ABSTRACT
Paintings by artists of the second half of the nineteenth century depicting various aspects of shtetl life are not uncommon. The artists, both Jewish and non-Jewish, tended virtually to overlook the shtetl as such, and its depiction used to serve as trivial backgrounds for genre paintings. Jewish artists of the next generation, who appeared on the scene before the First World War, were strongly critical of the works of their predecessors and teachers. The shtetl—as it was depicted by Jewish artists—is a place where Jews used to live side by side with their Gentile neighbours. The fence turns into the insurmountable barrier between the Christian and Jewish parts of the city, or, to use Chaim Zhitlowsky's expression, between the yidishkayt of Podvinye and the 'civilization' of Zamkovaya, the main street of Vitebsk's affluent neighbourhood. The shtetl could not compete with the imposing alternatives of social and artistic Utopias and was forced to give way to the brave new world.
