Naftali Bezem, Rare Israeli Modernist Judaica Watercolor Painting on Lithograph Naftali Bezem, 1970

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Naftali Bezem (Hebrew: נפתלי בזם‎‎; born November 27, 1924) is an Israeli painter, muralist, and sculptor. Bezem was born in … Read more Naftali Bezem (Hebrew: נפתלי בזם‎‎; born November 27, 1924) is an Israeli painter, muralist, and sculptor. Bezem was born in Essen, Germany, in 1924. His early adolescence was spent under Nazi oppression, in constant fear for the safety of his parents, who perished in the Holocaust in the Polish Auschwitz concentration camp. Naftali emigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1939, at the age of fourteen with a Youth Aliyah group. From 1943 to 1946, he studied art at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem with Israeli painter Mordecai Ardon. He then spent three years studying in Paris. His most famous public works include a wall relief sculpture at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and the ceiling mural painting in the main reception room at the President's Residence, Jerusalem. He also designed tapestries. In 1964 the first French style weaving studio was inaugurated in Israel, in the new city of Nazareth Ilit. With the encouragement of master Jean Lurcat, woven upon several contemporary masters’ original sketches, such as Jean Lurcat, Hans Hartung, Adolph Gottlieb, Karel Appel, Yaacov Agam, Mordecai Ardon, Reuven Rubin, Danny Caravan, and more. Some of these tapestries encountered their moments of glory during the international exhibitions, such as in the Museum of Modern Art (NY), “Expo Montreal” (Canada), Biennale of Lausanne (Switzerland), and others. In 1967, after the Six-Day War, Nazareth’s workshop closed its doors and returned to Jerusalem where he opened a new studio with a young team made up of eighteen artisans, dedicating their work more specifically towards Israeli artists. The tapestries are woven upon the original sketches of Yohanan Simon, Naftali Bezem. They can be seen hanging on the wall of the Israeli President’s residence, the Yeshiva University of New York, the University of Haifa, New York Bank Discount, as 60-square meter tapestries for the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, and in ceremonial art. Tapestries for Parochet and Torah mantles are seen in Washington, Bet-El Springfield, Babson College, Boston, Bet-El Univ. Andover, Bet-El Highland Park and the Strasbourg Great Synagogue in France. Along with Itche Mambush in EIn Hod these were the fine, Gobelin style modern art tapestry weavers of Israel. In 1957, Bezem was a co-recipient of the Dizengoff Prize for Painting. Group Exhibition, The Museum Presents Itself: Israeli Art from the Museum Collection Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel, 2014 Artists: Yaacov Agam, Naftali Bezem, Yosl Bergner, Nahum Gutman, Menashe Kadishman, Jan Rauchwerger, Reuven Rubin, David Reeb, Moshe Mokady, Lea Nikel, Igael Tumarkin, Chana Orloff, Yohanan Simon, Zev Raban, Pinchas Litvinovsky, Avraham Ofek, Avigdor Arikha, Ludwig Blum, Zvi Mairovich, Anna Ticho, Jacob Steinhardt, Boris Schatz, Marcel Janco. See less