Wanderers

Lasar Segall lived a comfortable and fulfilling life in Brazil. Together with his second wife Jenny Klabin, he built a modern house with a studio, creating an environment filled with vibrant intellectual and artistic activity. To broaden their cultural horizons, the couple spent several years in the 1930s in Paris, where the frenetic energy of the avant-garde gave way to the rationality of rappel à l’ordre. His Parisian experience inspired Segall to turn towards classic art, radiating harmony and peace. This shift was encouraged by his personal life: in Paris, Lasar and Jenny had their second son, Oscar. Inspired by family happiness, Segall began to paint breastfeeding women, family scenes, and idyllic landscapes with grazing animals. The small-format painting Wanderers, with its restrained and subdued colour palette, probably dating from this period, depicts a father, a mother and a child lying close together in a field. Although a trace of sadness and even anxiety can be seen in the woman’s face, the closeness of the figures conveys a sense of belonging and mutual support on their journey through life.

Text author Laura Petrauskaitė

 

2pt;">The diaspora. The Greek word diaspeirein means ‘to scatter, to disperse’. The noun diaspora was first used in the Septuagint (the translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew and Aramaic into Greek) to describe the spread of the Jews among the Gentiles. In Ancient Greece, the concept of the diaspora had a positive connotation, and included migration and colonisation. In contrast to the Greeks, the Jews associated the notion of a diaspora with forced dispersion: ‘And the Lord will scatter you among all people, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known’ (Deuteronomy 28, 64). Thus, for the Jews, the diaspora acquired the meaning of exile, and was perceived as a punishment. Jews have been living in the diaspora for more than 2,500 years.

The Jew wandering around the world without a homeland is a recurring motif in Jewish art. The theme of migration and wandering runs through the entire life and work of Lasar Segall. Wanderers and Wandering Women are self-portraits: a Litvak Jew who cannot find his place in the world and keeps wandering. All his life, the artist tried to integrate into various religious and cultural communities, but even the hot Brazilian sun could not cure his Litvak melancholy.

Text author Vilma Gradinskaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album STORIES OF LITVAK ART (2023). Compiler and author Vilma Gradinskaitė, ARTISTS ON THE MOVE (2025). Compiler and text author Laura Petrauskaitė
Expositions: "Litvak Artists in Paris", 25 January 2024 – 3 June, Chaimas Frenkelis Villa-Museum, Šiauliai (curator Vilma Gradinskaitė).

Lasar Segall lived a comfortable and fulfilling life in Brazil. Together with his second wife Jenny Klabin, he built a modern house with a studio, creating an environment filled with vibrant intellectual and artistic activity. To broaden their cultural horizons, the couple spent several years in the 1930s in Paris, where the frenetic energy of the avant-garde gave way to the rationality of rappel à l’ordre. His Parisian experience inspired Segall to turn towards classic art, radiating harmony and peace. This shift was encouraged by his personal life: in Paris, Lasar and Jenny had their second son, Oscar. Inspired by family happiness, Segall began to paint breastfeeding women, family scenes, and idyllic landscapes with grazing animals. The small-format painting Wanderers, with its restrained and subdued colour palette, probably dating from this period, depicts a father, a mother and a child lying close together in a field. Although a trace of sadness and even anxiety can be seen in the woman’s face, the closeness of the figures conveys a sense of belonging and mutual support on their journey through life.

Text author Laura Petrauskaitė

 

2pt;">The diaspora. The Greek word diaspeirein means ‘to scatter, to disperse’. The noun diaspora was first used in the Septuagint (the translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew and Aramaic into Greek) to describe the spread of the Jews among the Gentiles. In Ancient Greece, the concept of the diaspora had a positive connotation, and included migration and colonisation. In contrast to the Greeks, the Jews associated the notion of a diaspora with forced dispersion: ‘And the Lord will scatter you among all people, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known’ (Deuteronomy 28, 64). Thus, for the Jews, the diaspora acquired the meaning of exile, and was perceived as a punishment. Jews have been living in the diaspora for more than 2,500 years.

The Jew wandering around the world without a homeland is a recurring motif in Jewish art. The theme of migration and wandering runs through the entire life and work of Lasar Segall. Wanderers and Wandering Women are self-portraits: a Litvak Jew who cannot find his place in the world and keeps wandering. All his life, the artist tried to integrate into various religious and cultural communities, but even the hot Brazilian sun could not cure his Litvak melancholy.

Text author Vilma Gradinskaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album STORIES OF LITVAK ART (2023). Compiler and author Vilma Gradinskaitė, ARTISTS ON THE MOVE (2025). Compiler and text author Laura Petrauskaitė
Expositions: "Litvak Artists in Paris", 25 January 2024 – 3 June, Chaimas Frenkelis Villa-Museum, Šiauliai (curator Vilma Gradinskaitė).