Yechiel (Eli) Shainblum

Who was Yechiel (Eli) Shainblum?

Yechiel (Eli) Shainblum was a Montreal painter, sculptor and teacher. Though he was a respected and prolific artist who produced literally hundreds of pieces beginning in the 1920s and on through the early 1980s, Shainblum was much better known in Montreal as an elementary school teacher. His family reports that Shainblum derived great joy from teaching, and he put much more emphasis on pedagogy and his students than he did on promoting his artistic career.

Shainblum taught art, Yiddish and Hebrew to five generations of Jewish children in several different Jewish day schools in Montreal, including the United Talmud Torahs of Montreal and the Jewish People's Schools and Peretz Schools. He was often recognized on the street by former students, many of whom had grown up to become prominent figures in business, the arts, medicine and science.

It is likely that Shainblum would be better known nationally and internationally if his work had been more widely seen during his lifetime. He had few major exhibitions, and he mostly distributed his paintings and sculptures among family and friends rather than selling them to museums and art galleries. He did combine his two major interests by illustrating several children's books over the years, many—though not all—in Yiddish and Hebrew. He died in 1987.