Yiddel Mit'n Fiddle, Berl Mit'n Bass..., from Yiddish Motifs

Yiddel Mit'n Fiddle, Berl Mit'n Bass..., from Yiddish Motifs — Todros Geller. 1926.

Medium: Woodcut in black ink on Japanese wood veneer paper, laid down on ivory laid paper with letterpress in black ink. Dimensions: Image: 25.3 × 20.5 cm (10 × 8 1/8 in.); Wood veneer paper: 28.8 × 22.5 cm (11 3/8 × 8 7/8 in.); Sheet: 43 × 32.5 cm (16 15/16 × 12 13/16 in.).

Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

Geller’s Yiddish Motifs portfolio depicts scenes of Jewish identity and daily life in a series of seven woodcuts printed on Japanese wood veneer paper, an unusual paper choice, given that it was typically used for decorative purposes. Maxwell Street was a predominantly Jewish neighborhood on the city’s Near West Side, known for its large outdoor bazaar, sadly dismantled in the 1990s by development. These prints show a crowded marketplace, a vendor at work, a student in deep concentration, and a pair of street musicians. The Yiddish Motifs portfolio was a great success, with the entire edition selling out in just three weeks.

Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.