Mordechai Avniel, Israeli Modernist Watercolor Painting Jerusalem Landscape Bezalel School Avniel

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Watercolor painting of Old City of Jerusalem MORDECHAI AVNIEL Minsk, Belarus, b. 1900, d. 1989 Mordecai Dickstein (later Avniel) was … Read more Watercolor painting of Old City of Jerusalem MORDECHAI AVNIEL Minsk, Belarus, b. 1900, d. 1989 Mordecai Dickstein (later Avniel) was born in 1900 in Minsk, present-day Belarus. He studied fine arts in Yekaterinburg, Russia (1913–19) and at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem (1923). Avniel immigrated to Palestine in 1921 where he first worked as a pioneer in citrus plantations near Petah Tikva. In 1923, at the urging of Boris Schatz, he went to Jerusalem to further his art studies at Bezalel. He later taught painting and sculpture at the school, and served a term as director of the Small Sculpture Section of the Sculpture Department (1924–28). From 1935 on, Avniel lived in Haifa. Avniel was also a lawyer and a founding partner of the Haifa firm Avniel, Salomon & Company. Avniel regularly showed his work in group exhibitions of the Painters and Sculptors' Association of Israel. He was awarded the Herman Struck Prize (1952), Tenth Anniversary Prize for Watercolours, Ramat Gan (1958), Histadrut Prize (1961), and First Prize Haifa Municipality (1977). He represented Israel at the 1958 Venice Biennale and the 1962 International Art Seminar at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Avniel was a member of the Artists' Colony in Safed and maintained a studio on Mount Carmel. Mordechai Avniel is best known for his deft and singular landscape work. His works are held in numerous museums and collections both in Israel and abroad, including the Metropolitan Museum, New York and the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA. Avniel's manipulations of light and colour share much with those of compatriot artists Shimshon Holzman and Joseph Kossonogi. Education 1913-19 Art School of Katrinburg, Russia 1923 Bezalel School of Art, Jerusalem Selected exhibitions: 2004: Our Landscape: Notes on Landscape Painting in Israel, University of Haifa Art Gallery, Haifa (online catalogue) 1965: Mordechai Avniel Retrospective, Haifa Municipality Museum of Modern Art, Haifa 1964: Galerie Synthèse, Paris 1962: New York University, New York 1961: Rina Gallery of Modern Art, Jerusalem The Autumn Exhibition Rina Gallery, Jerusalem Artists: Dedi Ben Shaul, Lea Nikel, Yossef Zaritsky,Ephraim Fima Roytenberg, Zvi Meirovich, Aharon Kahana, Avigdor Stematsky, Mordechai Levanon, Yosl Bergner, Israel Paldi, Zvi Tolkovsky, Geula Dagan. 1960: Galerie Intime, Montréal 1959: Opening Show, Gallery Moos, Toronto (with Serge Poliakoff, Marc Chagall, Hans Erni and Paul-Émile Borduas) (1959 gallery invitation). 1959: Pulitzer Art Galleries, New York 1957: Chemerinsky Gallery, Tel Aviv 1956: Museum of Modern Art, Haifa 1955: Nora Gallery, Jerusalem 1954: Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv 1954: National Museum, Washington 1953: Shore Gallery, Boston 1952: Katz Gallery, Tel Aviv 1941: Beit Pevsner, Haifa Selected collections: Haifa museum of Art Tel Aviv Museum Israel Museum, Jerusalem Boston Public Library Brooklyn Museum Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge Hartford Atheneum Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Museum of Modern Art, New York Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC New York Public Library Philadelphia Museum of Art Baltimore Museum of Art Carnegie Institute of Fine Arts, Pittsburgh Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco See less