Morris Goldstein was born Morris Kugal into a poor Jewish family in Pinczow, Poland on 15 January 1892; to escape anti-Semitic pogroms, the family immigrated to London's East End in 1898. In 1912 Goldstein enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art, where he mixed with members of the so called ‘Whitechapel Boys’, a group of young, Jewish, mainly immigrant artists and writers who contributed significantly to British Modernism. Following his father's death in 1913, Morris abandoned his artistic career and although he continued to paint and exhibit for much of the rest of his life, his reputation was overshadowed by his more famous Whitechapel fellows; a monograph by his son was published in 2020.
Painter Morris Goldstein was born Morris Kugal into a poor Jewish family in Pinczow, Russian Empire (now Poland) on 15 January 1892. Escaping anti-Semitic pogroms, the family immigrated to London's East End ghetto in 1898. Adopting the name Goldstein, they settled in Redman’s Row, Stepney, where the poet-painter Isaac Rosenberg and his family were neighbours. Goldstein studied with Rosenberg at the Arts and Crafts School in Stepney Green, but due to his family’s precarious financial situation he was forced to take up an apprenticeship in marquetry. However, he and Rosenberg attended evening art classes in Bolt Court Art School, Fleet Street, close to their workplace, where Goldstein found himself studying alongside Paul Nash among others, and was awarded the gold medal for best work.
With the financial assistance of charitable organisation, the Jewish Education Aid Society (JEAS), in 1912 Goldstein enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art. He walked daily with Rosenberg from Mile End to Gower Street to save money and they often studied and sketched at the Whitechapel Library. During this time Goldstein befriended fellow Jewish émigré artists Mark Gertler, David Bomberg and Jacob Kramer, often meeting at the Café Royal in Regent Street where they encountered members of the Bloomsbury Group, as well as socialites such as Nancy Cunard and Lady Diana Manners. With other Jewish, mainly immigrant artists (among them Alfred Wolmark, Clare Winsten, Bernard Meninsky and Jacob Epstein) and writers/poets (such as Joseph Leftwich and John Rodker), this cohort, which made an important contribution to British Modernism, became known as ‘The Whitechapel Boys’, given their association with the East End neighbourhood. Like Goldstein, a number benefited from the support of the JEAS during their academic studies, although scholarship money was only loaned and beneficiaries had to repay the amount from subsequent earnings. In 1914 Goldstein participated in the ground-breaking exhibition Twentieth Century Art: A Review of Modern Movements. Held at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, it aimed to show ‘the progress of art since the absorption of […] impressionist teaching’ and was divided into four categories: landscapes, ‘decorative design’, works influenced by Cézanne, and works said to have ‘abandoned representation entirely’ (Dickson and McDougall 2004, p. 29). There was also a separate 'Jewish Section', comprising 54 works by 15 contributors. Curated by Bomberg and Epstein, it was the first real attempt to organise a collection of works by Jewish artists, and was described as 'very representative of the younger school of Jewish artists in this country' (Jewish Chronicle, 8 May 1914, p. 13). Goldstein showed five works, one entitled Rabbi. He also exhibited with the New English Art Club (NEAC) between 1913 and 1915, and his works were reproduced in the art periodical Colour. Goldstein was part of the Jewish Association of Arts and Sciences (JAAAS), a Jewish cultural organisation founded in 1915 by Wolmark and Adrian Wolfe, appearing in Wolfe's caricature The Arts Committee Meeting (1917, Ben Uri Collection), featuring, among other members, Wolfe, Wolmark and Meyer Klang.
After the sudden death of his father in 1913, Goldstein was gradually forced to abandon his artistic career in order to support his family. At the outbreak of the First World War he hoped to enlist, but was rejected as he had not yet been granted British citizenship. During the war, Goldstein became Art Master at the Toynbee Art Club at the local Toynbee Hall, an East End charitable institution, its annual report from 1914–15 noting: 'classes were well attended, the members being greatly assisted by the guidance and criticism of Mr Morris Goldstein, the art master' (Spitalfields Life blog). When the JEAS wrote to Goldstein in 1917 asking for repayment of their loan, he responded bitterly: ‘I am alive and that is a great deal in these days. To be alive is a great benediction – to live through these turbulent times until peace reigns once more upon earth would be the greatest joy of all.’ (Spitalfields Life blog).
During the Second World War Goldstein and his family were affected by a family tragedy: in 1942 he discovered that his first marriage was bigamous (his wife, Sivia was still legally married to her first husband). After an annulment, he married Bella in 1943, who gave birth to son Raymond in 1947. Although Goldstein earned a living as a marquetry cutter and as a salesman for a ladies fashion house, he continued to paint, chronicling East End daily life through his lively portraits of local notables, and exhibited regularly at the Whitechapel Gallery’s annual East End Academy from 1953 until 1960. In 1962 he was commissioned to paint Simon Cohen, mayor of Stoke Newington. He also attended part time classes at Sir John Cass School of Art and Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts Exhibition in 1965, with Cass Art Group at London's Guildhall in 1968, and in the London Arts Association's Greater London Exhibition in 1970. Nevertheless, Goldstein's reputation gradually fell into obscurity, overshadowed by his more famous Whitechapel peers. Morris Goldstein died in London, England on 27 August 1970. Goldstein's son, Raymond Francis, published a monograph, Morris Goldstein - The Lost Whitechapel Boy in 2020 and in 2023 he was invited by the Spitalfields Society and the Artworkers Guild to talk about his father's early creative life in the East End. In 2021 the Nonesuch Gallery, London discovered a 'lost' painting by Goldstein,The Rescue of Moses. Morris Goldstein's work is not currently held in any UK public collections.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Morris Goldstein]
Publications related to [Morris Goldstein] in the Ben Uri Library