Nachum Gutman (as he himself signed; alternate

romanisation In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

: Nahum Gutman; ; October 5, 1898 – November 28, 1980) was a Moldovan-born Israeli

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

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 author.

Biography

Nachum Gutman was born in Teleneşti, Bessarabia Governorate, then a part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(now in the

Republic of Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised ...

). He was the fourth child of Sim a Alter and Rivka Gutman. His father was a Hebrew writer and educator who wrote under the pen name . In 1903, the family moved to

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

, and two years later, to Ottoman Palestine. In 1908, Gutman attended the Herzliya Gymnasium in what would later become

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

. In 1912, he studied at the

Bezalel School The Bezalel academy was founded as an art movement in Israel in the late Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire and Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate periods. The name Bezalel was chosen from the bible, he was a master craftsman, specifically the chi ...

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 ...

. In 1920–26, he studied art in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Berlin and Paris. Gutman was married to Dora, with whom he had a son. After Gutman's death in 1980, Dora asked two Tel Aviv gallery owners, Meir Stern of Stern Gallery and Miriam Tawin of Shulamit Gallery, to appraise the value all of the works left in his estate.

Artistic career

Gutman helped pioneer a distinctively Israeli style, moving away from the European influences of his teachers. He worked in many different media:

oils An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturat ...

, watercolours, gouache and pen and ink. His sculptures and brightly colored mosaics can be seen in public places around Tel Aviv. Indoor murals depicting the history of

can be seen in the western wing of the Shalom Tower and the Chief Rabbinate building. A mosaic fountain with scenes from the early days of Tel Aviv and biblical stories connected to Jaffa (inscribed with 3 Bible verses: Jeremiah 31:4, 2 Chronicles 2:16, Jonah 1:3), stood for 32 years at the end of Bialik Street, opposite the old

municipality building. In 2012 this mosaic fountain was reinstalled at the southern end of Rothschild Boulevard. Gutman's artistic style was eclectic, ranging from figurative to abstract. Gutman was also a well-known writer and illustrator of children's books.

Awards and recognition

Gutman received many art and literary prizes: * 1938: Dizengoff Prize for painting ''(also in 1956)'' * 1946: Lamdan Prize for children's literature * 1955: Sicily Award for watercolor painting at the São Paulo Biennale * 1956: Dizengoff Prize for painting ''(also in 1938)'' * 1962: Hans Christian Andersen Literary Prize on behalf of Unesco for his book "Path of Orange Peels" * 1964: Yatziv Prize * 1969: Fichman Prize for Literature and Art * 1974: Honorary Doctor of Philosophy from

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

* 1976: Honorary Citizen of

* 1978:

Israel Prize The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

, for

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

The Nachum Gutman Museum, showcasing the artist's work, was established in the Neve Tzedek neighborhood of Tel Aviv.

Outdoor and public art

* 1961 A mosaic wall at the Chief Rabbinate building,

* 1966 A mosaic wall in memory of the Herzliya high school at Migdal Shalom (Shalom Tower),

* 1976 History of Jaffa and Tel Aviv, mosaic-decorated fountain, initially Bialik Square, now southern end of Rothschild Boulevard

Published works

*''Path of the Orange Peels: Adventures in the Early Days of Tel Aviv'' (English translation: Nelly Segal) Dodd, Mead & Company, 1979 *"Seven Mills and Another Station" (Sheva T'khanot ve'od Takhana), Yavneh 1956 *"In the Land of Lobengulu King of Zulu", Massadah 1940

References

External links

* * *
The Nachum Gutman Museum
(in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and English)
Nachum Gutman – Illustrates stories of the Bible Exhibition

The Mosaics of Nachum Gutman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gutman, Nachum 1898 births 1980 deaths People from Telenești District Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire Bessarabian Jews Jewish Israeli artists Jewish painters Israel Prize in children's literature recipients 20th-century Israeli painters Burials at Trumpeldor Cemetery Mosaic artists Jewish Legion personnel Immigrants of the Second Aliyah