"During the second decade
of (Josef) Bergler's directorship (of the Academy of Fine Arts established
in Prague in 1800) a generation studied at the academy whose work
preempts Prague's romanticism by being a bizarre synthesis of the
one-time classicism and historical romanticism.
Josef Fuhrich became
representative of the trend ... and in 1829, Ignàc Josef
Porges, who proceeded to
become a specialist in the honest portrait ...
The Jewish students at the academy indulged in Jewish themes on
a modest scale only ...
Ignàc Josef Porges provided the portrait of Rabbi Salomon
Judah Rapoport in 1843 ....
Least romantic of all was Ignàc Josef Porges. His eagle
eye approximated the lens of a camera, and in effect he did at
times make his living at daguerreotyping and photography.
An ardent lover of truth, it was with great reluctance that he embellished
his female models even a little.
(He liked to use colorful wraps - Indian scarves.) Portraits of
young men were set in landscapes, painted skillful ; those of
older men he preferred in the actual sanctum of their study, and
there he was most at home.
Toman said of Porges that he selected "motley Jewish types clad
in outlandish garments" and Jirik wrote of him, in 1930, that
Porges demonstrated "an oriental
penchant for colorful imagery".
Nothing of the sort approaches the truth. Porges is virtual fanatic
of the sober, down-to-earth, microscopic realism, quite common in
Prague in those times."
Source : The Jews in Czechoslovakia
(1971), Vol II, (p.471-472) ; chapter : Jewish artists in the historic
lands
(The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia / Society
for the History of Czechoslovak Jews, New York)
Ignác J. Porges: Vilém
Karel Karpeles, 1836
Images of the Prague Ghetto
The exhibition Images of the Prague Ghetto has been on view at
the City of Prague Museum since the middle of May (2006). Featuring
200 unique images from the 18th century through the 20th, this
gives a vivid picture of the main monuments of Prague’s
Jewish Town. The show comprises three main sections. The first
part contains portraits of rabbis and families in the ghetto
The second focuses on the most important sites of the ghetto,
particularly the Old-New Synagogue and the Old Jewish Cemetery.
Most of the depictions of the Jewish Town by Prague painters
date from the period of its reconstruction (which also led to
the founding of the Jewish Museum in Prague).
The need to represent a society undergoing a process of emancipation
led to the creation of a complete portrait gallery of the spiritual
representatives of the Prague Jewish community and of members of
patrician and entrepreneurial families in the Jewish Town. The
best Prague portraitists, such as Antonín Bayer and Antonín
Machek, were receiving commissions from clients in the ghetto by
the beginning of the 19th century; the first Jewish graduates of
the Prague Academy soon followed suit. Ignatz
Josef Porges was
one of the most acclaimed Jewish portraitists in 19th century Prague.
The Old-New Synagogue attracted the attention of artists at the
beginning of the 19th century. Their engravings from the 1830s
were used as illustrations for the first guidebooks for Prague.
The most important work is a watercolour by Josef Mánes
that depicts the Old-New Synagogue interior. The Old Jewish Cemetery
was also a popular subject for several generations of artists.
Exhibition catalogue It was first painted by Antonín Mánes,
but the most important painters of the cemetery were Bed?ich Havránek
and Matyáš Wehli who depicted picturesque clusters
of tombstones near Pinkas Synagogue with views of Prague Castle.
Cemetery views also became a popular motif for Art Nouveau graphic
artists. The decision to reconstruct the Jewish Town and the start
of its demolition around 1896 produced a wave of broader interest
in the Prague ghetto. Artists sought to document the form of the
ghetto’s vanishing streets and corners. Among the most important
ghetto painters from this period was Václav Jansa; others
included Lud?k Marold, Václav Hradecký, Jind?ich
Jakesch and Josef Douba. Antonín Slaví?ek painted
his most famous views of the Jewish and Old Towns at the turn of
century. Traditional motifs of the Prague ghetto were also depicted
in many replicas by the naive painter Adolf Kohn in the 1920s and
30s.
Due to the numerous works by several generations of Prague painters
and graphic artists, the demolished Jewish Town is now, paradoxically,
among the best documented historic parts of Prague.
This exhibition is co-held by the Prague 1 Borough. http://www.jewishmuseum.cz/en/a062.htm
