Auction 80 - Part I - Jewish and Israeli History, Art and Culture
Watercolor, pen, charcoal, India ink and felt pen on paper.
Most of the drawings are individual or group portraits. Other drawings depict animals, views and workers at work. Two of the drawings are signed "Ruth Schloss" (Hebrew).
Ruth Schloss (1922-2013) was born in Nuremberg and immigrated to Palestine with her family in 1935. At sixteen she began her studies at Bezalel, then joined the group of founders of Kibbutz Lehavot HaBashan. Schloss devoted her talents to the art and printing enterprises of the kibbutz movement, working as an illustrator for the "Mishmar Liladim" newspaper, and as a book cover designer for "Sifriyat Poalim". From ca. 1950 to 1952 she studied art at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, and after returning to Israel she left her kibbutz, due to the rift in the Kibbutz Movement. Schloss was a member of the Communist Party and her paintings, in the style of Social Realism, often conveyed a socialist message of exposing societal power relations and class distinctions. She painted the weaker members of society – downtrodden women, hungry children, workers and residents of transit camps. Later, she turned to the lives of women, to the helplessness of birth and the decline of old age – all of which she painted with the sensitivity of a woman seeing human-beings rooted in their surroundings, as the poet Nathan Zach wrote of her – "her motto remained the same over the years. Life itself. Without any embellishment".
Approx. 20.5X14.5 to 25X35 cm. Good overall condition. Stains. Few tears and small open tears along the edges of some leaves. Pieces of paper for reinforcement on verso of one work, at the corners.
Literature:
1. Broader Horizons, 120 Years of Israeli Art, from the Ofrat Collection to the Levin Collection. Selected Works, Part II, by Gideon Ofrat. Jerusalem: Vienna-Jerusalem Foundation for Israeli Art, 2013. Hebrew.
2. Ruth Schloss, Retrospective. Curator: Tali Tamir. Mishkan Museum of Art, Ein Harod website. Hebrew.
Oil on Masonite. Signed, inscribed to "Ami, with greetings from Hinda, Audrey and Yosl" and dated 1972.
Approx. 54.5X37 cm. Good condition. Framed.
Provenance: The estate of Shmulik Segal.
Yosl Bergner (1920-2017) was born in Vienna. His parents, singer Fanya Bergner and poet Melech Ravitch, were active in various cultural and intellectual circles, nurturing his creativity from a young age. In his youth he studied painting with artist Hirsch Altman in Warsaw, and at the age of seventeen immigrated with his sister to Australia, where he studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School in Melbourne. During World War II, he served in the Australian Army. After the war, he married artist and writer Audrey Bergner, and in 1950 the two immigrated to Israel. Bergner first settled in Safed, later moving to Tel-Aviv, where he lived and worked until his death at the age of 97.
Bergner was a prolific artist, working in various fields – painting, book illustration and scenic and costume design. His multifaceted work, at times somber and at times bright, is inspired by surrealism and symbolism. Art critic Dr. Gideon Ofrat, in a tribute to Bergner published in the Erev Rav journal (January 2017), writes: "Ever since the paintings he made in the 1940s after the stories of Y.L. Peretz, Bergner never ceased telling us stories with his paintings. The stories of the Jewish sage, whose one eye is laughing while the other is weeping. Bergner never stopped telling the stories of the exiles, the expelled, the refugees, the seekers of the shore of Redemption […] Bergner repeatedly declared in his paintings: for the exiled wanderers – these furniture, kitchen utensils, lanterns, etc. – there is no safe haven; any safe haven is nothing but an existential illusion. And thus, in an endless desert […] and under the bleak sky, Bergner sentences humankinds – Jews and non-Jews alike – to what Y.H. Brenner calls 'exile everywhere' and 'an existence of thorns'" (Hebrew).
Michail Grobman (born 1939), там, на северном море [There, at the North Sea], 1976. Autolithograph.
Two copies. Signed in pencil and numbered, from 356.
35X24.5 cm. Good condition. Some stains on the margins.
Michail Grobman (b. 1939), Russian-Israeli painter and poet, native of Moscow. Among the founders of the Second Russian Avant-Garde – a title he himself coined – in the Soviet Union in the 1960s. Immigrated to Israel in 1971. Established the Leviathan Group in 1975 in collaboration with Avraham Ofek and Samuel Ackerman. The style of the group represented a blend of contemporary art, Jewish themes, symbolism, and metaphysics. In the manifesto entitled "The Leviathan Declaration, " publicized in 1976, Grobman set forth the group's goals: "Our joint appearance is an incipient attempt to create an inclusive national style that befits the spirit of the building of the New Israel […], our political basis [is] Zionism. Our spiritual basis – Jewish mysticism. Three foundations define our artistic stance: 1. Primitivism 2. Symbol 3. Letter."
In an interview with the children's weekly magazine "Davar Liyeladim" in 1981, Grobman had this to say about his work: “Nothing I do pertains to the realm of psychology, nor to any emotional aspect of life. Nor am I endeavoring to imitate Nature […] One must never attempt to transfer any of these beautiful living things around us onto a piece of paper and turn them into something of a forgery of life. The purpose of the painting is entirely different […] Painting and art must serve to build the conditions for an altogether new world! Just as God, once upon a time, created the world as a work of art which is presently alive with us living in it, so must the artist seek the opportunity to create a totally new condition, which, in the case of a picture, is something we absorb through the eye."
Стихи [Poems], Self-made and self-published booklet ("for collectors") by Michail Grobman (b. 1939). Tel-Aviv, 2013. Russian.
