MASTERPIECES FROM THE BEN URI COLLECTION
DESIGN WITH DEER (II)
1915
Pen and ink on paper and board
LAZAR BERSON (1882-1954)
MLAZAR BERSON
azar Berson’s Design with Deer (II) (c. 1910s–1920s) exemplifies the artist’s commitment to synthesizing Jewish visual heritage with early 20th-century modernist design principles Likely created during his years in London, where he played a foundational role in the establishment of the Ben Uri Art Society, Lazar Berson’s
Design with Deer (II) (c 1910s–1920s) exemplifies the artist’s commitment to synthesizing Jewish visual heritage with early 20th-century modernist design principles Likely created during his years in London, where he played a foundational role in the establishment of the Ben Uri Art Society, this work reflects Berson’s broader aim to develop a distinctive Jewish artistic idiom rooted in symbolism, ornament, and spiritual resonance. The deer a recurring motif in Jewish art and scripture symbolizes beauty, grace, and longing, often associated with the soul’s yearning for divine connection, as in the biblical verse “As the deer pants for streams of water ” (Psalm 42:1) In Design with Deer (II), Berson abstracts this symbolic creature into a stylized, almost heraldic form, framed by vegetal and geometric patterns that suggest both Art Nouveau influences and manuscript illumination traditions The circular composition and decorative symmetry underscore his interest in unity, balance, and sacred order Executed with the precision of a printmaker and the sensibility of a liturgical artisan, the piece blurs the boundaries between fine art and religious craft. Berson’s work stands as a quietly radical statement asserting the relevance of Jewish cultural forms within the modernist project and affirming their place in the visual lexicon of diasporic identity.
Lazar Berson was born into a Jewish family in the village of Skopichky, Russia (now Skapiškis, Lithuania) on 16 October 1882 Little is known about his early life, although he probably spoke Yiddish at home and received a traditional Jewish religious education At the turn of the century, he studied painting in St Peters-
burg, where he was influenced by the Jewish cultural renaissance and the renewed interest in Russian and Jewish folk art and craft Berson took these ideas to Paris, where he continued his studies, probably as a student under Professor Cormon at the École des Beaux-Arts Later, Berson described studying 'together with a prayer quorum of Jewish children', referring to the large number of mostly eastern-European Jewish émigré artists then working in Paris. Between 1911 and 1912 he exhibited at the Salon d’Automne alongside Marc Chagall, Léon Bakst, Moise Kisling and Jules Pascin, and lived at La Ruche (the beehive), at the same address as the sculptor Jacques Lipchitz In contrast to other École de Paris artists who embraced modernist styles, Berson maintained the decorative approach to traditional folk art and sought to develop a specifically Jewish type of art
Following the outbreak of the First World War, Berson moved to London, where he set up a portrait studio and wrote articles for Jewish and Yiddish newspapers, espousing his uncompromising Jewish nationalist, Zionist and fierce anti-assimilationist views In 1915, he realised his long-held ambition of forming a society for Jewish art when he founded 'The Jewish-National Decorative Art Association (London) Ben Ouri', in Whitechapel This enabled him to develop his primary interest in decorative art, and the carving of wooden vessels, plates and boxes with motifs drawn from ancient illuminated manuscripts In 'the Ben Uri studio' in West London, he brought together a number of East End artisans, who together with the jeweller Moshe Oved worked on a series of decorative 'Jewish' designs on wooden plates and bowls In addition, Berson produced the Ben ouri albom, 'one of the world's first Yiddish art albums', printed in 1916 by the Ukrainian-born Hebraist Israel Narodiczky (1874–1942), as a fundraiser. By 1916, the Society had over 100 members and had organised many events and classes, but in September of that year, Berson left without warning for America, later returning to France According to another of Ben Uri's founder members, Judah Beach, Berson was later detained by the Nazis in Nice and deported to Poland but survived the war and later resurfaced in Nice, where he continued to work as a painter until his death Lazar Berson died in Nice, France on 27 July 1954 Ben Uri holds two copies of the Ben Uri Album (one hand-coloured), commissioned by Berson, as well as other decorative designs and a circular wooden plate for Pesach (Passover) The Jewish Museum London also holds a decorative plate by Berson, commissioned by Morris Myer, editor of the Yiddish daily newspaper Di Tsayt to commemorate a speech given by the Jewish writer Israel Zangwill in 1915.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
COLLECTION: https://benuri.org/collections/
BURU: https://www.buru.org.uk/
