20 Facts About Itshak Holtz

Itshak Jack Holtz 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.

The youngest of four children, Holtz was born and spent his early childhood in Skierniewice, Poland, a small town near Warsaw.

Itshak Holtz's father was a hat maker and a furrier.

In 1935, prior to World War II, when Itshak Holtz was ten years old, his family moved to Jerusalem, Israel, where they settled in the Geula neighborhood near Meah Shearim.

The young Itshak Holtz looked at the drawing and studied it in wonderment.

From that moment on, Itshak Holtz remembers, he constantly begged his father to draw for him.

Itshak 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.

Itshak Holtz stated that his artwork, which primarily but not exclusively depicts scenes of Jewish spirituality and tradition, was driven by his Orthodox Jewish beliefs.

Itshak Holtz started out painting mostly portraits in order to support his family, before expanding to include street scenes.

Itshak Holtz's beloved subject matter was painting scenes of Jewish life, his childhood memories when his mother took him shopping for the Sabbath to the markets of Meah Shearim, left a deep impression on him and influenced many of his works.

Itshak Holtz experimented in the abstract, but then reverted to representational and figurative art to which he devoted himself exclusively.

Itshak Holtz stated that he struggled at first when he arrived to the United States because of financial reasons and because he only knew Polish, Yiddish and Hebrew, but then made good ties with his instructor who greatly influenced him Robert Philipp who helped him make friends and referred him to paint portraits.

Itshak Holtz's works are sought after by art collectors worldwide, and he was called the greatest living Jewish artist.

Itshak Holtz created his scenes after researching locations, and often used locals as models.

Itshak Holtz painted slowly and with great care, but with a swift Impressionistic style.

Itshak Holtz painted oils and watercolors, and did felt pen, pastel, marker, ink and charcoal drawings, as well as woodcuts.

Itshak Holtz was heavily influenced by the ancient staircases and alleyways of Jerusalem, with its modest religious population, which made a strong impression on him in his youth, the streets of Tzfat, and the works of Rembrandt, Johannes Vermeer and Peter Bruegel, as well as Jewish artists Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, Leonid Pasternak and Isidor Kaufmann had a strong influence on him.

Itshak Holtz said that realism is the best way he can express himself.

Itshak Holtz was fascinated by the glamorous and the unglamorous, his genre art explored the strange beauty in simplicity and even in the deserted.

Itshak Holtz tended to reveal by his paintings things people don't appreciate in their everyday city lives.