Michael DruksModernist British Israeli Lithograph Expressionist Figures

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Michael Gross (Hebrew: מיכאל גרוס‎; 1920 – 4 November 2004) was an Israeli painter, sculptor and conceptual artist.
Michael Gross … Read more Michael Gross (Hebrew: מיכאל גרוס‎; 1920 – 4 November 2004) was an Israeli painter, sculptor and conceptual artist.
Michael Gross was born in Tiberias in the British-administered Palestine in 1920. He grew up in the farming village of Migdal. In 1939-1940, he left to study at the Teachers’ Training College in Jerusalem. In 1939, while he was away, his father was murdered by Arabs, and the family farm and home were destroyed. This event impacted on his work as an artist.
From 1943 to 1945, he studied architecture at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. From 1951 to 1954, he studied art at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He returned to Israel in 1954 and settled in the artists’ village of Ein Hod.
Gross's works are imbued with the light and spirit. They are minimalist, but never pure abstraction, always tied to natural form and laden with feeling. In his early paintings, Gross simplified form in order to concentrate on proportion, broad areas of color, and the size and placement of each element. This reductive process was also notable in his sculptures, whether in painted iron or other materials such as white concrete. In later paintings, he often juxtaposed large off-white panels with patches of tone, adding textured materials such as wooden beams, burlap and rope. Gross’s rough, freely-brushed surfaces, along with the use of soft pastel coloring, conjure up images of the Israeli landscape.

Education
1936-1940 Teachers Seminary, Jerusalem
1943-1945, Technion, Haifa, architecture, studied sculpture with Moshe Ziffer.
1951-1954 Beaux Arts, Paris with Michel Guimond
Teaching
1954 - 1954 Higher School of Education, Haifa.
1957-1960 Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem
1960-1980 Oranim Art Institute, Tivon
Awards
1964: Hermann Struck Prize
1967: Dizengoff Prize
1971: Gold Medal, São Paulo Art Biennial
1977: Sandberg Prize for an Israeli Artist, Israel Museum
1987: Minister of Education and Culture Prize for Painting and Sculpture
1995 Gamzu Prize, Tel Aviv Museum
2000: Israel Prize for painting and sculpture.
Outdoor and public art
1974, Kiryat Hayovel (Simon Bolivar Park), Jerusalem
1980, Kibbutz Mesilot
1982 To the victims of the sea, 1969, Tel-Aviv University
1985 Tel Aviv University
1996 "Trio"- square of Tel Aviv Museum of Art
2000: Israel Prize for Painting, together with Michael Gross and Micha Bar Am.

From Landscape to Abstraction, From Abstraction to Nature
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
10 October, 1972 - 27 January, 1973
Artists: Rubin, Reuven Shemi, Menahem Gutman, Nachum Giladi, Aharon Engelsberg, Leon Gat, Eliyahu Ofek, Avraham Ardon, Mordecai Simon, Yohanan David, Jean Schatz, Louise Weil, Shraga Aroch, Arie Moscovitz, Shalom (of Safed) Elnathan, Moshe Bergner, Yosl Beeri, Tuvia Cohen Gan, Pinchas Lavie, Raffi Neustein, Joshua Ullman, Micha Zaritsky, Yossef Streichman, Yehezkel Stematsky, Avigdor Krize, Yehiel Mokady, Moshe Arikha, Avigdor Fima (Roytenberg, Ephraim) Avnieli, Mordechai Gross, Michael Klapisch, Liliane Reisman, Ori Lifschitz, Uri Krakauer, Leopold Ticho, Anna Uri, Aviva Danziger, Itzhak Kadishman, Menashe Geva, Avital Batlle, Georgette Marx, Gerard, Bezalel
This was from a portfolio that included Ivan Schwebel, Michael Gross, Liliane Klapisch and Moshe Kupferman, five of Israel's leading contemporary artists who were each approached in May 1977 with a request to contribute a hand-printed screenprint for a portfolio to be titled "Jerusalem". The sole term of reference was the name "Jerusalem", with no qualifications at all. The five artists then spent time working completely independently and individually on the project at the Jerusalem Print Workshop. Each screenprint was hand-signed by their respective artist and numbered from the edition of 200, hand-printed on BFK Rives paper Published by Whartman and Sacks Art Publications. See less