Sitting Shiva Isn't Always About Physical Death

I know this because I'm well read enough and have delved enough into my own family history. Shiva can be sat when:

1. A child or other relatives intermarries (This happened to the late Ruth McBride Jordan, nee Rachel Deborah Shilsky [Ruchel Dwajra Zylska] when she was even just in a relationship with Dennis McBride.). This normally doesn't happen if a child marries solely a "shvartze"--as the Yiddish pejorative was thrown about back then. This happens if a child marries any gentile who doesn't convert or is not accepted for conversion into Judaism.
2. A child or other relative converts out of particularly Non-Messianic Judaism into--e.g.--Roman Catholicism (or other so-called "denominations of Messianic Judaism [Christianity]"), even if they remain Non Messianic and are merely Anusim. Sometimes, shiva isn't even sat and there's a rowdy hatefest where the convert's "death" or death is celebrated (See "Evel Rabbati", which takes work to find but is worth fighting. As the Anti Semites like to tripe on about and the Karaites note, this is what the P'rushiyin do not want you to know.). The P'rushiyin particularly hated Jesus, and revisionists like to pretend that another Yeshua is mentioned, but all one has to do is look at Bava Metzi'a 59b and the New Testament to get the idea pretty quickly.
3. A child or other relative acts so despicably that the circumstances play out as if he or she is dead, would rather be dead, or would be better off as such.
4. A child or other relative is in circumstances in he or she is dead, would rather be dead, or would be better off as such. For example, a child who is inevitably going to die of terminal cancer and not be miraculously healed may have shiva sat for him ot her early on.

Shiva can always be reversed for the living. For example, Ruth McBride Jordan did get back in touch with one of her cousins who she hadn't seen in years and who was in California. Even relatives who had sat shiva for her (viz. her aunts Mary and Bernadette) had contact with her, even though that contact was telling her that they sat shiva for her and she was to stay out of their lives (which Mary did)--as well as slamming the door in her face when she reached out to them for help (which Bernadette did).

In my own family's case, I have been in touch with Rusnak relatives before. Also, the Czerneckis did write to us once to ask for the deed to be changed. Shiva will also be reversed for Aunt Mary if she ever reaches out to me again (See #3 to give you an idea of what she did. All that I'll say is that, that took hutzpah to cut me off without at least telling me why she would--at least Ruth McBride Jordan's aunt Mary told her that she cut her off and gave her a hint as to why she did.).

Shiva cannot be reversed for the dead (unless they of course miraculously rise again).

I'm Not Going To Be Intimidated When I Stand Up For Myself and Others...

As I wrote to someone who apologized if his or her actions merely offended me (and not for the actions themselves), " I do not feel that the apology was sincere or for the actions themselves. I will not remove anything since it was on a public forum and it is evidence that I need to use to prove that I am not the first or last victim of UMBC JSU/Hillel. I understand that I am not the only victim, and who one of the victims is was disclosed to me in confidence partly because of how he or she has been bullied by UMBC JSU/Hillel.

"As I stated, my promises are not idle. I will not be back and allow others to get hurt by UMBC JSU/Hillel. As Gamali'el once stated,'Men of Isra’el, take care what you do to these people. Some time ago, there was a rebellion under Todah, who claimed to be somebody special; and a number of men, maybe four hundred, rallied behind him. But upon his being put to death, his whole following was broken up and came to nothing.  After this, Y’hudah HaG’lili led another uprising, back at the time of the enrollment for the Roman tax; and he got some people to defect to him. But he was killed, and all his followers were scattered.  So in the present case, my advice to you is not to interfere with these people, but to leave them alone. For if this idea or this movement has a human origin, it will collapse.  But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them; you might even find yourselves fighting God!'

"Perhaps instead of bullying me and others, UMBC JSU/Hillel and those associated with it can take Gamal'iel's words to heart. "Forgiven" does not mean "forgotten" or "like the situation never even happened", since I am neither the first to whom it has happened nor will I (I'm afraid) be the last."

