This document provides information on Jewish writers, artists, and intellectuals based in Kiev between 1919-1930 who were involved with the Kultur-Lige organization. It includes biographies and works of writers like Dovid Bergelson and artists like Marc Chagall, El Lissitzky, and Issakhar Ber Ryback who were promoting Yiddish and Jewish culture through literature, illustrations, and other artistic mediums during this period in Ukraine. The document also discusses how their style evolved from incorporating diverse visual influences to a more social realist style reflecting the changing social and political environment.

1. Freyd: zhurnal far kinder (Joy: a journal for children). Kiev, Kultur-
lige, 1923. Illustrations by Mark Epstein (source: YIVO Library and Archives)
1

2. Abram Manevich, Destruction of a Ghetto (1919) (source: Encyclopedia of
Ukraine online)
2

3. Mani Leib, Yingl-tsing khvat (The Mischievous Boy). Kiev-
St.Petersburg, 1919. Illustrations by El Lissitsky (source: The Russian Avant-
Garde Books, ed. M. Rowel&D. Wye, 2002)
3

4. Kultur-lige: zamlung oysgabe fun tsentral komitet (Kultur-lige
bulletin). Kiev, Nov 1919 (source: YIVO Library and Archives)
4

5. Lyubov Ratmanskaya with the students of Kultur-lige music
school. Kyiv, 1926. (Source: Centropa.org)
5

6. Jewish writers and artists in Kiev with JDC representatives. Upper row includes:
Nohum Shtif, Zelig Kalmanovich, Dovid Bergelson. Lower row includes: Mark Epstein,
Leyb Kvitko, Issakhar Ber Ryback, Boris Aronson, Joseph Chaikov. May 1920. (Source: JDC
Archives)
6

7. Members of Kultur-lige in Ukraine
Artists: Mark Epstein, Boris Aronson, Solomon Nikritin, Alexander Tyshler,
Abram Manevich, Issakhar-Ber Ryback, Isaac Rabichev, Joseph Chaikov,
Sarra Shor, Eliezer Lissitsky, Polina Khentova.
Writers: Yekhezkl Dobrushin, Dovid Bergelson, Der Nister, Dovid Hofshteyn,
Perets Markish, Leib Kvitko.
Philologists and historians: Nohum Shtif, Zelig Kalmanovich
Musicians and folklorists: Moisei Beregovsky, Mikhail “Moshe” Milner, Yoel
Engel.
7

8. Founders of the Ukrainian State Academy of Arts: standing (left to
right) H. Narbut, V. H. Krychevsky, M. Boichuk; sitting: A. Manevich, O.
Murashko, F. Krychevsky, M. Hrushevsky, I. M. Steshenko, M. Burachek.
1917? (source: EOU online)
8

9. Issakhar ber Ryback, Cover for the Ofgang (Sunrise) almanac. Kiev,
Kultur-lige, 1919 (source: Hillel Kazovsky, Kultur-Lige: Artistic Avante-Garde of the 1910s-1920s.
Kiev, 2007)
9

10. Case study: Natan Altman (1889-1970) and Heorhiy Narbut
(1886-1920) (source: Hillel Kazovsky, The Artists of the Kultur-lige, Moscow-Jerusalem, 2003;
Encyclopedia of Ukraine online)
10

11. Natan Altman, Eve and the Serpent: ill. from the Jüdische Graphic, Berlin, 1923 (source:
Tradition and Revolution, ed. by R. Apter-Gabriel, 1987);
Heorhiy Narbut, Graphic ornament for the journal Mystetstvo (Art), Kiev, 1919 (source:
Encyclopedia of Ukraine online)
11

12. Mykhailo Boichuk (1882-1937), Harvest, 1910 (source: Encyclopedia of Ukraine online);
Heorhiy Narbut, Graphic ornament for the journal Mystetstvo (Art), Kiev,
1919 (source: Encyclopedia of Ukraine online)
12

13. Heorhiy Narbut, Ukrains’ka abetka (Ukrainian ABC), 1917 (source:
Encyclopedia of Ukraine online)
13

14. Eleazar (El) Lissitsky (1890-1941) (source: en.wikipedia.com)
14
“It happened between 19- and 1916 […].
Groups of heder children, indeed, a
whole generation, including even
talmudic students, were soured by years
of doing textual analysis only. Quickly
taking pencil and brush in hand, we
began to dissect at one not only the
Nature, but ourselves as well. Who were
we? And where did we belong among the
nations of the world? And what was our
culture about? And how should our art
be? It was all worked out in a few towns
in Lithuania, Belorussia and Ukraine”.
Source: Tradition and Revolution: The Jewish
Renaissance in Russian Avant-Garde Art, 1912-1928.
Ed. by R. Apter-Gabriel. Jerusalem, 1887

15. El Lissitsky, Mohilev synagogue, 1915-1917: copy of a wall
painting. Published in Rimon, Berlin, 1923 (source: www.mievr.ru)
15

16. El Lissitsky: cover for Mani Leib’s Yingl Tsingl khvat (The
Mischievous Boy). Kiev-St.Petersburg, 1919 (source: : The Russian Avant-
Garde Book, ed. M. Rowel&D. Wye, 2002)
16

