Raquel Rabinovich

Raquel Rabinovich passed away on January 5, 2025 in her home in Rhinebeck, New York, after having been recently diagnosed with cancer. She was surrounded by her family and loved ones.
Raquel was born on March 30, 1929, to a family of Russian-Romanian Jews, who immigrated to Buenos Aires, Argentina as part of the Baron Hirsch agricultural settlements. They had fled pogroms in Europe toward the end of the 19th century. She was the youngest of three siblings, Leonor Esther Rabinovich and Benjamin Rabinovich. Her parents were Julia Dinitz and Enrique Rabinovich. The family moved to Cordoba, where Raquel initiated her interest in the arts. She briefly attended medical school at the University of Cordoba.
Raquel rapidly evolved as an artist, applying her unique experiences as the daughter of Jewish immigrants against the backdrop of World War II and the peak of antisemitism. She briefly lived among distant cousins who had escaped Europe during the Holocaust and passed through her family home. At the same time, she felt for the first time the need to explore a life away from these war related disruptions in her childhood home. Raquel found refuge in newfound spaces such as churches in her hometown of Cordoba, having been drawn to their silence and "sanctuary" which would later mark her art, including a series of paintings entitled "The Dark is Light Enough."
Inspired by Argentine artists including Hector Basaldua, Vicente Forte and Ernesto Farina, Raquel studied art with Farina in Cordoba. The renowned Argentina writer Jorge Luis Borges collaborated with her to translate her works' titles. In 1956, she married Argentine Jose Luis Reissig and had three children, Celia Karen Reissig, Pedro Reissig, and Nora Vivian Reissig. In the initial years of their marriage, Raquel and Jose Luis spent several years in Europe, where she studied art history at the Sorbonne in Paris. The family left Argentina in 1966 amid a military coup and moved to the United States in 1967. She became a US citizen in 1973.
She has been at the forefront of conceptual American art, culture and philosophy. Rabinovich's work has been featured in national and international exhibitions, including at the Americas Society; the Bronx Museum of the Arts; Fundación Alón para las Artes; the Jewish Museum; P.S. 1; and El Museo del Barrio. Recent solo exhibitions include Raquel Rabinovich: The Reading Room (2018) at Vassar College and Avatars at the Hutchinson Modern (2024). Her work is held in private and public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Pérez Art Museum Miami; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Rabinovich has also been the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, including the 2011-2012 Lee Krasner Award for Lifetime Achievement from The Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Raquel was the center of family life, bringing various family members together for celebrations and get togethers at her home in Rhinebeck, New York. Her grandchildren would come from far and wide to be with their dear abuela, always remembering to bring her favorite flowers, especially oriental lilies. She knew each of their favorite dishes and would spend many hours in the kitchen creating them, never leaving out what she considered the most important ingredient: love.
Raquel is pre-deceased by her husband Jose Luis Reissig. She is survived by her children Celia, Pedro, and Nora; her grandchildren Cristina, Pablo, Cecilia, Manuel, Gabriela, Maya, Ruben, Lucia and Celeste; and by her great grandchildren Zenaida, Mariluz, Omer, Lucas, Jazmine and Camilo.
The family has requested that remembrances be made in the form of contributions to Hudson Valley Hospice https://www.hvhospice.org/donate-now/#Donate
If you prefer to mail a donation, please send it to: Hudson Valley Hospice Foundation, 80 Washington Street, Suite 204, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601.