We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Art Gallery of NSW stands.

Joseph Wolinski Portrait of my father

oil

The subject of this portrait by Joseph Wolinski is his father, the Reverend Abraham David Wolinski (1847-1935), a rabbi with a long association with the Great Synagogue, Sydney.

Born in Suvalk, Poland, Rabbi Wolinski was appointed as 'Chasan’ (minister) of the Great Synagogue of Leeds in England, before arriving in Australia in 1881. He took up the position of Chasan at the East Melbourne Synagogue in September 1881 and by August 1883 was, as Second Reader, assisting the Reverend Alexander Barnard Davis, the Chief Rabbi of the Great Synagogue of Sydney.

It is one of two portraits of rabbis entered by Joseph Wolinski in the inaugural Archibald Prize, and one of three portraits by Wolinski of his father included in the Archibald (the others in 1926 and 1931).

The current whereabouts of this work is unknown.