Litvinovsky used to paint at night while listening to music, so it is not surprising that the theme of music appears in many of his works. “The Violinist” series that he painted in gouache and oil in the 1950s shows various versions of a violinist and a violin through pure colourfulness that is full of contrast.
Litvinovsky found inspiration for these works in several sources of reference. These include his travels through Europe and his constant study of reproductions in art books: from the Cubist paintings of musicians by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, through the playful abstraction of Joan Miró, to the works of Henri Matisse in general and the colourfulness of the paper cut-outs in the series “Jazz” in particular. As noted by the art historian Dr Gideon Ofrat, in contrast to the guitars and mandolins prevalent in the works of the French and Spanish artists, Litvinovsky chose to place at the centre of his series the violin, the musical instrument perhaps most associated with Jewish identity and culture. In this way, he also echoes Marc Chagall's paintings of violins, the klezmer bands of Emmanuel Mané-Katz and works by other Jewish artists from the School of Paris, which Litvinovsky became close to in the 1930s.
