Maya Attoun (, 1974Attoun's short bio

Information Center for Israeli Art The Information Center for Israeli Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the Israeli art in Israel. Over 12,000 artists files are housed in the Center in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. History As a research ...

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

– 18 July 2022)The artist Maya Atoun had died at 48
Ofir Hovav,

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

, 18 July 2022 was an Israeli multidisciplinary artist, born in

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

. She lived and worked 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 G ...

Early life

Attoun graduated from the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, where she received her BFA in 1997 and an MFA in 2006. She was a lecturer at

Shenkar College of Engineering and Design Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art (commonly abbreviated as Shenkar) is a public college in Ramat Gan, Israel. Shenkar serves the Israeli industry by providing academic qualification and R&D services for modern industries. Shenkar i ...

in Ramat-Gan.

Career

In 2007, Attoun took part in ''The Finalists Exhibition'' and the

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 ...

, for the Nathan Gottesdiener Foundation Israel Art Prize 2008. The exhibition also included

Michal Helfman Michal Helfman ( he, מיכל הלפמן; born 1973 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli artist living and working in Tel Aviv, Israel. She is a multidisciplinary artist working in various disciplines including sculpture, architecture, video and drawings. In ...

, and Gil Marco Shani. The artists’ work was significant as they extended from painting to installation. In 2015, Attoun had a solo exhibition in

Givon Art Gallery The Givon Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Tel Aviv, Israel. The Gallery was founded in 1974 by Sam Givon on Gordon Street in Tel Aviv. In 1979 his daughter, Naomi (Noemi) opened the Givon Contemporary Art Gallery. Since the founder's ...

in Tel Aviv titled ''Half Full''. For the exhibition, Attoun completely changed the interior of the gallery, building walls and corridors to resemble a house. The space was made to look like a "half full״ apartment, in which the viewer was made to assume the dweller has left the premises or the property, but some of their belongings remain. The exhibition was well-received. In 2017, Attoun had a solo exhibition at the

Haifa Museum of Art The Haifa Museum of Art ( he, מוזיאון חיפה לאמנות, ar, متحف حيفا للفنون), established in 1951, is located in a historic building built in the 1930s in Wadi Nisnas, downtown Haifa. Ranking as Israel's third largest a ...

titled ''Lover's Eye.'' The exhibition encompassed twenty-five framed eye drawings. The drawings allude to the 18th century eye miniatures of " Lovers’ Eyes," usually painted with watercolor on ivory or parchment. In 2018, Attoun published an Artist book, titled ''Weekly Planner 2018'' which revisits the year of

1818 Events January–March * January 1 ** Battle of Koregaon: Troops of the British East India Company score a decisive victory over the Maratha Empire. ** Mary Shelley's ''Frankenstein'' is published anonymously in London. * January 2 – ...

. The book marks the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s ''

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...

'' – hybridizing the two years through monochromatic drawings akin to old manuscripts, etchings, and prints.

Style, technique, and themes

Attoun was a multidisciplinary artist. Her works involve a variety of mediums; yet, drawings comprise an important element in her body of work. Her drawings are often in pencil. Attoun's installations typically encompass a variety of media, including murals, drawings, prints, sculptural objects, ready-mades, and sound art. Much of Attoun's imagery thematically surrounds the body. Some elements of her visual arsenal include, animals, skulls, hearts, blood vessels, ropes, stalks, and cups. Attoun's installations are part of a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

trend, which combine beauty and horror, blood and disease, body, and home. Much of Attoun's imagery is associated with formal European iconography and motifs, drawing reference from the neo-Gothic,

Romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...

, and

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

movements of the 18th–19th centuries.

SelectedExhibitions

* 2007 ''Blood Related'',

Janco Dada Museum The Janco Dada Museum is located in Ein Hod, Israel. It is a museum that exhibits the work of Marcel Janco as well as art from the Dada movement and contemporary art too. The museum was established in 1983, by a group of Marcel Janco's friends, wi ...

, Ein Hod * 2009 ''Entre Chien et Loup – Finalists Exhibition'', Gottesdiener Foundation Israeli Art Prize 2008, Tel Aviv Museum of Art * 2011 ''Threshold of Hearing'', Lohamei Ha'getaot Gallery, Kibbutz

Lohamei HaGeta'ot Lohamei HaGeta'ot ( he, לוֹחֲמֵי הַגֵּיטָאוֹת, ''lit.'' The Ghetto Fighters) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in the western Galilee, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Asher Regional Council. In it had a popula ...

* 2011 ''Equations for a Falling Body,'' Givon Art Gallery, Tel-Aviv * 2015, ''Half Full'', Givon Art Gallery, Tel-Aviv * 2017 ''Lover's Eye'', Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa * 2018 Book Launch, 2018 Artist Book and Weekly Planner, Givon Art Forum, Tel-Aviv * 2018, ''The Charms of Frankenstein'',

Jewish Museum London The Jewish Museum London is a museum of British Jewish life, history and identity. The museum is situated in Camden Town in the London Borough of Camden, North London. It is a place for people of all faiths to explore Jewish history, culture, a ...

* 2019 Jerusalem Print Workshopsolo exhibitions
Information Center for Israeli Art, Israel Museum * 2021, ''Solar Mountains and Broken Hearts'', Magasin III, JaffaIt's a beuatifull exhibition
Gilad Meltzer, Haaretz, 17 May 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Attoun, Maya 1974 births 2022 deaths 21st-century Israeli women artists Artists from Jerusalem Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design alumni Tel Aviv University alumni Burials at Har HaMenuchot