Ryback's Jewish Fields of the Ukraina

Heading:
Author: Ryback, Issachar Ber
Title: On the Jewish Fields of Ukraina
Place Published: Paris
Publisher:
Date Published: 1926
Description:

16, [1] pp. 21 plates from drawings by the author, the frontispiece in color, the remainder being phototypes in monochrome; printed tissue guards. (Folio) 38x28 cm (15x11") original full suede-like cloth. No. 325 of 300 copies on Japan paper, from a total edition of 350. First Edition.

Rather poignant look at the Jewish farmers of the Ukraine, whose numbers would be decimated first by the pogroms and collectivization policies of the Soviet Union, and then by the brutal genocide of the Nazi occupation during World War II.

The Jewish Encyclopedia describes Issachar Ryback (1897-1935), "Russian-French artist. Ryback was born in the Ukrainian town of Elisavetgrad (now Kirovo) and studied at the Academy in Kiev. After the Revolution of 1917, the central committee of the Jewish Cultural League in Kiev appointed him as drawing teacher. Ryback visited the Jewish farm colonies that had sprung up in the Ukraine under the new regime. The fruit of this journey was a portfolio, On the Jewish Fields of the Ukraine (1926), with reproductions of drawings and paintings. He showed strong sunburned men and women as opposed to the pale and wan Jews he had known in Kirovo. In 1926 he went to Paris, where he became a success, and in 1935, Wildenstein, the art dealer, planned a large retrospective exhibition of his work. On the eve of the opening Ryback died suddenly."
Condition Report: Covers quite worn, lettering worn off, spine strip chipped; internally very good, though some of the tissue guards are creased.