Papers of Kathryn M. Yochelson (1906-2006)

Kathryn Mersey Yochelson was born on the Lower East Side of New York City in 1906. Her parents Nathan and Esther Mersey emigrated from Vilna in 1904, and soon after her birth, the family moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where she grew up. She hoped to study painting at Yale's art school, but attended Teachers College instead while taking private art lessons after school. Yochelson pursued her interest in art by studying art at Columbia Teachers College in New York City, and by joining the New York Teachers Art Club. From 1934 to 1939 she attended Elizabeth Chase's art talks at the Yale School of Fine Arts, where she first became interested in the art of the Jewish people. In 1930, Kathryn married Samuel Yochelson, a psychology graduate student at Yale University, who later became a psychiatrist. In 1937, she took an art-oriented trip to Europe. After this time, she began searching for more evidence of Jewish contributions to art, asking questions of historical societies, museums, libraries, and of individuals involved in the art world.

Yochelson and her husband moved to his hometown of Buffalo, New York, in 1939, where she would become an active member of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. The museum staff there encouraged her interest in Jewish art, but her search for further information was frustrating and filled with dead ends. As she searched she gradually discovered sources and made some lifelong friendships. In 1940 she discovered a book by Karl Schwarz, Die Juden in der Kunst, that not only depicted the art of ancient synagogues and ceremonial objects, but also had information on modern Jewish artists. She also came across a book by Elias Newman, Art in Palestine, which gave her information on modern Israeli artists. In 1953 Yochelson invited Newman to give a lecture in Buffalo. He would become a friend and advisor to her on Israeli art.

Inspired by the newly formed Jewish Museum in New York City in 1944, Yochelson decided to foster interest in Israeli art in Buffalo. On November 8, 1948, Yochelson gave her first art talk at a synagogue luncheon entitled "Jews in Art." The talk was so well received that the following year she began a lecture series on Jewish art at the Buffalo Jewish Center. Yochelson continued to give talks in the Niagara Falls and Buffalo area for the next several years. By the 1950s word had spread to Israel of her efforts, and Israeli artists visiting the United States came to Yochelson's home in Buffalo.

In 1953 the director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Edgar Schenck, informed Yochelson of a traveling exhibit of Israeli art, Seven Painters of Israel. The exhibit featured works by Mordecai Ardon, Moshe Castel, Nahum Gutmann, Marcel Janco, Moshe Mokady, Reuven Rubin, and Joseph Zaritsky. Yochelson fostered local interest in the exhibit, and it was brought to Buffalo. After encountering their works, Yochelson developed interest in these artists, and began to entertain the idea of collecting artwork. She assisted the Buffalo Jewish Center in acquiring art pieces. After the Center's acquisition of a work by Ben Shahn, Yochelson became acquainted with the New York art critic Alfred Werner, with whom she maintained a long friendship.

In 1958 Yochelson first visited Israel with her husband. While visiting, she met with Dr. Haim Gamzu, director of the Tel Aviv Museum. Gamzu introduced Yochelson to several Israeli artists, including Jakob Steinhardt, Nahum Gutmann, Marcel Janco, and Lea Nikel. During this trip, Yochelson also met Moshe Mokady and Reuven and Esther Rubin. Many of these artists gave or sold art pieces to Yochelson.

In 1961 Yochelson's family, including her husband and her children John and Bonnie, moved to Washington, D.C. Yochelson continued supporting Israeli art by giving talks on art in people's homes as well as at local libraries and synagogues, and by writing articles on art for the local Jewish newspaper. In 1963 she was asked by the rabbi of the Temple Sinai to organize an art exhibition for the synagogue. This exhibition also had the theme "Seven Painters of Israel," this time including the artists Mordecai Ardon, Moshe Castel, Shimson Holzman, Moshe Mokady, Reuven Rubin, Menahem Shemi, and Jakob Steinhardt. The following year the rabbi of the Adas Israel Synagogue asked Yochelson to chair an art committee to arrange an exhibition in honor of Israel's sixteenth anniversary. In 1968, she was made the art consultant of the Israel Independence Ball, which was held in celebration of Israel's twentieth anniversary. Yochelson worked with Elias Newman and arranged an exhibition that featured ten Israeli and ten American Jewish artists.

From the 1960s through the 1980s Yochelson traveled to Israel several times, often adding artwork to her personal collection. In 1965 she visited Israel for the second time to attend the opening of the National Israel Museum. While there, Yochelson met the artists Joel Rohr, Mordecai Ardon, Arie Lubin, and Anna Ticho as well as the Ein Hod artists' colony, and also revisted the Steinhardts and Rubins. Yochelson and her husband visited Israel again in 1972, where she met the art historian Bezalel Narkiss in addition to visiting the artists' colony at Safed and revisiting friends. During her trip in 1974 she met the booksellers Miron Sima and Ezekiel Steimatsky as well as the artists Ruth Bamberger, Jacob Pins, and Tova Berlinski in addition to other artists she had first met on earlier visits. In November 1976 Kathryn Yochelson's husband Samuel died, and in 1977 she visited Israel for the fifth time to dedicate in his memory to the Tel Aviv Museum a sculpture Balancing (1961) by her friend Chaim Gross. Yochelson made her sixth trip to Israel in 1985.

In addition to visiting Israel, Yochelson also continued to promote Israeli art by giving lectures to local Jewish groups and writing articles. During the 1980s she once again assisted in arranging exhibitions. In 1986 she worked with the curator of the Dimock Gallery of George Washington University on the exhibition Personal Vision: The Yochelson Collection of Israeli Art. In 1988 Yochelson assisted with an exhibit for the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, Masters of Israeli Art: The Formation Years. In 1998 her book Israeli Art: Golden Threads was published, which included color plates belonging to her collection. Kathryn Yochelson died in 2006. 1

CHRONOLOGY OF LIFE OF KATHRYN YOCHELSON

1906

Born in New York City.

1930

Married psychiatrist Samuel Yochelson.

1934-1939

Attended art history lectures of Elizabeth Chase at the Yale School of Fine Arts

1937

Traveled through Europe.

1939

Moved to Buffalo, New York with her husband. Became member of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

1948

Gave first lecture at a synagogue in Buffalo, "Jews in Art."

1950s

Organized visits of Israeli artists to the United States.

1953

Helped bring James S. Plaut's exhibit Seven Painters of Israel to Buffalo.

1958

First trip to Israel, met Dr. Haim Gamzu and various artists.

1961

Moved to Washington D.C.

1963-1964

Organized exhibits of Israeli art in synagogues in Washington D.C.

1965

Attended opening of the National Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

1968

Appointed as art consultant for the Israel Independence Ball at Washington Hilton Hotel; organized exhibit Twenty Artists for Israel.

1970s

Became a member of the Board of Governors of the Tel Aviv Museum.

1972

Third trip to Israel, visited artists and galleries.

1974

Fourth trip to Israel, met Ruth Bamberger.

1976

Samuel Yochelson died.

1977

Trip to Tel Aviv to dedicate a sculpture by Chaim Gross to the Tel Aviv Museum in memory of Samuel Yochelson.

1985

Sixth trip to Israel.

1986

Exhibit of Yochelson's collection at the Dimock Gallery of George Washington University: Personal Vision: the Yochelson Collection of Israeli Art.

1988

Helped organize "Masters of Israeli Art: The Formative Years," an exhibition for the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington.

1998

Published book Israeli Art: Golden Threads.

2001

Presented Yeshiva University Museum with personal papers for archives and artwork for art collection.

2006

Died.