Saul Raskin

Saul Raskin (1978-1966)

Saul Raskin was a Russian-born American artist, writer, lecturer, and teacher best known for his depictions of Jewish subjects. He was born in 1878 in Nogaisk in the Russian Empire, now Prymorsk in Ukraine. He studied lithography in Odessa and later traveled extensively in Germany, France, Italy, and Switzerland, visiting art schools and working as a lithographer. Raskin immigrated to the United States, arriving in New York City in 1904 or 1905.

As a Russian speaker, Raskin became fluent in Yiddish after coming into contact with the literary community of New York’s Lower East Side.

He worked as a cartoonist and caricaturist for a number of New York-based Yiddish publications, including Kibitzer and Der Groyser Kundes. He also regularly contributed cartoons to Yiddish newspapers in Europe.

Raskin’s cartoons sometimes portrayed the differences between Jewish life in Eastern Europe and in the United States as tales of “metamorphoses.”

He was a prolific critic of the visual arts, literature, and theatre. He wrote articles for various New York-based Yiddish-language publications, including Tsayt-gayst and Dos Naye Lebn.

Raskin worked to bring Jewish art to the attention of the Jewish public. He believed that art should not be the exclusive preserve of the wealthy and that, by collaborating with artists, the public’s interest in art could be cultivated.

He conducted museum tours and lectured on art for the Arbeter Ring (Workmen’s Circle). In 1914, the Arbeter Ring Education Committee organized guided tours of New York art museums, most of which were conducted by Raskin. These tours could draw as many as four to five hundred people. Raskin’s guided tours included a short historical overview of the exhibits, highlighting prominent artists and their works. He carried out similar educational work outside of New York.

In the 1930s, Raskin served as art director for the 92nd Street Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association in New York.

Raskin was probably known more as a painter and caricaturist within the American Jewish community than as a critic. He worked in various media and was known for his realist approach and attention to detail. His work focused on scenes of Jewish life and tradition, particularly in the Lower East Side of New York. His first exhibition was in 1922.