The Katz Ehrenthal Collection is a collection of more than 900 objects depicting Jews and antisemitic and anti-Jewish propaganda from the medieval to the modern era, in Europe, Russia, and the United States. The collection was amassed by Peter Ehrenthal, a Romanian Holocaust survivor, to document the pervasive history of anti-Jewish hatred in Western art, politics and popular culture. It includes crude folk art as well as pieces created by Europe's finest craftsmen, prints and periodical illustrations, posters, paintings, decorative art, and toys and everyday household items decorated with depictions of stereotypical Jewish figures.
Oil painting on cardboard, depicting three tightly grouped men from the waist up and in conversation. The diminutive man on the left is in right profile facing the man in left profile on the right, and they point at each other with extended index fingers. Their faces frame that of the center man, who has a large nose and eyes that look to the right. They wear tricorn hats and collarless jackets with large white buttons; the man on the left is in black, the others in light brown. The man on the left has a walking stick, and a long, sloped nose. The man on the right has blonde hair, a large, hooked nose. He is also wearing a black vest, and carrying a sack over his shoulder. They all smile at each other with hooded eyes, and have trimmed beards and sideburns. In the background is a pale blue sky filled with white clouds above sparse green foliage. The back has a small, white sticker overlaid on a larger white rectangular sticker in the top left corner. Both stickers have black text and the larger sticker has an additional barcode in the center. Two lines of large handwritten text are in the center of the painting. The corners of the painting are worn and there is edge damage along the bottom. back, top, left, printed, black ink : 7275 / 178 back, top, left, printed, black, ink : SOTHEBY’S / Three Men in Discussion / PIECES /00001 / DEPT / 8890 / *M215828 0141 000 001* back, center, handwritten, pencil : RUB # 1099 / SEE DESCR. LOND. J.M.CAT#702
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overall: Height: 16.000 inches (40.64 cm) | Width: 13.875 inches (35.243 cm) | Depth: 0.125 inches (0.318 cm)
Oil painting of three Jewish hareskin dealers. The image depicts the men with stereotypically hooked noses, hooded eyes, beards, and pointed teeth. The scene, possibly based on a Dutch folktale about three Jewish hareskin dealers who swindle a miserly farmer, can be traced back to the lithographic printing firm of Johan Martin Billroth, which opened in 1829 in Groningen, Netherlands. This image was popular in northern Europe in the early 19th century and was reproduced in various mediums. The painting is one of more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic artifacts and visual materials.
The merchants in Hazevellen Drie joodse kooplieden Three Jewish merchants Three Men In Discussion Painting of three Jewish hareskin dealers talking face to face
The painting was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.