Eduard Levin

1934 - 2016

Eduard Levin was born on January 18, 1934 in Minsk, Belarus. Since the end of 1941 to 1945 he lived in Bogorodsk Gorky region. In 1945 he returned to Minsk, where he studied painting and drawing from well known artists S. Katkov, N. Tarasikov and E. Krasowski and after that in the Theatre and Art Institute in Minsk, where he was discharged as not corresponding to the methods and principles of socialist realism.

He graduated from the Timber Industry Institute, and worked as an architect, designer and artist in the field of monumental and decorative art.

During his career he designed and implemented several monumental memorial complex in Belarus, including a monument to the Jews, the victims of fascism completed in1966 which can be found in the village Dolginovo Vilejka. He created a memorial complex at the entrance to the farm town Luban in Minsk region in 1967.

1976, after years of refusal by the authorities from leaving the Soviet Union he immigrated to Israel.

His entry into the Israeli art world is intriguingly referred to in a conversation from 2011 with Professor Wolf Moskokovich. Levin, ever feisty and opinionated, looks back on this time, acting as a mildly amused bystander in the Israeli milieu, observing “from the shadows,” as he rails against “the ruling (and militant) trends in art of our days.”

Levin chose to remain true to his standards and goals rather than join what he calls “the triumphal procession in the Naked King’s retinue.” He continues,

“But even if I knew beforehand that I am predestined to be the only spectator of my paintings, I’d prefer to remain in private with my principles and purposes in fine arts. And there is no price that can impel me to give up independence and freedom… Actually, in the history of art it was quite rare for an artist to feel in harmony with society.”

What then, is so controversial in these works that would cause the artist to stay clear of the prevailing art world? Or the art world of them? Levin himself points to the answer: he was a man out-of-synch with the surrounding society.

In 1979 he created a monument and founded a decorative painting school in the Arab village of Al-Suvahre in East Jerusalem. He lived and worked in Jerusalem until his death in 2016.

Figures on a Beach, Tel Aviv. Unknown Date. Oil on Card

Historical Context

Refusenik

“Refusenik” was an unofficial term for Soviet Jews, who were denied permission to emigrate by the authorities of the Soviet Union and other countries of the Eastern bloc. The term refusenik is derived from the "refusal" handed down to a prospective emigrant from the Soviet authorities.

A typical pretext to deny emigration was the real or the alleged association with state secrets.

Applying for an exit visa was a step noted by the KGB, so that future career prospects, always uncertain for Soviet Jews, could be impaired. As a rule, Soviet dissidents and refuseniks were fired from their workplaces and denied employment according to their major specialty. As a result, they had to find a menial job, such as a street sweeper, or face imprisonment on charges of social parasitism.

The ban on Jewish immigration to Israel was lifted in 1971 leading to the 1970s Soviet Union Aliyah.

A large number of Soviet Jews applied for exit visas to leave the Soviet Union, especially in the period following the 1967 Six-Day War. While some were allowed to leave, many were refused permission to emigrate, either immediately or after their cases would languish for years in the Office of Visas and Registration), the MVD (Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs department responsible for exit visas. In many instances, the reason given for denial was that these persons had been given access, at some point in their careers, to information vital to Soviet national security and could not now be allowed to leave.

During the Cold War, Soviet Jews were thought to be a security liability or possible traitors. To apply for an exit visa, the applicants (and often their entire families) would have to quit their jobs, which in turn would make them vulnerable to charges of social parasitism, a criminal offence.

Many Jews encountered systematic, institutional antisemitism which blocked their opportunities for advancement. Some government sectors were almost entirely off-limits to Jews for employment. In addition, Soviet restrictions on religious education and expression prevented Jews from engaging in Jewish cultural and religious life. While these restrictions led many Jews to seek emigration, requesting an exit visa was itself seen as an act of betrayal by Soviet authorities. Thus, prospective emigrants requested permission to emigrate at great personal risk, knowing that an official refusal would often be accompanied by dismissal from work and other forms of social ostracism and economic pressure. At the same time, strong international condemnations caused the Soviet authorities to significantly increase the emigration quota. In the years 1960 through 1970, only 4,000 people (legally) emigrated from the USSR. In the following decade, the number rose to 250,000.