Saul Bernstein 1872-1905

Born in 1872 in Posvol, Lithuania (then under the control of Tsarist Russia), Saul received a letter in 1889 from his uncle Abraham, who had emigrated to America, offering him the opportunity to begin a new life there. His mother, giving him all the money she had saved over many years working as a seamstress, enabled him to board a ship. At the age of seventeen, Saul traveled alone and arrived at Castle Garden in New York (Ellis Island would not become the main point of entry for immigrants to the United States until 1892). From New York, he went on to join his uncle in Baltimore, where he stayed for a week before embarking on a career as a peddler - a path taken by many Jewish immigrants at the time. He began by selling tin goods in small towns along the East Coast, but soon took a new route, crossing the mountains of Maryland and West Virginia.

Despite the hardships, Saul succeeded as an itinerant merchant, and by 1891 he was able to bring his parents and brother to the United States. In 1892, he became co-owner of a shop, but despite his success, Saul nurtured a dream of becoming an artist. Throughout his years as a peddler, he carried a sketchbook with him, and during his travels he would draw scenes from the daily life of the small towns he passed through. The walls of his shop were decorated with his drawings.

With the help of a passing customer who recognized his talent, Saul was admitted to the prestigious Maryland Institute School of Art and Design. He sold his share of the shop and returned to Baltimore to study. His training also took him to New York and Paris, where he studied at the Académie Julian. His career began to take off, and his work was notably acquired by Baltimore collectors Etta and Claribel Cohen.

Around the same time, he became active in the Zionist movement, and it was at meetings of the local Hovevei Zion chapter that he met his future wife, Jennie Abel. Through this activism, he also met Henrietta Szold, founder of Hadassah, the Zionist women’s organization. Szold became his friend, mentor, and patron, helping to introduce his work to the leading figures of Baltimore’s Jewish community. His interest in Zionism increasingly influenced his art, leading him to focus more on religious subjects, such as Kiddush, a work listed in the catalogue of the Drylewicz Gallery and very likely exhibited at the American Art Association in New York in November 1898 (a period photograph of the work has survived).

Saul died at the age of thirty-three, just as his art was reaching maturity. His works are now held in collections in the United States, notably at the Jewish Museum of Maryland and the Baltimore Museum of Art, as well as in numerous private collections.