Israeli Mod Arts & Crafts Copper Sculpture Bookends Bezalel Schatz Yaad Studio, c.1960s

Details

Description

Bezalel Schatz, (1912-1978), Yaad Studio Workshop Mid century modern The standing part is 6 X 5 inches. The copper sheet … Read more Bezalel Schatz, (1912-1978), Yaad Studio Workshop Mid century modern The standing part is 6 X 5 inches. The copper sheet is 10 X 5 inches each. This is for a pair. they are copper with a jewel (bakelite?) element bezel set into it. Hand made in israel handwrought Sculpture of Jerusalem walls, in Silver copper modernist jeweled design, engraving and hammer work, with a whimsical mod architectural design decorations. From the YAAD workshop of Bezalel Schatz, son of Boris Schatz. Can be used as bookends. there is a pair. Bezalel Schatz, (1912-1978), Jerusalem. Son of Boris Schatz, founder of Bezalel Academy, Jerusalem. 1930-51 Lived in USA. Designed numerous works for public places in Israel. Was active on public committees and art organisations. Died 1978. Education 1926-1920 Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem 1927 Hebrew Gymnasia, Jerusalem 1933? De la Grande Chaumiere Academy of Arts, Paris, France Awards And Prizes 1954 Gold Medal, The Triennale of Applied Arts, Milan, Italy. Schatz lived in Israel, New York, and Northern California where he was part of the Big Sur artists writers' colony that included San Francisco sculptor Benny Bufano, author Henry Miller, and his sister Zahara Schatz. Zahara and Bezalel rejected their father's predilection for Romantic Classicism and his dogged development of a Jewish Eretz Israel style in favor of a European-American modernism. With an emphasis on space age sputnik design. Bezalel (nicknamed “Lilik”) Schatz was an Israeli artist, son of Boris Schatz, founder of the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem. Born in 1912 to Boris Schatz, and his wife Olga, an art critic. From an early age, he demonstrated considerable talent for gymnastics and music, but especially for art. He grew up in a home in which artists were a constant presence, he was introduced to Israel’s most prominent leaders, and the first public exhibition of his artwork coincided with his Bar Mitzvah celebration. He attended the Gymnasia in Jerusalem and at age 14 completed his studies at the Bezalel School. In 1930, Bezalel joined his father on a fundraising tour of Europe and the United States, where they also exhibited their artwork and that of Bezalel students. Following his father’s death in 1932, Bezalel left Israel for a period of about two decades. He spent the first four years studying at the Grand Chaumiere Academy in Paris. There, given the fairly conservative artistic views he had acquired at home and school – where modernism was denounced – he had to pave his own way as an artist among his peers. Between 1937 and 1951, Bezalel resided in the U.S. Near the end of WWII, he worked in a California shipyard, and it was there he met his future wife, Louise. He was also introduced to the novelist Henry Miller in California, and their friendship blossomed into a creative collaboration. The artist May Ray recorded his observations about the two, noting that “I have never encountered such smooth cooperation…” Bezalel produced silkscreen prints for Miller’s novel, Into the Night Life, an innovation for both the art and publishing worlds. In Florence, New Mexico, New York, San Francisco, and other locations, Bezalel exhibited his own work and participated in group shows with some of the greatest artists of his era – Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, and Oskar Kokoschka. Bezalel and Louise married in 1948 and moved to Israel three years later, taking residence in the Schatz house in Jerusalem. Despite his long absence from Israel and his conceptual conflicts with artists there, Bezalel mounted several exhibitions and represented his native country abroad – in Germany and at Venice’s 1954 Biennale, for example. Together with Louise Schatz and his sister, Zahara Schatz, he established the arts and crafts workshop, “Yad.” Handmade modernist folk art objects created there today are displayed and sold in a small building on the grounds of the family home on Bezalel Street in Jerusalem. When the Ein Hod artists’ village was founded in 1953, Bezalel and Louise moved to a home designed for them there by Israeli architect David Reznik. The couple melded easily into the village’s Bohemian artistic life, which resembled the lifestyle they had adopted in California. Bezalel was an easy-going, congenial man of whom Henry Miller remarked, “Bezalel is an incorrigible optimist, the greatest optimist I ever met.” After his return to Israel, Bezalel’s most pleasurable moments were in the company of his small family and most intimate friends. He also continued to correspond with his friends in the U.S. He refrained from expressing his intellectual insights, either verbally or in writing, and never attempted to justify his work in any way. He was a productive post modernist artist and craftsman – vigorous, sensitive, and curious – and he contributed significantly to Israel’s aesthetic environment and art. His inspiration flowed from many different sources, from primitive tribes, to Biblical tales, Western art, the nature and history of Israel, and the symbols of his homeland that had also inspired his father. Bezalel’s art work exemplified many different techniques. His early works adhered to the realistic/academic style he learned at the Bezalel art school. Later, his development was influenced by abstract art. His works included sketches, prints, oil painting reliefs, hand made copper engravings, applied art, graphic art, ceramic, and Judaica. In the last decade of his life, his major artistic endeavor was mural design. Among his public works were artwork for ships owned by the Israeli company Zim, the gates at the entrance to the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, and a fence in the courtyard area of the Western Wall. Bezalel died in Jerusalem in 1978. Betzalel Schatz: Oil Paintings and Drawings The Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem 1953 Group Exhibitions Israeli Art Exhibition. Rome, Italy, 1954 Artists: Mordecai Ardon, Moshe Tamir, Yehezkel Streichman, Aharon Kahana, Anna Ticho, Naftali Bezem. Forms From Israel Mounting Exhibition, USA, 1958 Artists: Jean David, David Gumbel, David Palombo, Avigdor Arikha. Ein Hod Artisrs Village - Tenths Year Anniversary Exhibition, 1963 Artists: Zvi Aldouby, Marcel Janco, Moshe Mokady, Yohanan Simon, Dov Feigin, Itche Mambush. See less