Collection of poems by Michail Grobman, most of them from the 1970s. The booklet was made by Grobman himself. The paper cover was taken from the catalog of the "Leviathan" exhibition at Beit Uri and Rami Nehoshtan.
On the insides of the cover and on the title page, pen illustrations by Grobman. Some of the leaves are hand-signed by him.
26 pp. 22 cm (cover is larger – 25 cm). Good condition. Stains and minor blemishes.
Michail Grobman (b. 1939), Russian-Israeli painter and poet, native of Moscow. Among the founders of the Second Russian Avant-Garde – a title he himself coined – in the Soviet Union in the 1960s. Immigrated to Israel in 1971. Established the Leviathan Group in 1975 in collaboration with Avraham Ofek and Samuel Ackerman. The style of the group represented a blend of contemporary art, Jewish themes, symbolism, and metaphysics. In the manifesto entitled "The Leviathan Declaration, " publicized in 1976, Grobman set forth the group's goals: "Our joint appearance is an incipient attempt to create an inclusive national style that befits the spirit of the building of the New Israel […], our political basis [is] Zionism. Our spiritual basis – Jewish mysticism. Three foundations define our artistic stance: 1. Primitivism 2. Symbol 3. Letter."
In an interview with the children's weekly magazine "Davar Liyeladim" in 1981, Grobman had this to say about his work: “Nothing I do pertains to the realm of psychology, nor to any emotional aspect of life. Nor am I endeavoring to imitate Nature […] One must never attempt to transfer any of these beautiful living things around us onto a piece of paper and turn them into something of a forgery of life. The purpose of the painting is entirely different […] Painting and art must serve to build the conditions for an altogether new world! Just as God, once upon a time, created the world as a work of art which is presently alive with us living in it, so must the artist seek the opportunity to create a totally new condition, which, in the case of a picture, is something we absorb through the eye."
Левиафан [Leviathan], Journal for poetry and art edited and published by Michail Grobman (b. 1939). Issues 1-3 (no other issues were published). Jerusalem, 1975-1981. Russian (reproduced from handwriting).
The journal contains poems by Genrikh Sapgir, Igor Kholin, Vsevolod Nekrasov, Eduard Limonov, Vladimir Yakovlev, Saveli Grinberg, Michail Grobman and others; passages from Grobman's diaries; manifest of the Leviathan group; an article in memory of the artist Aryeh Baruch; photographs of art works, and more.
All the issues were originally handwritten by Grobman.
Issue no. 1 (1975): 49.5X69.5 cm sheet, folded. Issue no. 2 (1979): 2-17 pp. 34 cm. Issue no. 3 (1981): 18-33 cm. 34 cm. Good condition.
Michail Grobman (b. 1939), Russian-Israeli painter and poet, native of Moscow. Among the founders of the Second Russian Avant-Garde – a title he himself coined – in the Soviet Union in the 1960s. Immigrated to Israel in 1971. Established the Leviathan Group in 1975 in collaboration with Avraham Ofek and Samuel Ackerman. The style of the group represented a blend of contemporary art, Jewish themes, symbolism, and metaphysics. In the manifesto entitled "The Leviathan Declaration, " publicized in 1976, Grobman set forth the group's goals: "Our joint appearance is an incipient attempt to create an inclusive national style that befits the spirit of the building of the New Israel […], our political basis [is] Zionism. Our spiritual basis – Jewish mysticism. Three foundations define our artistic stance: 1. Primitivism 2. Symbol 3. Letter."
In an interview with the children's weekly magazine "Davar Liyeladim" in 1981, Grobman had this to say about his work: “Nothing I do pertains to the realm of psychology, nor to any emotional aspect of life. Nor am I endeavoring to imitate Nature […] One must never attempt to transfer any of these beautiful living things around us onto a piece of paper and turn them into something of a forgery of life. The purpose of the painting is entirely different […] Painting and art must serve to build the conditions for an altogether new world! Just as God, once upon a time, created the world as a work of art which is presently alive with us living in it, so must the artist seek the opportunity to create a totally new condition, which, in the case of a picture, is something we absorb through the eye."
1. Art as Identity as Art, Padiglione Israeliano Biennale di Venezia 1988. Poster depicting the sculptures "Peace Rider" (by Motti Mizrachi) and Man-Animal (by Zadok Ben David).
On the upper part of the poster, on the picture of the sculpture "Peace Rider", Motti Mizrachi added a drawing (in pen; signed in Hebrew: "Motti Mizrachi, Venice 88"). The poster is inscribed by Zadok Ben David (handwritten dedication on the lower left corner).
100X68 cm. Good condition. Fold lines. Minor blemishes.
2. The Biennale of Venice, 1988, the Israeli pavilion, Motti Mizrachi, Zadok Ben David. [Israel, 1988]. Hebrew and English.
[68] pp. 31.5 cm. Good condition.
Mixed media on thin cardboard. Signed and dated.
200X70 cm. Good condition. Several tears and minor blemishes.
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.
Free translation of the Book of Ruth by poet Linda Zisquit, accompanied by 18 color woodcuts by artist Maty Grünberg (b. 1943). Large, elegant portfolio, placed in a matching box. An edition of 125 numbered copies signed by the artist in the colophon; this is copy no. 104. The 18 woodcuts are all signed by the artist as well.
51 cm. Good condition. Minor stains to edges of some leaves. Minor blemishes to box.
Pages
- « first
- ‹ previous
- 1
- 2
- 3