Itshak Holtz

Itshak Jack Holtz (; also known as Itzhak Holtz and Issac Holtz; 1925–2018) was a Polish-born and an Israeli and American Orthodox Jewish painter, who is best known for his paintings and drawings that depict traditional scenes of Jewish life.

Early life and education The youngest of four children, Holtz was born and spent his early childhood in Skierniewice, Poland, a small town near Warsaw. His father was a hat maker and a furrier.

Itzhak Holtz's passion for art began early. When he was five years old, in Poland, his father first drew a picture of a horse and sled in the snow for him. The young Holtz looked at the drawing and studied it in wonderment. From that moment on, Holtz remembers, he constantly begged his father to draw for him. His enthusiasm for art grew and Holtz longed to study art. In 1945, he enrolled at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, where he primarily studied lettering and poster work in a program geared toward commercial art. Holtz became interested in painting, prompting him to move to New York City in 1950 to study at the Art Students League of New York under Robert Brackman and Harry Sternberg, and then at the National Academy of Design under Robert Philipp.

Art career and work

Holtz stated that his artwork, which primarily but not exclusively depicts scenes of Jewish spirituality and tradition, was driven by his Orthodox Jewish beliefs. He said, "You have to live that religious life to fully capture it on canvas." and in New York neighborhoods and hamlets such as Monsey, Boro Park and Williamsburg. He started out painting mostly portraits in order to support his family, before expanding to include street scenes. It is said that no artist ever explored the Jewish subject like Holtz. Today some of his oil paintings have been commanding over $100,000. His oil paintings typically have a brown hue, while his work with felt pen is often in sepia tones, From October 1992 through July 1993, many of his Jewish genre paintings were exhibited at the Yeshiva University Museum in New York, in a show titled The World of Itshak Holtz. In 2012, the first exhibit at the Betzalel Gallery in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, was the month-long Itshak Holtz: A Personal Vision – Drawings and Watercolors, displaying his felt pen and marker drawings and watercolors from 1963 to 1999.

Awards and honors Academic of Italy with Gold Medal, 1981. Diploma of Merit, University delle Arti Terme, Italy, 1982. Gold Medal for Artistic Merit, International Parliament for Safety and Peace, 1985. Board of Directors' Award, Arts Interaction, New York, March 1989. Award, Arts Interaction, October 1989. Award, Arts Interaction, March 1990. Grumbacher Silver Medal and Certificate for Best in Show, Arts Interaction, April 1991. Judge, 13th Annual Autumn Show at Gallery 12, Arts Interaction, September 1991.

Influence and legacy

Holtz was fascinated by the glamorous and the unglamorous, his genre art explored the strange beauty in simplicity and even in the deserted. He tended to reveal by his paintings things people don't appreciate in their everyday city lives. His nature landscapes and scenery were in an impressionistic style with an emphasis on light.

Holtz's Jewish art represents and reveals contemporary Jewish life with an important link to its past. For over half a century of painting the subject matter he cherished, he revealed in his Judaic art the modesty, spirit and simplicity of the religious life that so intrigued him on the Jerusalem streets since his childhood. He painted traditions, rituals, festivals, community and character. His art of Jewish subjects has influenced many younger Jewish artists like Eli Frucht from Brooklyn, and David Segal Lakewood New Jersey–based portrait painter, to follow and explore this Jewish genre.

Personal life Following his graduation from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Holtz married Ruth Beck in 1951. They have two children, Arie and Aliza. For much of their time together, their primary residence was in Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood. Starting in the late 1960s, they maintained homes in both New York and Jerusalem.