Biographical/Historical Information

Oscar Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, essayist, and poet, who became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. In 1895 he stood trial for “gross indecency with men” and was convicted and imprisoned for two years' hard labor. He died in 1900 in Paris at the age of 46.

Hermann (Chaim Aaron ben David) Struck was born in 1876 in Germany. He is best known as a master etcher, lithographer and early Zionist. He studied for five years at the Berlin Academy and in 1908 wrote "Die Kunst des Radierens" (The Art of Etching), while mentoring artists such as Marc Chagall, Max Liebermann and Lesser Ury. His art was included in an exhibition at the Fifth Zionist Congress and he helped establish the religious Zionist movement called Mizrachi. Struck was an Orthodox Jew but believed that culture and religion could thrive cooperatively in the Land of Israel. He emigrated to Haifa where he created an artistic community and participated in the development of the Tel Aviv Museum and the Bezalel art school in Jerusalem. Hermann Struck died in 1944.

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Citation

Struck, Hermann: [Portrait of Oscar Wilde], Leo Baeck Institute, 78.463.