A 4ft 11in x 2ft 10in (59 x 87cm) oil on canvas, The Rescue of Moses is inspired by a passage in the book of Exodus and depicts Pharaoh’s daughter and a maid cradling the baby Moses.
Goldstein won a scholarship to the Slade in 1913 and became part of the avant-garde Anglo-Jewish group the ‘Whitechapel Boys’ alongside David Bomberg, childhood friend Isaac Rosenberg and Mark Gertler, with whom he shared a studio during the First World War.
Into obscurity
But following the death of his father, the artist was forced to leave the Slade to support his family. His contribution to British Modernism vanished into obscurity.
He became an art teacher at the Toynbee Art Club, a hub of the East End Jewish community, and continued to contribute to the Whitechapel Gallery’s annual East End Exhibition until 1960.
The artist’s son, Raymond Francis, has confirmed the authenticity of this work and it will be included in the upcoming reprint of Morris Goldstein: The Lost Whitechapel Boy (2020).
