The World that Was
1906-1932
David Labkovski Early Childhood in Vilna 1.mp4David Labkovski Project Executive Director and the artist's great-niece, Leora Raikin, describes Labkovski's early life and his work depicting Vilna.
Vilna
Labkovski depicts the vibrancy of Vilna before the Holocaust. Even though anti-Semitism restricted Jewish life in many ways, Vilna was still a cultural and religious cradle for Eastern European Jewry.
Labkovski does not glorify his subjects, but rather portrays everyday activities. In the communal scenes, we see the hustle and bustle of daily life including catching up with neighbors, selling wares, and observing religious practices.
Vilna 2.m4aPress play for an audio version of the text.
Labkovski was born in 1906, in a small shtetl (market town) in White Russia, current day Belarus. His family moved to Vilna in 1908. When David Labkovski was born, Vilna was part of the Russian Empire, a small city in the Pale of Settlement. (In 1791, Catherine the Great designated the area of land known as the Pale of Settlement to be a place where Jews were allowed to live. It was on the far western edge of Russia.)
Portraiture: The People of Vilna
Katie panel of 3.mp4The Spektor Family Home
David Labkovski's wife Rivka Spektor was also from Vilna. Her family home is often the subject of Labkovski's work.