UMBC JSU/Hillel is only one group of bullies who I have faced, and they are rightly held out as an example of bullies--since the evidence shows that they are. As Hillel the Elder once stated, "If not me, then who?" Someone needs to stand to bullying in general, and UMBC JSU/Hillel are just an example of bullies.

Imagine if Anan ben David had not stood up to the P'rushiyin of his day. Would there even be a Masoretic Text--which the Kara'im scribed? Imagine if Jan Hus and John Wycliffe had not stood up to the Roman Vatican "Church"--would the Reformation and all that resulted from or because of it have happened? (Bullies such as Martin Luther--a virulent Anti Semite--and John Calvin--a known hater of the disabled and of children--deserve no credit for the Reformation. While God can and did use evil for good, Luther and Calvin were snake-tongued Pseudo Christians. Luther is known about, but that Calvin thought disability to be an automatic sign of predestined damnation is a dirty secret that so-called "Christians" among the Church keep. However, that Calvin thought a span of babies to be in Hell is oft too quoted by Anti Messianics/Anti Christians who want to paint Christians with the brush of Calvin.)

More examples come to mind as well. Nonetheless and in conclusion, I've given enough examples of why I myself am not going to be intimidated when I stand up for myself and others--"If not me, then who?" After all, I have a mitzvah  to do tikun-ha'olam--and to do so begins with fixing my world within the world, and fixing my world within the world includes standing up against those who have bullied me and others. 

A Message To My Persecutors (And Everyone Else)

The Dangers of Talmudic Thinking For Messianic and Other Certain Jews

A conversation that I had with a friend illustrates how dangerous P'rushiyin groups like Hillel Campus Communities, Outreach Judaism, and MERCAZ are. Since he did comment on a public status and even asked if he could share what I am posting, I'm going to assume that linking to the conversation is okay. By the way, go after me if you want to go after anybody. Actually, go after Yehovah--" 'Why strive ye with me? wherefore do ye try the LORD?' " And see how well going after Yehovah goes--I guarantee that it won't go well. "Hear ye now what the LORD saith: Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. 2 Hear, O ye mountains, the LORD'S controversy, and ye enduring rocks, the foundations of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with His people, and He will plead with Israel. 3 O My people, what have I done unto thee? And wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against Me. "

The Dangers of Hillel Campus Communities For Messianic and Certain Other Jews

Obviously, UMBC JSU and Hillel taught me to avoid Hillel Camous Communities at all costs. I've heard horror stories about other branches as well. e.g., A kohen was rejected by Princeton Hillel.  "As a college student, my community has caused me an enormous amount of harm. Well-meaning friends advise me to "just convert," with no comprehension of the feeling of having your Jewish roots pulled out from under you. The treatment by my somewhat-learned peers has practical ramifications as well. For the past year, I have ceased attending Friday night dinners at my Hillel to avoid the embarrassment of declining to lead kiddush and motzi and having to explain why. "

This was originally cited as "2. Student at Princeton Hillel Rejected by Other Students after Discovery Mother was a Convert — This story has a better ending than many such stories. The Half-Jewish Network contacted the rabbi, and it is probable that many other people and groups did as well.

"The rabbi reached out to the student involved, set up an open community meeting on the subject, and created a committee to devise new policies for the future that will cut down on this type of incident. Rabbi Julie Roth’s response was impressive, as most Jewish institutions ignore complaints from half-Jewish members."

Of course, their policy on Messianics is "As a result, Outreach Judaism offers lectures on college campuses and in Jewish communities with multilevel informational resources, campus outreach, counseling, discussion groups, and networking with other Jewish organizations that deal with the dangers of the Messianic movement and cults." 

So, get out of any Hillel Campus Community that you are in if you are a Messianic or certain other (e.g., Karaite, Non-Messianic Patrilineal Jew and Talmudi) type of Jew. "For Israel is not widowed, nor Judah, of his God, of the LORD of hosts; for their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. 6 Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life, be not cut off in her iniquity; for it is the time of the LORD'S vengeance; He will render unto her a recompense. 7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in LORD'S hand, that made all the earth drunken; the nations have drunk of her wine, therefore the nations are mad."

