Jewish artist of interwar Lithuania, graduate of the Vilnius Art School, painter and graphic artist.
Graduated from the Vilnius Art School, worked as an art teacher at the Kaunas Jewish Real Gymnasium. One of his pupils was the famous Jewish painter Arbit Blatas (1908-1999).
In the first half of the 1920s, only three solo exhibitions were organised in Kaunas, and they were attended by only Jewish artists. In the later years, several exhibitions were held in Kaunas every year. Mesenblium presented his paintings at exhibitions in 1923 and 1924, but unfortunately his works did not attract the attention of the public. Only the art critic Vytautas Bičiūnas mentioned that the content of the artist's work was worthy of attention, but he criticised the technique of execution. In 1924, the artist held his second (and last) exhibition in Kaunas before his departure to Paris. This, too, was criticised, including by Paulus Galaunė, who did not understand the direction of the works presented, which were executed in various techniques, and called the artist a "senseless innovator".
J. Mesenblium was the first Jewish artist to become active in independent Lithuania. Together with renowned Lithuanian masters of painting, who had already distinguished themselves before World War I, he took part in annual art exhibitions from 1921 to 1923.The exhibition of the latter years was given special attention not only by the press, cultural figures and foreign guests, but also by the Cabinet of Ministers and President Aleksandras Stulginskis.
From 1924 until his death in 1933, the artist exhibited his work exclusively abroad. Already seriously ill, he returned to Kaunas in 1932, where he died in the summer of the following year, never having received any recognition. After his death, however, the artist became very popular in Lithuania: his work was shown at Lithuanian art exhibitions in Riga and Tallinn, and two commemorative events were held with a presentation of his work from 1918-1932 at the Jewish Real Gymnasium and the Independent Salon. The presentation of the artist's biography and the exposition of his works at the latter attracted many visitors and positive press reviews. The exhibition included about 160 works: 120 paintings (mainly portraits and still lifes) and 40 drawings of Jewish cemetery decorations. Most of Mesenblium's paintings and linocuts have been preserved abroad.
