The Bessarabian-born painter Nahum Gutman moved to Tel Aviv when he was seven. He studied at the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts and, in the 1920s, in Vienna, Berlin, and Paris. He returned to Mandate Palestine in 1926. His oils and watercolors often feature massive, highly stylized individuals. Though influenced by French expressionism, he saw himself as a rebel, turning his back on European traditions of painting and championing a style in harmony with the light and landscapes of Palestine.
You understand, my sweet confessor, that I could be even more of a sinner than not, and I hope just the same for your absolution. In the meantime, I will tell you that after…
Yehudah Pen painted this portrait of Marc Chagall soon after Chagall returned to Vitebsk from Paris in order to marry his sweetheart, Bella. While he was there, World War I broke out, and Chagall was…
Before I left Chicago, the art critic Harold Rosenberg said to me, “Going to Jerusalem? And wondering whether people will talk freely? You’ve got to be kidding, they’ll talk your head off.” He spoke…