Colorful scene of a Jewish schoolroom and misbehaving students
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 9.000 inches (22.86 cm) | Width: 12.250 inches (31.115 cm)
Creator(s)
- Georg E. Opiz (Artist)
- Peter Ehrenthal (Compiler)
Biographical History
The Katz Ehrenthal Collection is a collection of more than 900 objects depicting Jews and antisemitic and anti-Jewish propaganda from the medieval to the modern era, in Europe, Russia, and the United States. The collection was amassed by Peter Ehrenthal, a Romanian Holocaust survivor, to document the pervasive history of anti-Jewish hatred in Western art, politics and popular culture. It includes crude folk art as well as pieces created by Europe's finest craftsmen, prints and periodical illustrations, posters, paintings, decorative art, and toys and everyday household items decorated with depictions of stereotypical Jewish figures.
Archival History
The painting was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Katz Family
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
Watercolor by Georg Emmanuel Opiz of a busy Jewish schoolroom with groups of boys and a few adults engaged in different scholarly or playful activities. Opiv (or Opitz, Prague 1775-1841 Leipzig) was a genre painter known for his charming, colorful scenes of everyday life, often with a comical or satiric point of view. He began as a portrait painter, and after sojourns in Vienna, Paris, and Heidelberg, Opiv settled in Leipzig were he was a teacher, magazine illustrator and continued to create his highly observant and detailed genre work, often disseminated in print series. This painting is one of more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic artifacts and visual materials.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Watercolor on paper of a Jewish schoolroom fill with an assortment of activities. In the left is a blackboard with several lines of Hebrew text. Seated in front ot it is a man with kippah and sidelocks with a book in his hand lecturing to a group of boys standing with books; another boy peeks out from behind his chair. Behind the group another boy sneaks away and one sits on the floor laughing. They play in front of a large desk where an older man with spectacles and wide brim reads from a very large open book. On the right are 2 benches where one boy writes and another reads; a third boys sits on the floor crying. Behind them, 2 boys write on a blackboard hanging on the wall.
People
- Opitz, Georg Emanuel, 1775-1841.
Subjects
- Jewish way of life--Germany--18th century--Pictorial works.
- Jews--Social life and customs--Germany.
- Jews in art--Paintings.
- Genre painting, German--18th century.
- Jewish youth--Germany--18th century--Pictorial works.
Genre
- Object
- Art