LÉOPOLD-LÉVY
January 3, 2019Rudolf LÉVY
January 3, 2019Jane LÉVY
PARIS 1894 – DEPORTED 1942
Jane Lévy grew up in Paris. Her parents, who originally came from Alsace, gave her a traditional and religious education. She enrolled in Baron Gustave de Rothschild’s Jewish school where, from an early age, she showed a strong interest in drawing and art. She was a committed Zionist and unceasingly transmitted her energy and optimism to those around her. When she was eighteen, she studied at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs, specializing in ceramics. Her works were exhibited at the Manufacture de Sevres porcelain factory in Sevres. In 1922, Jane Lévy went to Germany and restored the Rachi synagogue in Worms (which was destroyed during World War II).
In 1934, she traveled to Israel and participated in an exhibition in Tel Aviv. Shortly afterwards, she visited Italy. In 1940, she continued her work at the Manufacture de Sevres. On November 27, 1942, Jane Lévy was arrested together with her husband René Lévy who was a deaf-and-dumb painter. Both of them were imprisoned at the Prison de la Santé and later interned in Drancy. Despite the daily difficulties of camp life, Jane did some pastels. She was deported with her husband and younger brother Albert Lévy on July 31, 1943, on convoy number 58. They were murdered by the Nazis.
Stories of Jewish Artists of the School of Paris 1905-1939
FRENCH-ENGLISH
Capitale des arts, le Paris des années 1905-1939 attire les artistes du monde entier. De cette période de foisonnement, un terme est resté, celui d'Ecole de Paris, qui recouvre une grande diversité d'expression artistique. Dans ce brassage dont Montparnasse est le creuset, un groupe se distingue : celui des artistes juifs venus de Russie, de Pologne et d'Europe centrale. Si leurs styles sont variés, un destin commun les rassemble : ils fuient l'antisémitisme de leur pays d'origine. Certains ont connu la célébrité dès les années 1920, tels Soutine, Lipchitz ou Chagall. D'autres n'ont pas eu le temps ou la chance d'y accéder. Près de la moitié a péri dans les camps de concentration nazis.
From 1905 to 1939, Paris attracted artists from all over the globe as the capital of the art world. This period of artistic proliferation became known as the School of Paris, and includes a great diversity of artistic expression. Within the teeming art world centred on Montparnasse, one group set itself apart: Jewish artists from Russia, Poland, and Central Europe. Although their styles were diverse, they shared the common fate of fleeing anti-Semitic persecutions in their home countries. Some became famous in the 1920s, such as Soutine, Lipchitz, and Chagall, while others did not have the time or the luck to gain renown. Nearly half of these artists died in Nazi concentration camps.