ABSTRACT
After his successful trip to New York Rubin returned to Romania in the spring of 1922, moving to Bucharest where he continued to work. However a year later he went to Palestine, where he was to remain. Rubin’s return to settle in Palestine has usually been dated at 1922.1 In support of this dating several paintings are said to have been painted in Palestine in 1922, most notably Houses in Tel Aviv (Pl. E), and some are actually dated 1922 on the canvas.2 In view of Rubin’s activities during 1922, including his studio exhibition in Bucharest in early 1923 and documentary evidence, above all his passport, the dating of Rubin’s arrival in Palestine must be changed now to April 1923.3 Rubin then settled in Tel Aviv4 and towards the end of that year was preparing works for his first solo exhibition.5 The exhibition of ‘oil paintings and drawings from life in eretz yisrael’, to cite the title, was held at the Citadel (Tower of David) in Jerusalem from 9 March to 1 April 1924 and moved later to Tel Aviv. The exhibition was, as Rubin put it, ‘a great moral success’ as well as a ‘respectable material success’.6 There were positive reviews in the press and the exhibition attracted a large number of visitors.7 Moreover, it established Rubin’s position among the cultural elite of the yishuv8 And a major work in the exhibition, the triptych First Fruits (Pl. D) was considered for purchase for the National Library in Jerusalem.9 There were also some suggestions that Rubin would paint murals for the Hebrew University.10
