Sur les Champs Juifs de l’Ukraine [“On the Jewish Fields of the Ukraine”]

Ryback had once described the “national element” of the Jewish artist as preferring deep, dark tones: “Whenever color is bright, the Jewish artist turns it down.” Following his tour of the Jewish Kolkhozes surounding Kherson, Ryback found the means to reverse his theories: “Habitué, dès mon enfance, à voir autour de moi des visages soucieux, maigris et blafards de Juifs provinciaux, j’ai été heureux d’admirer ces paysans brûlés du vent des steppes, joyeux et fiers; de nouvelles couleurs se sont ajoutées dans mon art.” [“Habituated since childhood to seeing around me the worried, wan faces of provincial Jews, I was happy to admire these peasants burnt by the wind of the steppes, joyous and proud; new colors were added to my art.”] (See Introduction, p.11)