Mordechai Avniel (1900–1989), variant name Mordecai Avniel, was an Israeli

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and lawyer.

Biography

Mordecai Dickstein (later Avniel) was born in 1900 in Parychy, in the

Minsk Governorate The Minsk Governorate (russian: Минская губерния, Belarusian: ) or Government of Minsk was a governorate ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. The seat was in Minsk. It was created in 1793 from the land acquired in the partition ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(present-day

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

). He studied fine arts in

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

(1913–19) and at the

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 oldest ...

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

(1923). Avniel immigrated to

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

in 1921 where he first worked as a pioneer in citrus plantations near

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva ( he, פֶּתַח תִּקְוָה, , ), also known as ''Em HaMoshavot'' (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of ...

. In 1923, at the urging of

Boris Schatz Boris Schatz ( he, בוריס שץ; 23 December 1866 – 23 March 1932) was a Lithuanian Jewish artist and sculptor who settled in Israel. Schatz, who became known as the "father of Israeli art," founded the Bezalel School in Jerusalem. After S ...

, he went to Jerusalem to further his art studies at Bezalel. He later taught painting and sculpture at the school, and served a term as director of the Small Sculpture Section of the Sculpture Department (1924–28). From 1935 on, Avniel lived in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

. Avniel was also a lawyer and a founding partner of the Haifa firm Avniel, Salomon & Company.

Art career

Avniel regularly showed his work in group exhibitions of the Painters and Sculptors' Association of Israel. He was awarded the Herman Struck Prize (1952), Tenth Anniversary Prize for Watercolours,

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan ( he, רָמַת גַּן or , ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv and part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges, and many ...

(1958),

Histadrut Histadrut, or the General Organization of Workers in Israel, originally ( he, ההסתדרות הכללית של העובדים בארץ ישראל, ''HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael''), is Israel's national trade union center ...

Prize (1961), and First Prize Haifa Municipality (1977). He represented Israel at the 1958

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

and the 1962 International Art Seminar at

Fairleigh Dickinson University Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university with its main campuses in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Founded in 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University currently offers more than 100 degree programs to its students. In addition to its tw ...

. Avniel was a member of the Artists' Colony in

Safed Safed (known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as Tzfat; Sephardi Hebrew, Sephardic Hebrew & Modern Hebrew: צְפַת ''Tsfat'', Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation, Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Tzfas'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Ṣǝp̄aṯ''; ar, صفد, ''Ṣafad''), i ...

and maintained a studio on

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel ( he, הַר הַכַּרְמֶל, Har haKarmel; ar, جبل الكرمل, Jabal al-Karmil), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias ( ar, link=no, جبل مار إلياس, Jabal Mār Ilyās, lit=Mount Saint Elias/Elijah), is a c ...

Artistic style

Avniel is best known for his landscape paintings. He said of his scenes of Israel: "I loved the Israeli landscape. While roaming the country extensively, I gradually absorbed its atmosphere, its lights and moods, the view of mountains and valleys, the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee ( he, יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ar, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest ...

and the expanse of the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

. Again and again, I experimented painting and drawing them, at the same time trying to teach myself contemporary art. And thus I gradually shook off the academic conception, and became freer. I tried with my whole being to find my own style. The clouds floating above the Galilee or the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank ...

- both below sea level - bring about an almost constant change of light, colour and atmosphere. The scenery takes on certain shapes and discards them again. These clouds taught me to understand space. I do not see my landscapes optically; they are a fusion of colours blended harmoniously - abstract at times, and at other times expressions of my inner feelings. Only after years did I find self-expression in my landscape, in the light, the atmosphere and the sun of Israel. My motif is always the non-static landscape with all its contrasts: the rays of dawn, the stillness of the day's heat, the evening's twilight, radiance and dimness, wind and rain, a night's storm." Avniel's manipulations of light and colour share much with those of compatriot artists

Shimshon Holzman Shimshon Holzman (variant name: Shimson Holzman; he, שמשון הולצמן; 1907–1986) was an Israeli landscape and figurative painter. He is known worldwide for his water color paintings. Background Holzman was born in 1907, in Sambir, ...

and Joseph Kossonogi.

