Reuven Rubin (born Reuven Zelicovici; November 13, 1893 - October 13, 1974) was a Romanian-born Israeli painter.
Rubin was born in Galati to a Romanian Jewish family, and left for Ottoman-ruled Palestine to start his art studies at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem in 1912. Finding himself at odds with the artistic views of the Academy's teachers, he left for Paris, France, in 1913 to pursue his studies at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. At the outbreak of World War I, he was obliged to leave the French capital and returned to his native Romania.
He whiled the war years there, and in 1921 traveled to the United States with his friend and fellow artist, Arthur Kolnik, whose studio he had shared in Cernauti. In New York City, the two met artist Alfred Stieglitz, who was instrumental in organizing their first American show at the Anderson Gallery. Following the exhibition, in 1922, they both returned to Europe and shortly afterwards, in 1923, Rubin embarked on a boat which would take him to Palestine, where he had made the decision to settle.
By 1922, Rubin returned to Palestine, attempting to create a new, original, Eretz-Yisraeili style. Recurring themes in his work were the Palestinian/Israeli landscape, its folklore and population (Jews — including Yemenite and Hasidic Jews — and Arabs alike), as well as enthusiastic depictions of the sun-bathed local landscape, Jerusalem and the Galilee in particular. Rubin was heavily influenced by the work of Henri Rousseau and sought to fuse Rousseau's style with Eastern nuances, as well as with the neo-Byzantine art to which he had been exposed in his native Romania. In accordance with his integrative style, he signed his works with his first name in Hebrew and his surname in Roman letters.
In 1924, he became the first artist to have a solo exhibition at the Tower of David, in Jerusalem (later exhibited in Tel Aviv at Gymnasia Herzlia). In that same year he also became the chairman of the Association of Painters and Sculptors of Palestine. During the 1920s and onwards Rubin also designed theatrical scenery for Habima Theater and other Tel Aviv theaters, such as the Ohel.
In 1948, he was appointed as the first Israeli Minister Plenipotentiary to his native Romania. He served in this position until 1950. In 1964, he received the Dizengoff Prize, and, in 1973, the Israel Prize for fine arts. His biography, published in 1969, is titled My Life - My Art. He died in Tel Aviv in October 1974, after having bequeathed his home on 14 Bialik Street and a core collection of his paintings to the city. The Rubin Museum opened in 1983.
