Aliza Holtz on “Living Jewish Art: The Work of Itshak Holtz”
A profile by Annie Hoyer
On January 9, BHC members enjoyed the opportunity to listen to a Zoom presentation celebrating the publication, Living Jewish Art: The Work of Itshak Holtz by Richard McBee (Abbeville Press 2024). The talk was of particular interest to BHC because Itshak is the father of longtime member Aliza Holtz. The panel discussion included Aliza, McBee, and Sylvia Herskowitz, curator of Itshak’s breakout 1992 exhibit at the Yeshiva University Museum. The three discussed Itshak’s career, artistic technique, and the profound affinity he felt for Jewish religious life. Aliza contributed her memories, often explaining the history behind a painting or the process by which her father developed an idea.
In a follow-up conversation, Aliza said McBee, a well-known art critic, had always been complimentary of her father’s work. He and Misha Beletsky, the book’s designer at Abbeville Press, often contacted her during the book’s development. Many paintings were in the hands of clients, relatives and friends. Aliza made the introductions that enabled the publisher to send a professional art photographer, and sometimes McBee and/or Beletsky, into their homes to photograph the pieces and hear their stories.
McBee and Beletsky came to Aliza’s Washington Heights apartment to look through Itshak’s library and go through boxes of notes and sketchbooks. The men marveled at the breadth of Itshak’s interest in other artists’ work. They found it valuable to see the little sketches whose subjects and scenes were eventually incorporated into his paintings.
Aliza’s dad had emigrated from Poland to Israel at age 10. As a young man, he joined the Haganah and fought in the 1948 War of Independence. By then, he’d met and fallen in love with Aliza’s mother, who came to the United States shortly before the war erupted. In 1950, Itshak moved to the United States, married Aliza’s mother, and continued his art education. Yet, Aliza’s parents always felt a deep connection to Israel. As years went by, they visited Israel more and more frequently. In 2010, both in their 80s, they made aliyah.
Aliza and, to a lesser extent, her brother, took on the task of closing her father’s 28th Street, Manhattan studio. Her father wanted almost everything shipped to Israel. “Not just his art supplies but all of the paintings that were there,” Aliza explained. “He wanted to be surrounded by his paintings because he said they inspired him.” She noted that, during a quiet moment while visiting the Yeshiva University Museum exhibit, her childhood girlfriend came across Aliza’s father and watched him for a few minutes. She later told Aliza, “He walked from painting to painting, looking at them lovingly, as if he were visiting his children.”
Early in his career, Itshak painted many portraits, which provided a source of income. Among them, he painted a portrait of Mrs. Johnson of Johnson & Johnson. “She flew my parents down to Florida and treated them like royalty,” Aliza said. “They weren’t used to such treatment.”
Though it was hard for Aliza to decide on her favorite painting, she did say that portraits of her mother, herself as a child, and her great-grandfather were dear to her. She is also very fond of his character studies as well as many of the landscapes and still lifes.
As one would expect, “realism was very important to my father,” Aliza said. He often used his daughter as a model for other figures. “He’d ask that I stand in a certain way so he could get a posture right, or the flow of a garment.” Once, he asked her, “Show me how you’d eat a hotdog.” He was surprised by the position of her hand, but it became part of a painting.
“I’m very happy with the book. It’s beautiful,” Aliza exclaimed, “The reproductions are fabulous. The author captured a combination of the history of the times and my father’s life.” She is grateful to Jay Kestenbaum, son of Leonard Kestenbaum, z”l, who was a major collector of her father’s art, for continuing his father’s legacy and ensuring that the book project came to fruition.
Itshak Holtz was skilled in landscapes, still lifes, and portraiture, but Aliza said the Jewish art that is so well represented in this book was what he loved the most. She is confident that the recognition of his art will grow. “I’m sure that my father’s work will be hanging in the great museums along with the Rembrandts and Renoirs and other great masters.”
View the Zoom recording on the Museum at Eldridge Street's YouTube Channel.
Also by direct link HERE.
Order Living Jewish Art: The Work of Itshak Holtz, published by Abbeville press here