Larry Abramson, Large Israel Modernist Landscape Painting Bezalel Artist, 1983

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In this painting the artist Larry Abramson depicts an abstract landscape with a high degree of simplification, taking references from … Read more In this painting the artist Larry Abramson depicts an abstract landscape with a high degree of simplification, taking references from the stylistic conventions of conceptual and minimalistic neo avant-garde art movements. Here, the artist applies thick layers of paint allowing for a textural feeling on the surface of the canvas.

LARRY ABRAMSON
South Africa, b. 1954
Larry Abramson is a South African-born Israeli artist. Born in 1954, Abramson and his family immigrated to Jerusalem in 1961.

Shortly after graduating high school, Abramson entered London's Chelsea College of Art and Design in 1973 where he studied a Foundation Course. In 1975, he held his first solo exhibition. Abramson continued to develop his style, combining abstraction and figurative art to create dynamic situations. Upon returning to Israel, he worked as a printer and curator of exhibitions at the Jerusalem Print Workshop until 1986.

In 1984, he joined the teaching staff of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem and, in 1992, was appointed head of the Fine Art department. In 1996, he founded and headed the Bezalel Program for Young Artists, the first Master of Fine Arts program in Israel. He served as a guest lecturer at the San Francisco Art Institute in 2000 and 2003. In 2002, Abramson continued to be a leader in art academia by planning the establishment of a new art department at the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design in Ramat Gan, Israel. He is a founding member of Artists Without Walls, a dialogue group of Israeli and Palestinian artists.

Throughout his career as an artist, Abramson has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Jacques Ohana Prize, The Minister of Education Culture Prize, and the Mendel and Eva Pundik Prize for Israeli Art. He has shown at prestigious group and solo exhibitions around the world and, in recent years, held two special museum projects, "Searching for the Ideal City" at the Magnes Museum, Berkeley (2005), and "Mini Israel" at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2006).

Larry Abramson was born in Durban, South Africa. In 1961, he immigrated to Israel with his family and settled in Jerusalem. He studied art with Yona Mach at the Hebrew University High School and devoted much time to painting. In 1970, he signed the High School Seniors Letter protesting the Israel government's foot-dragging on the subject of peace.

In the early 1970s, Abramson studied art history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and moved to London to continue his art studies, but only remained there for one year. In 1975, he began to work in printmaking. He became an instructor and curator at the Jerusalem Print Workshop and began exhibiting in Jerusalem galleries. In 1984, he began to teach at Bezalel. His work in the 1970s and 80s quoted from art history as a tool for critical reflections on art. This was particularly evident in "Anatomical Painting" (1980-1983), "Nevo" (1984-1986) and "Column" (1988).

In 1992, he was elected chairman of the Fine Arts Department of Bezalel. In 1996, he received his professorship. In 1995, he showed his series, Tsooba, which explored the politics of Israeli landscape and aroused great public debate. From the 1990s, he published many essays on the link between art history and the political and social significance of art. Major works from this period include "The Return of the Black Square" and a series of drawings, "The Pile" (2002-2004).

Education
1972 Art History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem
1973 Chelsea School of Art, London, UK
1971 Hebrew University High School, Jerusalem, art with Yona Mach

Teaching
1984-92 Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem
1992-96 Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem,Head of Fine Arts Department,
1992-96 Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem, Head of Young Artists Program,
2000-03 San Francisco Art Institute, California, USA, Guest Lecturer,
2002 onwards Shenkar College, Ramat Gan, Professor of Art, Multidisciplinary Art Department,

Awards And Prizes
1978 Beatrice Kolliner Prize for a Young Israeli Artist, Israel Museum, Jerusalem
1988 The America-Israel Cultural Fund Scholarship
1991 Jacques and Eugenie Ohana Prize for a Young Israeli Artist, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
1993 The America-Israel Cultural Foundation, Sharett Fund Scholarship for a Young Artist
1998 Prize, Ministry of Education and Culture
2007 The Mendel and Eva Pundik Foundation Prize for an Israeli Artist, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery, Tel Aviv
Abramson, Larry Avigdor Arikha, Dei Ben Shaul, David Michail Grobman, Michael Gross, Uri Lifschitz, Ofer Lellouche, Menashe Kadishman, Shaul Schatz and others
Sarig - in Israeli Paintings
Israel Pollak School of Art Kalisher Five, Art Sc, Tel Aviv
Abramson, Larry Menashe Kadishman, Pinchas Cohen Gan, David Reeb, Arnon Ben David, Moshe Gershuni and other See less