Selected exhibitions

* 2004: ''Our Landscape: Notes on Landscape Painting in Israel'', University of Haifa Art Gallery, Haif
(online catalogue)
* 1965: ''Mordechai Avniel Retrospective'', Haifa Municipality Museum of Modern Art, Haifa * 1964: Galerie Synthèse, Paris * 1962: New York University, New York * 1961: Rina Gallery of Modern Art, Jerusalem * 1960: Galerie Intime, Montréal * 1959: ''Opening Show'', Gallery Moos, Toronto (with

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

Serge Poliakoff Serge Poliakoff (January 8, 1900 – October 12, 1969) was a Russian-born French modernist painter belonging to the 'New' Ecole de Paris (Tachisme). Biography Serge Poliakoff was born in Moscow in 1900, the thirteenth of fourteen children. Hi ...

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

Hans Erni Hans Erni (February 21, 1909 – March 21, 2015) was a Swiss graphic designer, painter, illustrator, engraver and sculptor. Born in Lucerne, the third of eight siblings, to a cabin cruiser engineer, he studied art at the Académie Julian in Par ...

and

Paul-Émile Borduas Paul-Émile Borduas (November 1, 1905 – February 22, 1960) was a Québecois artist known for his abstract paintings. He was the leader of the avant-garde Automatiste movement and the chief author of the Refus Global manifesto of 1948. Bord ...

(1959 gallery invitation)
* 1959: Pulitzer Art Galleries, New York * 1957: Chemerinsky Gallery, Tel Aviv * 1956: Museum of Modern Art, Haifa * 1955: Nora Gallery, Jerusalem * 1954: Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv * 1954: National Museum, Washington * 1953: Shore Gallery, Boston * 1952: Katz Gallery, Tel Aviv * 1941: Beit Pevsner, Haifa

Selected collections

* Haifa museum of Art * Tel Aviv Museum * Israel Museum, Jerusalem * Boston Public Library * Brooklyn Museum * Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge * Hartford Atheneum * Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York * Museum of Fine Arts, Boston * Museum of Modern Art, New York *

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

, Washington DC * New York Public Library * Philadelphia Museum of Art * Baltimore Museum of Art * Carnegie Institute of Fine Arts, Pittsburgh * Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

References

Catalogues

* Ayal, Avishay, and Yoram Bar-Gal. ''Our Landscape: Notes on Landscape Painting in Israel'' xhibition catalogue Haifa: University of Haifa Art Gallery, 2004. * Jaffé, Hans Ludwig. ''Sea of Galilee: Watercolors'' ortfolio of colour plates Tel Aviv: M. Avniel, 1963. * ''Mordechai Avniel: The Israeli Landscape Painter'' atalogue Tel Aviv: United Artists,

966 Year 966 (Roman numerals, CMLXVI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * 23 June - Arab-Byzantine Wars, Byzantine-Arab War: Arab-Byzantine ...

* ''Mordecai Avniel: Retrospective Exhibition, November–December 1965'' xhibition catalogue Haifa: Museum of Modern Art, 1965. * Tadmor, Gabriel (ed). ''Mordecai Avniel: Paintings, Woodcuts, Small Sculptures'' ortfolio Haifa: M. Avniel, 97-? * ''Twelve Israeli Painters'' ortfolio of colour plates Tel Aviv: Lion Printers, 1965.

External links

Israeli Art Centre
(Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Mordechai Avniel

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
(collection of woodcuts and etchings) * Selected works can be viewe
here.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avniel, Mordechai 1900 births 1989 deaths People from Svietlahorsk District People from Bobruysky Uyezd Belarusian Jews Jews from the Russian Empire Soviet Jews Soviet emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Jews from Mandatory Palestine Israeli people of Belarusian-Jewish descent Jewish painters Israeli male painters Jewish Israeli artists 20th-century Russian painters Russian male painters 20th-century Israeli sculptors 20th-century Israeli male artists Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design alumni 20th-century Russian male artists