Are We Done Yet, Wikipedia?

Rafail Levitsky

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky
Portrait by Ilya Repin (1878) Finnish National Gallery, Ateneum Art Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
Born	1847 St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died	1940 Leningrad, Soviet Union
Nationality	Russian Empire, Levite[1]
Field	painter, photographer
Training	Imperial Academy of Arts, Saint Petersburg
Movement	Peredvizhniki, Realism, Romantic, Genre, Impressionism
Patrons	Alexander II of Russia, Alexander III of Russia, Nicholas II of Russia,Napoleon III

Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky (or Rafael Sergeevich Levitsky, or Raphael Sergeevich Levitsky; Russian: Рафаи́л Сергее́вич Леви́цкий; 1847–1940) was a Russian genre, romantic, and impressionist artist who was an active participant in the Peredvizhniki (Itinerant) Movement.

His letters to his artist friend Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov 1844-1927 are a personal account of many of the key figures in Russian art who exhibited during their lifetime.

Rafail was born into a wealthy aristocratic family. He was married to Anna Vasilevna Olsufevsky. He was the second cousin of Aleksandr Ivanovich Herzen (1812–1870), the writer and outstanding public figure; and son to Count Sergei Lvovich Levitsky (1819–1898), one of the founders of photography in Russia and Europe's early photographic pioneers.

He was friend to author Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828–1910) who visited and stayed with him and his wife on several occasions.

Rafail Levitsky was also an art professor and an acclaimed photographer, most noted for his portraits of the ill fated family of Czar Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia.

Contents   [hide]  1 Education 2 Teacher 3 The Association of Peredvizhniki Artists 4 Friendship with Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov (1844-1927) 5 Levitsky Polenov Correspondence 6 Friendship with Ilya Repin (1844-1930) 7 Friendship with author Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828-1910) 8 Photographer 8.1 Paris studio 8.2 St. Petersburg studio 8.3 Photography's first Artist 9 Legacy 10 References 11 Selected works 12 References

[edit]Education

Portrait of a Village Girl. by Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky.(1877) Nekrasov Apartment Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

In 1866, Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky began his artistic studies at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg as a free-student.

While there, Rafail studied directly under the teaching of Pavel Petrovich Chistyakov (1832–1919) along with classmates that included V.D. Polenov, and I.E. Repin.

It is Chistyakov's teaching methods that combined the best traditions of the academic school and the experience of direct perception of nature that are widely recognized as having led to the development of realism in Russian art.

Rafail received medals in 1867 - 2 silver and in 1872 - a minor and two major honours.

In 1877 he received a rank of "class artist of third stage".

[edit]Teacher

Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky was a Professor of Drawing and Painting on Porcelain at the School of Imperial Society of Honouring Visual Arts from 1884 until the school was closed by the Soviets in 1918.

His career is documented in a report written by request of the Committee of Imperial Society of Honouring Visual Arts by Nickolay Makarenko, published inSaint Petersburg in 1914.

[edit]The Association of Peredvizhniki Artists

The Bridge in the Woods. by Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky.(1885-1886) The Stavropol Regional Museum of Fine Arts, Stavropol, Russia

In 1880, Rafail Levitsky joined the free-thinking "Association of Peredvizhniki Artists" who sought to move away from the academic formalism of the official Academy.

Rafail Levitsky exhibited with the Peredvizhniki (Itinerant) Movement from 1880 to 1894.

His artistic career took him throughout Russia. After the opening in 1883 of the Rostov Museum of Church Antiquities his name appears twice in the Museum's Book of Visitors (started in 1886). Rafail visited this cultural centre of old Russian architecture, church and folk art in 1900 and 1904.

A painting of the Interior of the Redeemer Church "na-senyah" found in the Kremlin of Rostov was painted in 1904 by Rafail and is today at the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.

In 1885, 1896, and 1907 he travelled to Italy where he painted genre and impressionistic scenes en plein air.

In November 1914, he documented a scene of Russian forces fighting in the Silesian Offensive in World War I.

