Portrait of a man by Maryan (Meir) Merinel Leibner (1933-1955).
Watercolor on paper. Signed.
Maryan (Meir) Merinel Leibner was born in Romania, where he wrote poetry and was active in amateur theater. He immigrated to Israel as a Holocaust survivor in 1948 and while he was at a detention camp in Cyprus, decided to devote himself to painting. He studied in Kibbutz Ein HaShofet and later at the New Bezalel (during the years 1949-1953); he joined the group of poets "Likrat", whose works were characterized by an existential, modern and ironic approach. His surrealistic works, replete with feelings of loss and suffering, are indication of the mental illness from which he suffered. Before taking his own life, Leibner destroyed most of his works, only a few of them remained in private collections. His colleague, the painter Pinchas Burstein, received his permission to use his name, Maryan, and was called by this name the rest of his life.
32x20.5 cm. Good condition. A few stains. Small tears along the edges of the leaf. Mounted on a thick sheet of paper.
Literature: Ofakin Rechavim (Wide Horizons), 120 years of Israeli art, by Gideon Ofrat. Jerusalem: The Vienna-Jerusalem Fund for Israeli Art, 2012. p. 110.