Micha Ullman ( he, מיכה אולמן, born 1939) is an Israeli sculptor and professor of art. Ulmann1

Biography

Ullman was born in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

to German Jews who immigrated to

Mandate Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...

in 1933.Michal Lando
''Art that hints at big questions,''

The Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ...

. April 22, 2009 As a teenager, he attended the Kfar HaYarok agricultural school.The Accidental Sculptor
Haaretz In 1960-1964, he studied at

Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design ( he, בצלאל, אקדמיה לאמנות ועיצוב) is a public college of design and art located in Jerusalem. Established in 1906 by Jewish painter and sculptor Boris Schatz, Bezalel is Israel's oldes ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. In 1965, he attended the

Central School of Arts and Crafts The Central School of Art and Design was a public art school, school of fine arts, fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central ...

in London, where he learned

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

. Ullman is married to Mira, and lives in

Ramat Hasharon Ramat HaSharon ( he, רָמַת הַשָּׁרוֹן, ''lit.'' '' Sharon Heights'', ar, رمات هشارون) is a city located on Israel's central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon region, bordering Tel Aviv to the south, Hod HaSharon ...

, Israel.

Academic career

He taught at Bezalel Academy in 1970 - 1978. He became a visiting professor at Academy of Arts Düsseldorf in 1976. He taught at the

University of Haifa The University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming ...

from 1979 - 1989. He was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart from 1991 to 2005.

Artistic career

Ullman created the underground “Empty Library” memorial on Bebelplatz square in Berlin, where the

Nazi book burnings The Nazi book burnings were a campaign conducted by the German Student Union (, ''DSt'') to ceremonially burn books in Nazi Germany and Austria in the 1930s. The books targeted for burning were those viewed as being subversive or as representi ...

began in 1933. The memorial consists of a window on the surface of the plaza, under which vacant bookshelves are lit and visible. A bronze plaque bears a quote by Heinrich Heine: “Where books are burned in the end people will burn.” This memorial was inaugurated in May 1995. (see

book burning Book burning is the deliberate destruction by fire of books or other written materials, usually carried out in a public context. The burning of books represents an element of censorship and usually proceeds from a cultural, religious, or politi ...

). Ullman explains: "It begins with the void that exists in every pit and will not disappear. You could say that emptiness is a state, a situation formed by the sides of the pit: The deeper it is, the more sky there will be and the greater the void. In the library containing the missing books, that void is more palpable. We expect

he books He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' i ...

but they are not there." In 1997, Ullman completed a synagogue memorial in collaboration with

Zvi Hecker Zvi Hecker ( he, צבי הקר; born 31 May 1931) is a Polish-born Israeli architect. His work is known for its emphasis on geometry and asymmetry. Biography Zvi Hecker was born as Tadeusz Hecker in Kraków, Poland. He grew up in Poland and S ...

and Eyal Weizmann, commemorating the former Lindenstraße synagogue in

Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in 1990 it ha ...

. Another of his creations is "Hochwasser" ("Flooding") on a small island near the Werra River in Germany. It was inspired by a boat Ullman saw there with a sign on it stating it had a capacity of up to seven passengers. Ullman's father, Yitzhak, who had lived nearby, immigrated to Palestine with his seven siblings in 1933. Ullman is represented in the art collection of the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart with the representative fourpart work ″Du″, created in 1992 and shown at Documenta 9, which was given to the Academy as a permanent loan in 1993 by the Ministry of Science and Art Baden-Württemberg at the suggestion of the former Rector and head of the collection,

Wolfgang Kermer Wolfgang Kermer (born 18 May 1935 in Neunkirchen, Saarland) is a German art historian, artist, art educator, author, editor, curator of exhibitions, art collector and professor. From 1971 to 1984 he was repeatedly elected Rector of the State Aca ...

Sculptural style

Ullman creates subterranean sculptures, some of which barely protrude from the ground. They touch on universal themes such as the meaning of place and home, absence and emptiness. They have been described as simultaneously "celestial and earthbound, metaphysical but sensual and tactile.

Gallery

File:Marl Ullmann 01.JPG, Ground, 1987
Marl, Germany File:Micha Ullman.JPG,

Havdalah Havdalah ( he, הַבְדָּלָה, "separation") is a Jewish religious ceremony that marks the symbolic end of Shabbat and ushers in the new week. The ritual involves lighting a special havdalah candle with several wicks, blessing a cup of ...

, 1988
iron and gravel
Tefen Open Museum, Israel File:A Chair ullman.JPG, A Chair, 1989
stone

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

, Israel File:Yesod 1989.jpg,

Yesod Yesod (Hebrew: יְסוֹד ''Yəsōḏ'', Tiberian: ''Yăsōḏ'', "foundation") is a sephirah or node in the kabbalistic Tree of Life, a system of Jewish philosophy. Yesod, located near the base of the Tree, is the sephirah below Hod and ...

