Igael Tumarkin (; 23 October 1933 – 12 August 2021) was an Israeli painter and sculptor.

Biography

Peter Martin Gregor Heinrich Hellberg (later Igael Tumarkin) was born in 1933 in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. His father, Martin Hellberg, was a German theater actor and director, and a son of a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

. His

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

mother, Berta Gurevitch, and his stepfather, Herzl Tumarkin, immigrated to then British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel) when he was two. Tumarkin served in the

Israeli Navy The Israeli Navy (, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'', ; ) is the Israel Defense Forces#Arms, naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in the Mediterranean Sea theater as well as the Gulf of Eilat and the Red Sea th ...

. After completing his military service, he studied sculpture in Ein Hod, a village of artists near

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...

, under Rudi Lehmann. His youngest son is the actor Yon Tumarkin. Tumarkin died at the age of 87 on 12 August 2021.

Art career

Among Tumarkin's best known works are the Holocaust and Revival memorial in Rabin Square,

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 ...

and his sculptures commemorate fallen soldiers in the

Negev The Negev ( ; ) or Naqab (), is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Aqaba and the resort town, resort city ...

. Tumarkin was also an art theoretician and stage designer. In the 1950s, Tumarkin worked in East Berlin, Amsterdam, and Paris. Upon his return to Israel in 1961, he became a driving force behind the break from the charismatic monopoly of lyric abstraction there. Tumarkin created assemblages of found objects, generally with violent expressionist undertones and decidedly unlyrical color. His determination to "be different" influenced his younger Israeli colleagues. The furor generated around Tumarkin's works, such as the old pair of trousers stuck to one of his pictures, intensified the mystique surrounding him. One of his controversial works is a pig wearing phylacteries (or

tefillin Tefillin (Modern Hebrew language, Israeli Hebrew: / ; Ashkenazim, Ashkenazic pronunciation: ; Modern Israeli Hebrew, Modern Hebrew pronunciation: ), or phylacteries, are a set of small black leather boxes with leather straps containing scrolls o ...

, small boxes containing scriptures).

Education

* 1954 – Studied with Rudi Lehmann, Ein-Hod * 1955 Studied with Bertolt Brecht, Berliner Ensemble, Berlin * 1955-57 Assistant to the designer Karl von Appen

Awards and recognition

* 1963 First Prize for Battle of Hulaykat Monument * 1968 The

Sandberg Prize The Sandberg Prize for Israeli Art refers to a prize for art and design awarded at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, with a particular focus on Israeli art. The prize was inaugurated in 1968 with funds from an anonymous New York City, New York–based ...

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 ...

, Jerusalem, Israel * 1968 First Prize for Memorial to Sailors, Haifa * 1971 First Prize for Memorial for "Holocaust and Revival", Tel Aviv * 1978 First Prize in the Biennale for Drawing, Reike * 1984 Award from the President of the Italian Republic * 1985 Dizengoff Prize for Sculpture * 1990 Guest of the Japan Foundation * 1992 August Rodin Prize, The International Sculpture Competition of the Open Museum, Hakone, Japan, for his sculpture of the sign at the entrance to Auschwitz concentration camp Arbeit Macht Frei. * 1997 Award of Excellence, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany * 1998 Sussman Prize, Vienna * 2004

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 sculpture

Outdoor and public art

Tumarkin created over 80 outdoor sculptures in Israel and around the world. Mitzpe Moav

* 1962-68 "Panorama", concrete and steel, Arad, Israel * 1962-69 "Age of Science", concrete and steel,

Dimona Dimona (, ) is an Israeli city in the Negev desert, to the south-east of Beersheba and west of the Dead Sea above the Arabah, Arava valley in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel. In , its population was . The Shimon Pere ...

* 1963 "Vibrations A & B", concrete, Kiryat Yam and "Window to the Sea", concrete,

Atlit Atlit or Athlit may refer to: Places * Atlit, an historical fortified town in Israel, also known as Château Pèlerin * Atlit (modern town), a nearby town in Israel Media *Athlit (album), ''Athlit'' (album), an ambient music album by Oöphoi *Atli ...

* 1964-65 "Monument for the Holocaust", concrete and steel, Nazareth * 1966 "Peace Memorial", Hebron Road, Jerusalem *1967 “He Walked in the Fields” *1968 Arad Observatory sculpture * 1968 Big Chief, tank assemblage painted,

Kiryat Shmona Kiryat Shmona () is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel on the western slopes of the Hula Valley near the Lebanon, Lebanese border. In it had a population of . Located near the Blue Line (withdrawal line), Israel ...

* 1969-71 "War and Peace", steel and stone, Ramat Gan * 1970 "Keystone Gate", painted steel, Jerusalem * 1970 "Homage to Dürer, painted steel, Haifa * 1971 "Homage to Jerusalem", Givat Shapira * 1971 Sculpture Garden, 61 Weizmann Street, Holon * 1971-75 "Monument to the Holocaust and Revival", corten and glass, Tel Aviv * 1972 "Happenings and Homage to Kepler", concrete and painted steel, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv; "Sundial Garden", concrete, Ashkelon; and "Monument to the Fallen", concrete painted white and steel, Jordan Valley * 1972-73 "Airport Monument", painted steel, Lod * 1973 "Challenge to the Sun", Ramot Alon, Jerusalem * 1986 "Chichen Itzma", Kiryat Menahem, Jerusalem * 1986 Pisgat Zeev, Jerusalem * 1989 Homage to Robert Capa, Pozoblanco, Spain * 1989 La Liberte, Bordeaux, France * 1991

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

, Berlin Museum Garden * 1992 "Jerusalem – Three Faiths",

Mount Scopus Mount Scopus ( ', "Mount of the Watchmen/ Sentinels"; ', lit. "Mount Lookout", or ' "Mount of the Scene/Burial Site", or "Mount Syenite") is a mountain (elevation: above sea level) in northeast Jerusalem. Between the 1948 Arab–Israeli ...

, Jerusalem * 1993 Semaphore,

Weizmann Institute of Science The Weizmann Institute of Science ( ''Machon Weizmann LeMada'') is a Public university, public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, fourteen years before the State of Israel was founded. Unlike other List of Israeli uni ...

Rehovot Rehovot (, / ) is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu (movement), Bilu movement, proposed the name "Rehovot ...

* 1993 My Seven Pillars of Wisdom,

Hakone is a List of towns in Japan, town in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had a population of 10,965, and total area of . Hakone is a notable spa town and a popular tourist destination due to its many onsen, hot springs being within view of ...

Open Air Museum, Japan * 1994–96 The Sculpture Garden of Belvoir (Kochav HaYarden) * 1997 Memorial for

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan (, ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv, and is part of the Gush Dan, Gush Dan metropolitan area. It is home to a Diamond Exchange District (one of the world's major diamond exch ...

Museum * 2000 Abu Nabut Garden,

Jaffa Jaffa (, ; , ), also called Japho, Joppa or Joppe in English, is an ancient Levantine Sea, Levantine port city which is part of Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on ...

References

External links

* * * * Amnon Teitelbaum
Land, Wind and Rust
- a Portrait of an Artist (Documentary) (2000) {{DEFAULTSORT:Tumarkin, Igael 1933 births 2021 deaths Jewish Israeli artists Israel Prize in sculpture recipients Israeli sculptors Sandberg Prize recipients Artists from Dresden Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine Israeli people of German descent Immigrants of the Fifth Aliyah