Today, Rafail Levitsky is still rated among the Great Russian artists by the Art Union of Russia.

[edit]Friendship with Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov (1844-1927)

Throughout his life Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky was good friends with fellow Itinerant artist Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov. Polenov's freshness of color combined with artistic finish of composition greatly influenced Levitsky's own landscape painting style and treatment.

When Rafail was a bachelor, he lived and worked together with Polenov in "Devich'e Pole" (the name of the street "Maiden's Field"), in an attic of the Olsufevsky House. This house is illustrated by Polenov in his painting "Grandmother's garden" (1878).

While living there Levitsky would meet and marry Anna Vasilevna Olsufevsky. He would also meet Leo Tolstoy and become good friends with the world famous author discussing Tolstoy's theories on art and his personal connection to the art and artists of the day. Ultimately, Levitsky in 1896 would paint Tolstoy's portrait.

View of Mazzolada di Lison, Veneto, Italy. by Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky.(1896) The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada

[edit]Levitsky Polenov Correspondence

As Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky lived and worked in Saint Petersburg we are given insight into the art exhibitions he attended and wrote about in letters to Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov.

In a letter sent to Polenov in Moscow, Rafail writes about an academic exhibition which occurred on September, 18th, 1869 about the sculptor Opekushin Alexander Mikhailovich (1838–1923) who sculpted a bust of the artist Mikhail Osipovich Mikeshin (1835–1896). He writes:

"The exhibition has been open since yesterday, but there are not a lot of people attending, and those of the public who are attending do not seem to like the exhibition either. Did I tell you about a bust of Mikeshin made by some unknown sculptor named Opekushin. This sculpture is remarkable in its work and the likeness to the face and body of Mikeshin... would this be a painting, I would have gambled that it was done by Mikeshin himself. This same fellow Opekushin also showed a bust of Komisarov".

At a third Academic Exhibition in St. Petersburg where V.M.Vasnetsova (1848–1926) exhibited the picture "Tea drinking at a tavern" Levitsky who visited the exhibition, wrote on February, 8th, 1874 to Polenov, "Vasnetsova whom you, obviously, know, a miracle from miracles…"

Writing to Polenov about the artist Arkhip Ivanovich Kuinji's (1842–1910) work "View of the Isaakievsky cathedral" having visited the academic exhibition in 1869, Levitsky saw the beginnings of what would be Kuinji's use of special light effects to paint nature and achieved astonishing results. Levitsky writes: "A. Kuinji has painted a landscape of the Neva river with the view of the Isaakievsky cathedral which is perfectly realized …"

[edit]Friendship with Ilya Repin (1844-1930)

R.S. Levitsky (background) and E.L. Prahova (foreground)sketch by Ilya Repin (1879)

Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky was classmate and close friends with fellow Itinerant artist Ilya Repin. Repin sketched Rafail's image and painted his portrait in 1878 showing early Repin's ability to not just paint faces, but rather to paint people fully, revealing his models in their natural state and how they communicated.

When Repin settled in Moscow in 1876, he and Levitsky would travel to the Abramtsevo Colony, the country estate of Savva Mamontov located north of Moscow. Savva was one of the most famous Russian patrons of art of the late 19th century who founded an artist's union in Ambratsevo.

Repin's "On a Bridge in Abramtsevo" (1879) and Levitsky's "The Bridge in the Woods" (1885–1886) are remarkable achievements showing different approaches of these two great artists painting the same subject matter (a bridge) in the same location (Abramtsevo).

In 1920, Ilya Repin donated his portrait of Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky along with a collection of other works by him to the Finnish National Gallery.

Today, Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky's portrait by Ilya Repin is on permanent display at the Finnish National Gallery, Ateneum Art Gallery, Helsinki, Finland.

[edit]Friendship with author Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828-1910)

From February to March, 1896, and from February to March, 1897, Leo Tolstoy visited Rafail Levitsky and his wife Anna Vasilevna Olsufesky, at the Olsufevsky's estate, Nicholskoe, near Moscow. Once he spent two weeks with them and another time he stayed with them for an entire month.

