Collections & Exhibitions

Museum Holdings

Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie (National Museum in Warsaw)  has in its permanent collection two of Moshe Rynecki paintings:

W Parku (In a Park), 1935
33.7 x 49.3 cm.  Held by Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie (National Museum in Warsaw)
Inventory  number: Rys.W.2146
Photograph by Liegier Piotr/Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie.

Talmudysci (The Talmudists), undated
31.5 x 47.8 cm.  Held by Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie (National Museum in Warsaw)
Inventory  number: Rys.W.2145
Photograph by Liegier Piotr/Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie.

The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life in Berkeley, California has in its permanent collection this work depicting a wedding scene.

The Gift of Bread, 1919
Framed, 86.75 x 31.75 cm., oil on parchment, gift of George Rynecki

Yad Vashem, The Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes Remembrance Authority in Israel, has in its permanent collection this piece depicting refugees inside the Warsaw Ghetto.

Refugees, 1939
42 x 57 cm., watercolor sketch, gift of the Rynecki family

Private Holdings

In 2008 we received a telephone call from a man in Canada who told us the following story:

My parents were Polish Jews.  During the Second World War they went into Russia and became partisan fighters.  At the end of the war they returned to Poland.  At one point during their journey they passed a farmhouse.  The farmer asked them, “are you Jewish?”  My parents told the farmer that, yes, they were Jewish.  The farmer said, “I always knew the Jews would return. I have this bundle of paintings showing Jewish life.  Do you want to buy these paintings?”  My parents bought the paintings, maybe about 50 works.  For many years my parents hung the paintings on the walls of their home.  Over the years they gave away different canvases to different people.  Today I have some, here in Canada.  My brother has some paintings as well; he’s in Israel.  We don’t know all the people that were given paintings over the years – my parents did not keep a list.  I recently decided to reframe one of the works and, on a whim, decided to Google the Rynecki name.  That’s how I found your website.

In 2012 we received photographs of four paintings in this gentleman’s possession.  I’ve given all of the paintings titles so that they are more easily identified.  These are those paintings:

The above piece, which I’ve titled “Russian Pogrom – Attack of the Cossacks,” is most certainly the painting described in George Rynecki’s memoir:

My father was constantly painting. When the Polish came to power he painted a painting, oil on canvas, which became a controversial one in Warsaw. He created a Russian pogrom, an attack of the Cossacks on a synagogue in which raping of women was shown, dead men wrapped in the holy scrolls, a very strong political painting against the White Russians. Of course the story of Russian pogroms was well known, but had never been shown in a painting of such dramatic dimensions.

Here are the other three paintings held by the Canadian family:

Known Exhibitions

October, 2010
Muzeum Mazowsza Zachodniego w Żyrardowie

This history museum in Poland had an exhibit that included works by Moshe. The Rynecki family never was given photos of the works, but was told, “…there is a one room, that generally shows a craft. This part of exhibition including pieces by Mojsze Rynecki, which present a tailors, shoemakers, the family making a toys and some others.”  This image comes from their catalog:

The text below reads: Mojzesz Rynecki, Krawiec, 1929, rysunek tuszem lawowany, 35,5 x 50, Zydowski Instytut Historyczny
In other words, painting by Moshe Rynecki, Krawiec (Tailor), 1929, ink drawing, 35.5 x 50 cm, held by the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw

April 15–May 7, 2003

Works by Jewish artists in Warsaw

[Note: This announcement was included in "Polonia de hoy," a publication edited by the Polish Embassy in Havana. It appeared in issue #24 March/April 2003. The information was provided to the Embassy by the Ministry in Warsaw and the Polish Press Agency. Mr. Daniel Gromann, Charge d'affaires a.i. of the Republic of Poland in the Republic of Cuba, kindly provided the translation.] “Paintings, drawings and graphics by Polish artists of Jewish origin can be seen, starting from April 15 (until May 7), at an exhibition entitled ‘Our older brethren’ in the Gallery of the Jewish Historical Insititute in Warsaw. All the works presented come from the collection of the Institute. ‘We want to show the public the world which no longer exists. But what interests us is not the Holocaust, but the life of the Jews in our country before 1939,’ said Renata Piatkowska, a representative of the Jewish Historical Institute. In the paintings and drawings their authors depicted scenes relating to the daily life and customs of the Jewish community in Poland. The exhibition contains works by authors from the second half of the 19th century and from the 20th century, such as Mojzesz Maurycy Rynecki [our emphasis], Otto Axes and Wilhelm Wachtel. An important element of the exhibition is a part of the so-called Gallery of the Rabbis, which includes 18 of the 90 portraits of Jews made with a fountain pen. The drawings show important and well-known figures of the Jewish community: Rabbis, intellectuals and social activists. At the beginning of this year, the exhibition was shown in Poznan, in the context of the Seventh Session of Dialogue between Christians and Jews.”

November 8, 1981–January 17, 1982
Judah L. Magnes Museum, Berkeley, California

Magnes Museum Women’s Guild Fall Show. A centennial showing of Moshe Rynecki’s art. The exhibit was curated by Ruth Eis.

 

June, 1951
Jewish Community Center, Dallas, Texas

46 canvases were displayed.

1939
Fifth Jubilee Salon of Paintings and Sculpture, Organization of Jewish Artists and Sculptors

1932
Zacheta

1931
Zacheta

1930
Jewish Society for the Promotion of Fine Arts

The 44th Annual Show, 26 Dluga Street, Warsaw, Poland

1929
Society for the Advancement of Fine Arts, Warsaw

1928
Spring Salon of Jewish Art

Gallery at 6 Rymarska Street, Warsaw