Reviewing an exhibit of the works of the Soviet Jewish artist Anatoly Kaplan (1902–1980) at Jerusalem’s Beit Avichai, Sarah Rindner begins with a painting titled Interior:
In a gray, dimly lit room, a mother ties a red kerchief atop her daughter’s school dress. Behind them, even more deeply in shadow, sits a bearded man wrapped in a traditional black and white tallit, bent over a prayerbook. The scene seems innocent enough, and yet, small details hint to the influence of powerful forces beyond the domestic sphere: the red kerchief was an obligatory symbol of membership in the Communist youth movement. The religious man is surrounded by two red curtains, which both serve to frame his figure and also suggest that he may need to hide at a moment’s notice.
Even in 1976, when this painting was created by the Russian-Jewish artist Anatoly Kaplan, it was nearly impossible to be an observant Jew in the Soviet Union. Like much of Kaplan’s work, Interior draws us into a world of tensions, memories, and contradictions inherent in the experience of Jews in Communist Russia.
Read more on Lubavitch.com: https://www.lubavitch.com/faith-and-art-in-communist-russia/