A remarkable early Palestinian-period Rubin, Ramparts of Jerusalem, an oil from 1924, leads Sotheby’s annual New York sale of Israeli art on December 18. Highly stylized in what was to become Rubin’s signature style for the next five years, it may well top a hoped-for $300,000.

The only figure in this studio painting is a tiny one of an Arab woman leading a laden donkey up to one of the city’s gates, via a walled path lined on one side with cypresses. For the next few years, Arab fishermen and Arab fruit vendors, mostly from Jaffa, were to be among the newly arrived painter’s favorite subjects. In lot 98 of this sale, a later and rather pretty Rubin oil of a window with a vase of flowers, circa 1963/4, also has a tiny depiction of an Arab couple with a donkey in the background. This oil also has an estimate of $200,000-$300,000

Posted: 12|14|07 at 3:41 pm. Filed under: US News.