Anatoli Kaplan Exhibit in Jerusalem

On January 19, a retrospective exhibition of the prominent Soviet Jewish artist Anatoli (Tankhum) Kaplan opened at the Beit Avi Chai Cultural Center in Jerusalem. The exhibit, entitled “The Enchanted Artist” presents over a hundred of Kaplan’s works, created using various techniques: engravings, ceramics, gouache and oil paintings, as well as books with his illustrations.

It is not a coincidence that this exposition alludes to Sholom Aleichem’s famous story “The Enchanted Tailor”. Among other things, Anatoli Kaplan, born in 1902 in the Belarusian town of Rogachov, illustrated this story, as well as other works written by the great Jewish classic. A special mention should be made of Kaplan’s lithographic series “Tevye the Dairyman” and “Stempenyu” based on Sholom Aleichem’s books with the same names. Kaplan lived most of his life in Leningrad, where he died and was buried in 1980. His grave is marked by a tombstone with a Yiddish inscription.