Palestine, Mosque of Omar is an etching and color aquatint created
about 1932 by Max Pollak. This impression is pencil signed and titled in the lower margin and given a variant title along the sheet edge: Mosque of Omar with Cypresses. While it
is pencil editioned 7/100, it is inscribed by Pollak printed a. 8 (printed about 8) along the lower sheet edge. Palestine, Mosque of Omar was printed by
the artist on a sheet of ivory simili vellum paper and the image measures
18-1/8 x 12-3/4 inches platemark. It also bears the red stamp of the Friedl
Pollak Collection.
Dome of
the Rock, or Mosque of Omar, is an Islamic place of worship located on the
Temple Mount inside the Old City of Jerusalem and is the oldest existing
Islamic Monument. Built in 685-91 as a place of pilgrimage, the octagonal building
has richly decorated walls and a gold-overlaid dome mounted above a circle of
piers and columns. The Dome of Rock enshrines the rock that is believed to be
the place from where the Prophet Muhammed ascended to heaven during his night
journey to Jerusalem. The “Verse of the Throne” is written in the interior of
the dome and the whole ceiling structure is held up by eight supporting pillars.
There are four large supporting pillars around the neck of the dome,
representing the four seasons in the year. Twelve columns around the neck of
the dome represent the twelve months in a year and fifty-two windows around the
building represent the weeks in the year.
Max
Pollak, painter
and printmaker, was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1886. He was raised in
Vienna and, in 1902, he entered the Vienna Academy of Art where he studied
under William Unger and Ferdinand Schmutzer. In 1912, Pollak traveled to Italy,
France, and Holland to study and paint. During the First World War, he was
appointed painter of the Austrian Army.
He
immigrated to the United States in 1927, living for a time on the east coast
where he produced a series of color aquatints of New York, Cincinnati, and
Detroit. His first exhibition was at the 57th Street Art Gallery in New Yorkand he was commissioned by Theodore Dreiser in 1929 to illustrate his book, My City. In 1938, Pollak and his wife,
Friedl, moved to San Francisco, California. Pollak was inspired by his new city
and its environs and produced beautiful views of San Francisco Bay Area. Later
travels included trips to Mexico and Guatemala.
Max Pollak
was a member of the Chicago Society of Etchers and the California Society of
Etchers. His work is represented in the collections of the Magnes Collection of
Jewish Art and Life, Berkeley, California; the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art,
University of Oregon, Eugene; the British Museum, London; the Metropolitan
Museum of Art and the New York Public Library, New York; the Oakland Museum of
California Art; the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California; and the
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.
