x 81.30 cm (25 ½ x 31 ¾ in) signed lower center titled on the stretcher Provenance: Dalzell Hatfield Galleries Los Angeles California Sale Christie's sale 7118 lot 165 2 October 1990 Carmela Rubin has kindly confirmed the authenticity of this work.