On one such visit, Rafail welcomed Tolstoy hospitably into his workshop and discussed painting Tolstoy's portrait. The session took place, on the second floor of the Nicholskoe's house. It is told that Levitsky, while standing, drew on an easel and chose to make a sketch viewing Tolstoy's right profile. To facilitate the posing, someone read aloud from a Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846–1916) novel. The session lasted for one and a half hours. With the permission of Tolstoy, the final drawing was made into an engraving and sold in shops throughout Russia.

In the month of May 1898, Leo Tolstoy travelled to Grinevka to visit the estate of his son, Count I. L. Tolstoy. While living there, he once again visited his friend, the landlord, Rafail S. Levitsky, where he fell seriously ill with severe dysentery and remained there for ten days. In his Journal translated by Rose Strunsky in 1917 he writes of this time: "I went with Sonya (my daughter-in-law) to the Tsurikov's, Aphremov's, and the Levitsky's. I have a very pleasant impression and fell in love with many; but fell ill and did not do my work and made a lot of fuss both for Levitsky and the household."

[edit]Photographer

Rafail Levitsky's father was the famous Sergei Lvovich Levitsky (1819–1898, Moscow, Russian: Сергей Львович Львов-Левицкий), who is considered the patriarch of Russian photography and one of Europe's most important early photographic pioneers, inventors and innovators.

Czar Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, and daughter Olga. by Sergei Lvovich Levitsky.(1896) The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada

With a career that began in the 1840s, working as a daguerreotypist in Germany and Italy; Levitsky's father knew Daguerre personally, and introduced the term ‘light painting’ to Russia. It was he who first proposed the idea to artificially light subjects in a studio setting using electric lighting along with daylight.

With a working life that spanned fifty years, Sergei Levitsky distinguished himself in the technical sphere of photographic development. It was he who designed a bellows camera which significantly improved the process of focusing, and it was he who introduced interchangeable decorative backgrounds, as well as the retouching of negatives to reduce or eliminate technical deficiencies.

Sergei is perhaps best known for a series of photographs of famous artists, writers and public figures (included among these notable figures were Nikolai Nekrasov,Ivan Turgenev, Ivan Goncharov, Vladimir Sollogub, Fedor Tyutchev, Peter Vyazemsky, Alexander Strugovshchikov, Vasily Botkin, Ivan Panaev, Pavel Annenkov,Dmitry Grigorovich, Alexander Herzen, Sergey Volkonsky, and Leo Tolstoy). It is perhaps this association that led Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov (1821–1878) to purchase a painting by Rafail Levitsky that hangs in the living room of the N.A. Nekrasov Apartment Museum to this day.

Sergei Levitsky was also one of the founders of Russian's first Photographic Societies, a writer of articles for the Russian magazine "Photograph" and was actively involved in organizing national and international photographic exhibitions throughout his lifetime. He wrote memoirs in two volumes entitled, Reminiscences of an Old Photographer (1892) and How I Became a Photographer (1896). He is buried in St. Petersburg's Smolenskoye Cemetery.

[edit]Paris studio

Between 1859 and 1864 Sergei Levitsky operated a photographic studio at 22, rue de Choiseul in Paris formerly the address for American daguerreotypist Warren Thompson [aka Warren-Thompson] and joined the Société Française de Photographie (SPF).

Levitsky and Warren-Thompson were associated 1847-49 both making large format daguerreotypes. Thompson opened a studio at 22 rue Choiseul in 1853.

In 1864 Levitsky in turn sold out to Augustin Aimé Joseph Le Jeune whose cards carried the Levitsky name and the information that he was the new owner/successor i.e. 'Lejeune succr' until at least 1867 and Lejeune reused negatives made by Levitsky as well as making his own images.

Lejeune also operated a studio at 106 Rue de Rivoli associated there with a relative Denis Victor Adolphe Le Jeune from 1867.

