Menachem Shemi (1897-1951), Still Life, 1932.
Oil on canvas. Signed and dated.
Menachem Shemi, born in Bobruisk, Belarus, an outstanding artist of the Yishuv era and a founding father of early local modernism. Studied in the Odessa Art Academy and in 1913 immigrated to Palestine to study in Bezalel. Although he was yet unfamiliar with European modernism, he rebelled against the conservative approach Bezalel was known for. In World War I he was conscripted into the Ottoman army, deserted and even made it to the Jewish Legion. In 1928 he was finally able to visit Paris, where the art he studied influenced his work greatly. In 1937 he travelled to Paris again, this time to hold a solo exhibition. Shemi won the Dizengoff prize for painting twice, in 1938 and again in 1942. In 1942 he volunteered to the British army, serving with the 745 Artisan Works Coy., R.E. which was stationed in North Africa, then in Italy. Upon his return to Palestine, Shemi published a sketch album under the title "A Soldier Returns to Palestine" (Hebrew), and an exhibition of his war-time works was held in the Tel Aviv Museum. In 1947 he moved to Safed; shortly before his death, he exhibited in the 1950 Venice Biennale.
"... his whole rather short life was dedicated to facing, bravely and steadily, the challenge of creating a personal artistic style. He strived to achieve the highest European standards while expressing the essence of the Levant at its best, encompassing its views, atmosphere and colors, refining it in his inner furnace – the Artist's soul…". (HaAretz, Menachem Shemi – A Man and an Artist, exhibition statement. Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2009. Curator: Dalia Belkin)
62.5X47 cm. Good condition. Restored.

Arieh Allweil (1901-1967), Women at the Market.
Oil on paper. Signed.
39.5X75.5 cm. Good condition. Tears and small holes to margins. Narrow rectangular cut to top left corner (not affecting painting).
Arieh Allweil (1901-1967), born in Boibrik (Bíbrka, Galicia), established a group of "HaShomer Hatza'ir" in his hometown and in 1920 immigrated to Palestine as a pioneer. He was one of the founders of Upper Bitaniyah, the first settlement attempt of "HaShomer HaTzair" in Palestine. In 1921, following the Bitaniyah Affair, he quit the group and returned to Europe to study art at the Vienna Art Academy. During his studies there he joined the Kunstschau group of avant-garde artists, whose members also included Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, made his first works of art, including the series of prints "Turah Aforah" inspired by his time at Upper Bitaniyah, and displayed his works in the group's exhibitions. In 1926, he returned to Palestine, where he worked as a painter and teacher, and was one of the founders of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, The Israel Painters and Sculptors Association, and the "HaMidrasha" art school in Tel Aviv. He also self-published his books, in the "Hillel" publishing house he had founded. In his artistic work – his paintings of the views of Palestine and his activity as a central figure in Israeli artistic circles – Arieh Allweil continued his life's work as a pioneer.
Arieh Allweil worked en plein air. During his first years in Palestine, he struggled to adjust to the local light. However, with time he developed his own unique style of landscape painting, working mostly in the soft morning light. In his autobiographical writings, he reminiscenced: "For two years I destroyed everything I painted. The Eretz-Israeli landscape denied itself to a painter from the Vienna woods [...] The blazing sun tore my pictures with dullness. It is not easy to 'conquer' this landscape […] The Eretz Israeli landscape pushed all traces of Cubism, and of Fauvism too, out of my paintings" (Arieh Allweil: Letters, Figures, Landscapes, by Galia Bar Or. Mishkan Museum of Art, Ein Harod, 2015. p. 90).
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.

"The Ten Plagues", two sketches for an illustration accompanying the Passover Haggadah, made by Arieh Allweil (1901-1967). [Israel, ca. early 1950s].
1. Sheet of paper depicting a soldier throwing a grenade against the backdrop of a battlefield, surrounded by ten preliminary sketches of miniatures representing the Ten Plagues.
Mixed media on paper. Signed.
50X62 cm. Good condition. Abrasions. Small closed and open tears. Pinholes.
2. Hollow rectangular paper sheet (complementing the abovementioned illustration), depicting ten miniatures of the Ten Plagues. Each miniature incorporates the first letter of the plague. This is the final version of the sketches described in paragraph 1.?Mixed media on paper.
50X64 cm. Good condition. Pinholes to margins. Stains and traces of tape. Printing instructions in pen on the margins.
The illustration was printed in a Passover Haggadah accompanied by an introduction and commentaries by Max Brod and Y.M. Lask and seventeen illustrations by Allweil. Tel Aviv: "Sinai", [1954].
Arieh Allweil (1901-1967), born in Boibrik (Bíbrka, Galicia), established a group of "HaShomer Hatza'ir" in his hometown and in 1920 immigrated to Palestine as a pioneer. He was one of the founders of Upper Bitaniyah, the first settlement attempt of "HaShomer HaTzair" in Palestine. In 1921, following the Bitaniyah Affair, he quit the group and returned to Europe to study art at the Vienna Art Academy. During his studies there he joined the Kunstschau group of avant-garde artists, whose members also included Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, made his first works of art, including the series of prints "Turah Aforah" inspired by his time at Upper Bitaniyah, and displayed his works in the group's exhibitions. In 1926, he returned to Palestine, where he worked as a painter and teacher, and was one of the founders of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, The Israel Painters and Sculptors Association, and the "HaMidrasha" art school in Tel Aviv. He also self-published his books, in the "Hillel" publishing house he had founded. In his artistic work – his paintings of the views of Palestine and his activity as a central figure in Israeli artistic circles – Arieh Allweil continued his life's work as a pioneer.
Arieh Allweil worked en plein air. During his first years in Palestine, he struggled to adjust to the local light. However, with time he developed his own unique style of landscape painting, working mostly in the soft morning light. In his autobiographical writings, he reminiscenced: "For two years I destroyed everything I painted. The Eretz-Israeli landscape denied itself to a painter from the Vienna woods [...] The blazing sun tore my pictures with dullness. It is not easy to 'conquer' this landscape […] The Eretz Israeli landscape pushed all traces of Cubism, and of Fauvism too, out of my paintings" (Arieh Allweil: Letters, Figures, Landscapes, by Galia Bar Or. Mishkan Museum of Art, Ein Harod, 2015. p. 90).
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.

Twelve portraits of Gabriel Talphir, art critic and editor of the journal "Gazith". 1960s-1970s.
Twelve portraits in various media (pencils, ink, pastel and more, on paper), by artists Joshua Neustein (b. 1940); David Messer (1912-1999); David Azuz (b. 1942), Abba Fenichel (1906-1986); Shaoul Smira (b. 1939); Yitzhak Amitai (1907-1984); Chaim Rosenthal (1938-2011); David Gerstein (b. 1944); Aliza Nahor (1915-1987); and Sarah Voscoboinic (?) (1901-1968).
Gabriel Talphir (1901-1990), an art critic, poet, editor and translator, was born in Stanislaw, Galicia, and immigrated to Palestine in 1925. He was the founder of the journal "Gazith" which featured articles about art history, theater and architecture, critique, short monographs of artists (mainly Israeli and Jewish artists) and black and white reproductions of works of art. For many years, "Gazith" was the only journal in Israel dedicated mostly to plastic arts. Being a central figure in the Israeli art scene, Talphir was the subject of many portraits by various artists.
Most of the portraits are signed and dated.
Size and condition vary. Good overall condition. Stains and blemishes.