17. El Lissitsky: cover for Mani Leib’s Yingl Tsingl khvat (The
Mischievous Boy). Kiev-St.Petersburg, 1919 (source: : The Russian Avant-
Garde Book, eds. M. Rowel&D. Wye, 2002
17

18. El Lissitsky, cover to Leib Kvitko’s Ukrainishe folk maises
(Ukrainian Folk Tales), Berlin, 1922. (Source: The Russian Avant-Garde Book, eds.
M. Rowel&D. Wye, 2002
18

19. El Lissitsky: Proun 19 D. 1921-1922 (source: www.moma.org)
19

20. New Body Canon
EL Lissitsky: The New Man. Three-dimensional design of the electro-
mechanical show Victory Over the Sun, 1923 (source: http://www.wikiart.org/en/el-
lissitzky/new-man-1923)
20

21. Impact of revolution, civil war, collectivization and famine
Photo: A soup kitchen sponsored by JDC, Aleksandrovsk (now
Zaporozhye), 1922 (source: JDC Archives)
21

22. Marc Chagall (1887-1985), Cover to Dovid Hofshteyn’s collection
of poems Troyer (Sorrow). Kiev, Kultur-lige, 1922 (source: Hillel Kazovsky,
Kultur-lige: Artistic Avant-Garde of the 1910s and the 1920s. Kyiv, 2007)
22
Source:
www.loc.gov

23. Variety of Yiddish Typeface
Marc Chagall, Cover for Shtrom (Stream). Moscow, 1922 (source: Hillel Kazovsky,
Kultur-lige: Artistic Avant-Garde of the 1910s and the 1920s. Kyiv, 2007)
Boris Aronson, Illustration to Z. Shneour’s poem Perah talush (Uprooted
Flower), 1920 (source: H. Kazovsky, The Artists of the Kultur-lige, 2003)
23

24. Variety of Yiddish Typefaces: Sources&Inspiration
Titles from a prayer book. Dubno, Volhynia province, 1841 (source: Source: Tradition and Revolution…,
ed. by Ruth Apter-Gabriel, Jerusalem, 1987)
Kaufman Mishneh Torah, illuminated MS page. North-eastern France, 1296. (Source:
commons.wikimedia.org)
24

25. Issakhar Ber Ryback (1897-1935) (source: H. Kazovsky, Kultur-Lige- the Artistic Avant-
Garde of the 1910s and 1920s. Kyiv, 2007)
25

26. Issakhar Ber Ryback, Jewish farmer, from Af di yidishe felder fun Ukraine (On the
Jewish Field of Ukraine), Berlin, 1926 (source: YIVO Library and Archives)
Photo of two women-colonists of The Chervony Pakhar [Red Plowman] collective.
Kherson district, ca 1925 (source: JDC Archives)
26

27. Issakhar Ber Ryback, Pogrom series, 1918-1920 (source:
http://www.jmberlin.de/berlin-transit/en/fuehrungen.php)
27

28. Issakhar Ber Ryback, Kiddush, from Shtetl, mayn khoreve heym, a
gedenkenish (Shtetl, My Destroyed Home, a Memory). Berlin, 1923 (source:
www.comite-ryback.org)
A folio from Prato Haggadah: Rabban Gamliel teaching his students. Spain,
ca. 1300 (source: JTS library)
28

29. Yehezkiel Dobrushin (1883-1953): Children’s worldview as “fairy tale-like” and
“mythological”
Issakhar Ber Ryback, illustration to B. Smoliar’s Kinder Velt (The Child’s World).
Berlin, 1922 (source: Detskiy mir: compiled by Valeriy Dymshits. Yiddish-Russian edition. Moscow-
Jerusalem, 2007)
29

30. Issakhar Ber Ryback, cover for Leib Kvitko’s Pionern bikhl (Pioneer Book). Kharkov, 192-
? (source: YIVO Library and Archives)
Kennicott Bible, north-western Spain, 1476. Fragment of a colophon (source:
www.kennicottbible.org)
30

31. From Multiple Visual Languages to Social Realism; from
shtetl to “Bobkin Street”
B. Gutiansky, Briven-treger (The Postman). Kiev, Kultur-lige, 1930. Illustrations by
Mikhail Tsekhanovsky (YIVO Library and Archives)
Samuil Marshak, Pochta (Post). Leningrad-Moscow, 1927. Illustrations by Mikhail
Tsekhanovsky (source: Inside the Rainbow: Russian Children’s Literature 1920-1935. London, 2013)
31

32. From Multiple Visual Languages to Social Realism
B.Gutiansky, Briven-treger (The Postman). Kiev, Kultur-lige, 1930. Illustrations by
Mikhail Tsekhanovsky (source: http://leb.nlr.ru/collections/155/)
El Lissitsky, illustrations to Ben Zion Raskin, Di hun vos hot gevolt hoben a kam (The
Hen that Wanted a Comb). Kiev-St-Petersburg, Yidisher Folks farlag, 1919 (soure: Futur
anterieur: l’avant-garde et la livre Yiddish. Paris, 2009 )
32

33. B. Gutiansky, Briven-treger (The Postman). Kiev, Kultur-lige, 1930. Illustrations by
Mikhail Tsekhanovsky (YIVO Library and Archives)
S. Marshak, Di potsht (The Mail). Odesa, Kinder farlag, 1934. Illustrations by
M.Kotliarevsky (http://leb.nlr.ru/collections/155/)
33