Jews from Ukraine: Ephraim Moshe Lilien, from Ukrainian Drohobych, through ‘Theodor Herzl in Basel, 1901’ to ‘the first Zionist artist’
In the section "Jews from Ukraine" — the story of Ephraim Moses Lilien, an artist from Drohobych, who is called the first Zionist artist. His journey took him through Galicia, Krakow, Munich, Berlin, Basel, and Jerusalem, and his graphics helped the Jewish national movement find its own visual language.
A Jew from Drohobych who became an artist of national revival
Ephraim Moses Lilien was born on May 23, 1874, in Drohobych — a city in Galicia, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today it is the Lviv region of Ukraine. At birth, his name is also indicated as Maurycy Lilien. He died on July 18, 1925, in Badenweiler, Germany, but between these two dates, he managed to travel a path that connected Ukrainian Galicia, European modernism, Jewish culture, Zionism, and the future Israel.
For the section "Jews from Ukraine" Lilien is an almost ideal hero. His biography shows that Jewish history on Ukrainian lands is not only about shtetls, synagogues, pogroms, wars, and tragedies of the 20th century. It is also a powerful contribution to world art, European graphics, the culture of the Jewish national movement, and the visual language without which early Zionism would…
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