, 1989
concrete and sand

Rothschild Boulevard Rothschild Boulevard (, ''Sderot Rotshild'') is one of the principal streets in the center of Tel Aviv, Israel, beginning in Neve Tzedek at its southwestern edge and running north to Habima Theatre. It is one of the most expensive streets in the ...

, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel File:B94 0743~Micha Ullmann-Midnight.jpg, Day, Havdalah, Midnight, 1993
Steel plates and sand
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem Collection File:Buecherverbrennung Denkmal Bebelplatz Berlin.jpg, " The Empty Library" - a Memorial for the

Nazi book burning The Nazi book burnings were a campaign conducted by the German Student Union (, ''DSt'') to ceremonially burn books in Nazi Germany and Austria in the 1930s. The books targeted for burning were those viewed as being subversive or as representi ...

, 1995
Bebelplatz,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, Germany File:Lola Beer Ebner Sculpture Garden 018.jpg, Window, 1999
Concrete, iron and glass

Tel Aviv Museum of Art Tel Aviv Museum of Art ( he, מוזיאון תל אביב לאמנות ''Muzeon Tel Aviv Leomanut'') is an art museum in Tel Aviv, Israel. The museum is dedicated to the preservation and display of modern and contemporary art from Israel and aroun ...

File:Pillar by Micha Ullman.JPG, Pillar, 1995
Iron File:Equinox 001.jpg, Equinox, 2005-9
Concrete and glass
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem Collection

Education

* 1960-1964

Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design ( he, בצלאל, אקדמיה לאמנות ועיצוב) is a public college of design and art located in Jerusalem. Established in 1906 by Jewish painter and sculptor Boris Schatz, Bezalel is Israel's oldes ...

Academy,

* 1965 Central School of Arts and Crafts, London

Teaching

* 1970-1978

, drawing, basic design and etching * 1976 Guest lecturer at Fine Arts Academy, Düsseldorf * 1979 Haifa University, basic design, drawing, three-dimensional design * 1979-1985 Faculty of Architecture, Technion, Haifa * 1991–2005 State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart, sculpture

Awards

Ullman was awarded the Israel Prize for sculpture in April 2009.

Awards and Prizes

* 1963 Sonborn Prize,

Academy of Arts & Design,

* 1972 The Beatrice S. Kolliner Award for a Young Israeli Artist, Israel Museum,

, Israel * 1980 The Sandberg Prize for Israeli Art, Israel Museum,

, Israel * 1985 Mendel Pundik Prize,

Museum * 1989 Annual Scholarship, DAAD, Berlin * 1995

Käthe Kollwitz Prize The Käthe Kollwitz Prize (german: Käthe-Kollwitz-Preis) is a German art award named after artist Käthe Kollwitz. Established in 1960 by the then-Academy of Arts of the German Democratic Republic (nowadays the Academy of Arts, Berlin), the pri ...

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...

* 1996 Zussman Prize, Yad Vashem * 1996 Member of the

* 1997 - פרס החברה לתרבות ולשלום בינלאומי, עמאן, ירדן. * 1998 Janet and George Jarin Prize, America Israel Cultural Foundation * 2000 Gamzu Prize and Aftovitzer Fund,

Museum of Art,

* 2004 Awarded Honorary Ph.D, The Hebrew University,

* 2005 Hans-Thoma-Preis, Staatspreis des Landes Baden - Wurttemberg, Germany * 2009 Israel Prize for Sculpture * 2010 Gerhard- Altenbourg-Preis, Lindenau Museum Altenburg * 2011 Moses-Mendelssohn-Preis des Landes Berlin, Germany

Outdoor and Public Art

* 1983 Sky, limestone, Tel Hai, Israel * 1984 Ben Hinnom Valley, iron and cable,

* 1984 Lot's Wife, earth, Mt. Sodom, Israel * 1989 Jesod (Foundation), cement and sand, Rothschild Boulevard,

* 1991 Schodnia (East), asphalt, Lodz, Poland * 1992 Sea Level, cast iron, sandstone and glass, 22 Allenby St., Tel Aviv * 1992 Niemand, corten steel and red loam, Gropius Bau,

, Germany * 1995 Bibliothek, cement and glass, Bebelplatz, Berlin, Germany * 1996-1997 Water, Zion Square, West Jerusalem and Freres Street, East Jerusalem

References

External links

* * *
Official site of Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ullman, Micha 1939 births Living people Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design alumni Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design faculty Israel Prize in sculpture recipients Israeli Jews Israeli people of German-Jewish descent Israeli sculptors Jewish sculptors Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin People from Tel Aviv Sandberg Prize recipients