Avraham Naton (Natanzon; 1906-1959), Male Portrait.
Gouache on paper. Signed "A. Natanzon."
39.5X29 cm. Good condition. Suspension holes in corners of sheet.
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.

Israel Paldi (1872-1979), Untitled.
Mixed media on paper. Signed.
Approx. 61X46 cm. Fair condition. Numerous stains.
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.

Ruth Schloss (1922-2013), four drawings.
1. Skiers. Ink on paper. Signed.
34X26.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Tears to edges of sheet.
2. Mountainous Landscape. Pen on paper. Signed.
34X26.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Creases.
3. The Bombed-Out House I. Ink on paper. Signed.
33X21 cm. Good-fair condition. Numerous stains. Tears to edges of sheets.
4. The Bombed-Out House II. Ink on paper. Signed.
34X21 cm. Fair condition. Matted. Numerous stains. Tears to edges of sheet. Captioned on verso.
Ruth Schloss (1922-2013) was born in Nuremberg, Germany and immigrated to Palestine with her family in 1935. When she was only sixteen she began her studies at the Bezalel School, and then joined the founding group of Kibbutz Lehavot HaBashan. Schloss devoted her talents to the art and printing enterprises of the Kibbutz Movement, working as an illustrator for the newspaper "Mishmar LiYeladim" 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, due to the rift in the Kibbutz Movement, she left her kibbutz. Schloss was a member of the Communist Party, and her paintings, in the style of Social Realism, often conveyed a socialist message, exposing social differences and class distinctions. Her works focused on the weaker members of society – downtrodden women, hungry children, workers, and residents of transit camps. Later, she turned her attention to the lives of women, to the helplessness of birth, and to the decline of old age, all of which she painted from the perspective – and with the sensitivity – of a woman viewing human beings as rooted in their surroundings. In the words of the poet Nathan Zach: “Her motto remained the same over the years. Life itself. Without embellishment".
Reference: Gideon Ofrat, “Broader Horizons, 120 Years of Israeli Art, from the Ofrat Collection to the Levin Collection, Selected Works," Part II, Vienna-Jerusalem Foundation for Israeli Art, Jerusalem, 2013, Hebrew (English edition available).
Provenance: The Uzi Agassi Collection.