Martin Snipper

Expressionist Nude in Oil, Circa 1940s

Circa 1940s

Artist/ School: French School, circa 1970's, signed lower right Title: Still Life with Nude; beautiful range of colors. Medium: very thick impasto oil painting on canvas, unframe...

Genre: Israeli Subject: Abstract Medium: Oil Surface: Canvas Dimensions: 24" x 20" Bezalel (nicknamed “Lilik”) Schatz was an Israeli artist, son of Boris Schatz, founder of the Bezalel School of Arts and Crafts in Jerusalem. Born in 1912 to Boris Schatz, and his wife Olga, an art critic. From an early age, he demonstrated considerable talent for gymnastics and music, but especially for art. He grew up in a home in which artists were a constant presence, he was introduced to Israel’s most prominent leaders, and the first public exhibition of his artwork coincided with his Bar Mitzvah celebration. He attended the Gymnasia in Jerusalem and at age 14 completed his studies at the Bezalel School. In 1930, Bezalel joined his father on a fundraising tour of Europe and the United States, where they also exhibited their artwork and that of Bezalel students. Following his father’s death in 1932, Bezalel left Israel for a period of about two decades. He spent the first four years studying at the Grand Chaumiere Academy in Paris. There, given the fairly conservative artistic views he had acquired at home and school – where modernism was denounced – he had to pave his own way as an artist among his peers. Between 1937 and 1951, Bezalel resided in the U.S. Near the end of WWII, he worked in a California shipyard, and it was there he met his future wife, Louise. He was also introduced to the novelist Henry Miller in California, and their friendship blossomed into a creative collaboration. The artist May Ray...