Bertha Urdang (; April 12, 1912 – February 22, 2001) was an Israeli art collector and gallery owner born in England. She was important for encouraging and fostering

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i abstract and conceptual art, as well as for distributing and publicizing Israeli art in the United States.

Biography

Bertha Urdang studied the history of art at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, aesthetics at the Sorbonne in Paris, and then made

aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...

to the Land of Israel in 1934. That same year, she met the agronomist Tuvia Urdang. She later married him and they had three daughters. Tuvia was killed in 1948 by a

land mine A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...

. In 1955, she and her partner Shmuel Engel opened the Rina Gallery in Jerusalem. In 1966, Urdang and Engel ended their business relationship. Engel renamed the gallery to Engel Gallery and Urdang opened a new Rina Gallery. She went to America for two months a year to spread the word on Israeli art and sell the work. In 1972, she opened a New York branch of her gallery across the street from the Whitney Museum. It became her residence and her show place for twenty years. Urdang closed her New York gallery in 1993 and moved to Beit HaKerem,

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. Bertha Urdang died in 2001 in Jerusalem. Bertha Urdang’s archives are currently housed in the Information Center for Israeli Art, at the

Israel Museum, Jerusalem The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading encyclopaedic museums. It is situated on ...

References

Bibliography

External links

"The Bertha Urdang Archives"
Information Center for Israeli Art.

Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...

. Retrieved 2020
New York Times Art Review
"A vinyl sculpture by Betty Collings at the Bertha Urdang Gallery - Could It Be the 70's Again? An Artist Looks Back", Roberta Smith, Published: December 22, 1989

with Richard Killeen, 1987 {{DEFAULTSORT:Urdang, Bertha 1912 births 2001 deaths Israeli art dealers Israeli art collectors British emigrants to Israel British Jews Jewish art collectors

Biography

See also

References

Bibliography

External links