Odessa / Оде́сса: Babel, Ladyzhensky, and the Soul of the City
Presented by Yeshiva University Museum
Sunday, March 27 – November 13
Yeshiva University Museum
15 W 16th St, New York, NY 10011
Visit www.yumuseum.org for museum hours and admission information
From its founding in the 18th century, Odessa was to be a new kind of imperial city: an economic crossroads, orderly and modern in its sensibilities. Yet, the port city’s location on the edge of the Russian Empire lent Odessa the feeling of a frontier town – an El Dorado on the Black Sea, swarming with gangsters, fortune hunters and pleasure seekers. It was also a crucible of Russian and Jewish culture, and an important breeding ground for Jewish literature, art and politics.
This exhibition pairs two Odessans: the writer Isaac Babel and the artist Yefim Ladyzhensky. Both feature their hometown in their work and interpret the broader world through an Odessan lens. This pairing of the writer’s texts with the artist’s imagery, together with a range of contemporary film and period music, brings to life Odessa at the beginning of the Soviet Union – from its bustling commercial street life and colorful underworld to its radical political landscape and violent revolutionary conflict.
Featuring over fifty of Ladyzhensky’s vivid paintings and drawings – many exhibited for the first time, Babel’s powerful words, and a selection of related complementary video and sound installations, Odessa / Оде́сса captures the rich cultural landscape of a remarkable city on the edge of revolution.
Curator Led Tour – April 6 @ 6pm
Tour YUM’s newest exhibition, exploring the vital creative character and dramatic social context of Odessa, Ukraine (formerly Russia) through the work of two of the city’s most important artists – the writer Isaac Babel and the painter Yefim Ladyzhensky.
