BEZALEL STEINHARDT WOODCUT JUDAICA ISRAELI ART BIBLE

The portrait woodcuts were made in the early 1960s by the director of the Betzalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem, Jacob Steinhart. You have a choice of choosing ANY ONE woodcut at the price that you win. The portraits were meant to be 1st century and Biblical figures. They were commissioned by a patron for a book that he wrote on Claudius.

The portraits are those of: Miriamme, Claudius, Jeremiah and Philo of Alexandria.

The other woodcut is that of Dancing Hassidim.

Technique
Hand colored woodcut

Dimensions
20.5 x 30.5 cm, full margins

Bio: Jakob Steinhardt

Jakob Steinhardt (1887-1969) was born in Zerkow, a small town in the district of Posen (at that time in Germany, now Poland). He studied in Berlin with Lovis Corinth and Herman Struck; went on to Paris for one year where he met many of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masters; and then returned to Berlin where with Ludwig Meidner he founded the Expressionist group, Die Pathetiker (The Suffering Ones), which focused mainly on graphic arts. But his career was interrupted by the First World War and induction into the German Military. Following the fighting, he returned to his art and began working in woodcut using Jewish themes, an enterprise that occupied the remainder of his career. After the Nazis came into power (and after a brief time under arrest), Steinhardt fled Germany and migrated to Israel, where he lived for the rest of his life. His work has been exhibited internationally - in Berlin as a young man; in Israel; in the United States at the Kennedy Gallery, the Boston Museum of fine Arts, the Smithsonian in Washington, Yale and other venues; at the Sao Paulo Biennale in Brazil; the Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam; etc. While famous throughout his lifetime, his reputation has waned since his death. But his work can still strongly affect the viewer with the power of his technique and the Jewish themes of his images.

Biography
Jacob Steinhardt, Painter and Woodcut Artist. b. 1887, Zerkow, Germany. Immigrated 1933. Studies: 1906 School of Art, Berlin; 1907 painting with Louis Corinth and engraving with Herman Struck; advanced studies, 1908-10 Paris, with Matisse and Steinlen; 1911 Italy. Teaching: Bezalel, Jerusalem, 1953-57 Director. Prizes: 1955-58 Won international prizes for his wood-cuts. 1910 Participated in the "New Sezession", Berlin. 1912 Founder of "Pathetiker" Group, showing in "Der Sturm" Gallery. 1914 Exhibited with Meidner at first Expressionist Exhibition in Berlin. Worked mainly in woodcuts depicting biblical and other Jewish subjects. Died 1968. (The Israel Museum in Jerusalem Web Site)