Confusion as to the operation of Levitsky's studio in Paris has arisen from the reference to 'Levitsky', 'M. Levitsky' and 'Maison Levitsky' on Lejeune's cartes de visites and cabinet cards with his ownership and authorship printed usually on the lower right hand side, as 'Le Jeune Succ^r'.

By 1872 Le Jeune was operating at 350 Rue St Honore and in turn after the Le Jeunes sold the Rue de Rivoli studio to Auguste La Planquais in 1873 and the following year the Rue St Honore studio to Léon Abraham Marius Joliot.

Le Jeune was listed as a member of the SPF until 1885 as was Levitsky but the latter is most likely a confusion with the exit date of Lejeune.

In 1864 Levitsky wrote about his Paris career in The Russian Magazine "Photograph" (1864, № 3-4) in which he described his great success and artistic triumph which "brought to his Paris studio daily orders of some 1500 requests; many of which could not be filled".

Showing in practice that the skillful combination of both natural and artificial light allowed one to create interesting effects, Levitsky's photographs became recognized throughout Europe for their mastery.

Following his father's lead, Rafail Levitsky worked along side his father in Paris placing his Russian monogram Russian: Р Л; on the carte de visite (CDV) photo cards when his hand was involved in the process of taking the photograph.

In 1864 when his father closed the Levitsky studio in Paris, Rafail returned to Russia with his father.

Czarina Alexandra with Olga and Maria. by Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky .(1899) The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada

[edit]St. Petersburg studio

The Levitsky St. Petersburg studio of the 1890s was a father son enterprise. Photo cards of this time have the distinctive Levitsky name 'and Son' Russian:Левицкий и сын both written as a signature and printed on their backs.

Upon his father's death, Rafail continued the operation and tradition of the Levitsky portrait studio taking the now famous photos of Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra and their children Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia,Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, and Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia. So popular were the photos of the Romanovs that they were reproduced individually for public consumption in an 'Edition A Bon Marche' by Rafail.

While running the St. Petersburg studio Rafail began the tradition of taking photos of everyday Russian actors and everyday Russian people while continuing the Studio's resume of taking photos that included Russia's who's who including such luminaries as Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, Russian General Aleksei Nikolaievitch Kouropatkine and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Rafail took part in numerous international and Russian photographic exhibitions, sometimes serving on the jury. His works received multiple awards in international exhibitions.

The Levitsky Studio was located in Moika River Embankment, 30 (1860s), Nevsky Prospect, 28 (1890s), and Kazanskaya Street, 3 (1898, the house is not preserved).

The Levitsky St. Petersburg Studio remained in operation until it was closed by the Soviets in 1918.

[edit]Photography's first Artist

Russian Banknote 25 RUBLES showing engraving of Alexander III after portrait by Sergei Lvovich Levitsky and Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky.(1909)

Rafail Levitsky is considered to be the first artist in history to be also a fine art photographer. During his lifetime many of the Levitsky famous photographic portraits became partial or complete replacements of the model by artists, lithographers, illustrators and even engravers as in the case of Levitsky's portrait of Alexander III which was used on the Russian ruble bank note.

Alexander III. by Sergei Lvovich Levitsky and Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky.(1885) The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada

However, the Levitsky Studio's lasting importance is found in their ability to understand and exploit the relationship between art and photography; understanding that it could be possible that a photographer using a mechanical device that creates the image, could impose their personal spirit into the finished photograph.

For the Studio believed that it was not simply a process of taking the most famous photographs of the who's who of European and North American society but an artistic endeavour and pursuit to capture the essence of the sitter and relay this through the photographic image captured.

Rafail's ability to understand, apply and build upon the scientific photographic advancements developed by his father would begin to establish Rafail's photography as a worthy form of artistic expression; no less effective than a painting or a sculpture.

His achievements preceded famous artists as photographers such as Edgar Degas who began taking photographs in 1895 and Man Ray who would not produce his first significant photographs until 1918.

Rafail's photos are the first to show images of sitters in naturalistic poses, soft lighting, within naturalistic backgrounds, and expressing real sentiments like joy and laughter or tenderness as in the photo of Czarina Alexandra with Olga and Maria (1899).

