The Past is Always With Me
“In Russia, I was more of a Jew…”
“Paints, brushes, canvas - all this was created so that the artist could express his soul.
What most of the artists here in Israel express is absolutely alien to me, just as alien to the Jewish spirit as I understand it. And their soul is alien, and their way of expression, too…”
Yefim Ladyzhensky, The Past is Always With Me III, 1979-1981, Collection of the artist’s family.
The following paintings depict graphic images, viewer discretion is advised.
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Ladyzhensky paints himself beside the Odessa Steps, which, in this flattened composition, descend upward toward the sea. He sits at the base of a bronze monument to Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu, and Governor of Odessa from 1803 to 1814. Ladyzhensky’s childhood dog, Belka, lies at his feet.
Yefim Ladyzhensky, The Past is Always With Me I, 1979-1981, Collection of the artist’s family.
This painting refers to the iconography of the state of Israel: a six-pointed Star of David stands out against large, cream- colored stones, evocative of the stonework of Jerusalem, where Ladyzhensky settled with his daughter. Here, he paints his own head hung from a noose six times, and makes hasty red X marks over each.
A large five-pointed red star, referencing the state flag of the USSR, sits atop a dark red-brick background. Ladyzhensky’s own head appears five times, each one hanging from a noose tied to one of the five points of the red star. Hasty blue and white marks make X’s over these faces.
Yefim Ladyzhensky, The Past is Always With Me II, 1979-1981, Collection of the artist’s family.