Richard Rosebery
/
Rabbi Jacqueline Ninio Project
I’ve just completed this major portrait/landscape of Rabbi Jacqueline Ninio OAM – a work that addresses the modern and peaceful nature of Judaism in Australia against a backdrop of rising antisemitism fuelled by the propaganda of the Hamas-Israeli war of 2023/5.
Jacqueline Ninio has been a rabbi at the Emmanuel Synagogue for over 25 years – recently celebrating her 25th Jubilee – serving a large thriving liberal Jewish community within Sydney’s Eastern suburbs. She is loved by all for her warm and generous spirit. In 2024 Jacqueline also received the Order of Australia for services to her community. A woman in a traditionally male profession she highlights the progressive and loving face of Australian Jewry.
The work is 100 x 200 cm. canvas painted in oils. I first undertook several detailed charcoal concept drawings for this work as well as an oil study of the Rabbi that was started in a life model sitting and then completed in studio. The study was literally producing a map of her face so so to easily understand the face's structure and lines. Several fun life photography sessions of Rabbi Ninio outdoors at Little Clovelly Bay Sydney followed, where body movement and light were examined.
The work has been slowly produced over 8 months, with my end objective being its entry into a major Australian portrait prize in 2025.
Stay tuned!
Detail of Toward The Light, 2024, oil on canvas, 100 x 200 cm.
Selected concept: Shabbat Shalom, charcoal and chalk on paper, 25 x 50 cm.
Rejected concept: Exultation, charcoal on paper, 25 x 50 cm.
Rabbi Jacqueline Ninio Study, 2024, oil on Belgium linen, 36 x 46 cm.
Toward The Light, 2024, oil on canvas, 100 x 200 cm.