Compare similar photos of the day where sitters stood as straight as soldiers and looked out at the viewer like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car and one will instantly see why the Levitsky studio was miles ahead of its competitors and why being an artist was so important to the early development of photography.

[edit]Legacy

The magnitude of Rafail Levitsky's catalogue raisonné remains unknown. His influence on artists, his history, and his life's artistic achievements were erased during the Soviet era; an era where aristocratic origins and ties to the Romanov family were cause for violent repression. The State Russian Museum does not own pictures, drawings or archival documents in its collection of this once great Russian artist.

In the most complete collection ever produced reviewing the tradition of Russian and European painting entitled the Encyclopedia of World Art published by White City; the author Alexander Shestimirov includes Rafail Levitsky's artistic work in all three volumes – Russian Seascape Painting – p. 443; Russian Landscape Painting – p. 888; and Russian Portrait Painting – p. 1416.

Individual works are found hanging in the Nekrasov Apartment Museum, 36 Liteiny Avenue, St. Petersburg; The Stavropol Regional Museum of Fine Arts; The Chuvash State Art Museum and The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.

Today, the largest collection of Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky works are found in The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection (DRWC), Toronto, Canada which is dedicated to preserving the memory, legacy and works of Rafail Sergeevitch Levitsky and Sergei Lvovich Levitsky.

Morning Impression along a Canal in Venice, Veneto, Italy. by Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky.(1896) The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada

[edit]References

1. Burova G. K, Gaponov O. I, Rumjantseva V. F. Association of Mobile Art Exhibitions: in 2 т. М, Art, 1952–1959

2. Tchernyshev E.A., V.D.Polenov's Memorial Estate. the Catalogue. Л, 1964

3. Mosenzov G. N., Catalogue: Painting. Sculpture. Drawing. – Omsk, 1941

4. Spiridonov A.N., Catalogue Omsk гос. Museum of Fine Arts: Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture. – Omsk, 1955

5. Omsk Region. Museum of Fine Arts: Рус. дорев. Art: Painting, Drawing, teatr.-dekorats. Art, a sculpture. Кат. – Л, 1986

6. Guidebook to Dashkovsky meeting of images of Russian figures. – m. 1882. (Mosk. публ. And Rumjantsev. Museums)

7. Makarenko Nickolay, Report written by request of the Committee of Imperial Society of Honouring Visual Arts, published Saint Petersburg, 1914.

8. Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich, Volume 84, Letters written to S.A. Tolstoy 1887-1910, complete works; letter written January 1895.

9. Kim E.V., I.A. Shljakov and an Art Life in Rostov (I. 1880-1890th) Books of Visitors of the Rostov Museum of Church Antiquities.

10. Strunsky Rose, translated Journal of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy translation -1917.

[edit]Selected works

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  Evening Impression in Rapallo, Genova, Liguria, Italy. by Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky.(1885) The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada
 
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  Grandfather Vlas. by Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky. (1895) The Chuvash State Art Museum, Chuvashia Republic
 
• 

  Villa and Gatehouse Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. by Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky.(1907) The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada
 
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  Gatehouse Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. by Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky.(1907) The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada
 
• 

  Afternoon Impression Along a Russian Stream. by Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky.(1908) The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada
 
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  Russian House Afternoon. by Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky.(1908) The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada
 
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  Hillside Walk Russia. by Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky.(1908) The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada
 
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  Russian Silesian Offensive. by Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky.(1914) The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada
 
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  Maria Feodorovna Princess Dagmar of Denmark. by Sergei Lvovich Levitsky and Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky.(1881) The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada
 
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  Nicholas II. by Sergei Lvovich Levitsky and Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky.(1894) The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada
 
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  Czar Nicholas II and family by Rafail Sergeevich Levitsky. (August 16 1901, Peterhof ) The Di Rocco Wieler Private Collection, Toronto, Canada

[edit]References

1. ^ His name is a variant of "Levy". See JewFAQ.

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